Military Cartography of WWII: The British Geographical Section of the General Staff and the US Army Map Service and their Production of the Topographic Map Series of the Balkans (1939–1945)

This paper analyzes the methods and processes of the compilation of the British/US topographic maps of the Balkans created for the purpose of military operations during World War II. It presents the challenges that the cartographers of the British Geographical Section of the General Staff and the US Army Map Service faced during the compilation of their editions of the map of the Balkans. It discusses how they managed to homogenize different mathematical base data and geographical contents from the numerous source maps, how they sorted out the complications of name spellings, how they brought the maps up to date to make them reliable, and which specific features were maintained in some of the sheets of the topographic map series for the Balkans.