[Special Edition Germany Army Libyan Desert Great Sand Sea map] Deutsche Weltkarte 1:500,000 Afrika G-35 NW Grosse Sandwuste - Sonderausgabe - Nicht fur die Offentlichkeit bestimmt!

Heeresplankammer, Generalstab des Heeres Abteilung fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen [= German Army Map Agency, General Staff of the Army Department of War Maps and Surveying]

Published by Heeresplankammer, Generalstab des Heeres Abteilung fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen [=German Army Map Agency, General Staff of the Army Department of War Maps and Surveying], (Berlin), 1942

About this Item

Colour printed paper map 66x59cm. Good, neatly folded, lightly dusted with a couple of short closed tears, and a university ink stamp and reference number to the printed border. This is subtitled as Special Edition Issue No. 1, 1935 (supplemented 1941), printed VIII 1942, and marked not for public use. It was prepared and published by the German Army Map Agency (Heeresplankammer, Gen St d H, Abt f Kr Kart u Verm Wes (II)). It shows a major expanse of the Great Sand Sea to the south of Siwa Oasis and west of Farafra in the Libyan Desert (these oases shown on adjacent sheets in the series). The Libyan-Egyptian border is drawn as a perfectly straight line running due N-S to the left of centre. Colour tinted for elevation, details include desert tracks, dune belts, cairns, monuments, hills, rocks, gravel plains, etc, with descriptions and assessments of terrain in the image. Reflecting the difficulties in navigation, one of the routes is labelled "Best way through the Sand Sea". This has old storage locations, an old campsite, and a "strikingly high dune" marked along its length by way of landmarks. Another route crossing the sands to the SE corner is named as the camel trail to Abu Mungar. Also of significance are the pre-WW2 routes of British Army explorers in search of Zerzura including Clayton (1932) and Wingate (1933). Another Clayton route to the edge of the Sand Sea (1936) enters from the north across a smooth gravel plain with a pile of gasoline cans placed on a low black mound as a landmark. The behaviour of windblown sand is described in places, eg, as shifting with occasional jerks, or as flying. A general warning to the margin advises that information about roads and tracks in Africa is often contradictory and subject to the weather. This appears to be extremely rare, with Worldcat locating 1 copy (OCLC 163348233: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek).

Seller Inventory # 6133

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Special Edition Germany Army Libyan Desert Great Sand Sea map] Deutsche Weltkarte 1:500,000 Afrika G-35 NW Grosse Sandwuste - Sonderausgabe - Nicht fur die Offentlichkeit bestimmt!
• Publisher: Heeresplankammer, Generalstab des Heeres Abteilung fur Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen [=German Army Map Agency, General Staff of the Army Department of War Maps and Surveying], (Berlin)
• Publication Date: 1942
• Language: German
• Binding: No Binding
• Condition: Good