This section of the Long, Long Trail will be helpful for anyone wishing to research the places of interest to the British Army of WW1.
Sketch and trench maps
The maps in this section are ones I have found tucked away in the unit war diaries.
Click on the thumbnail for the full size image
How to read a trench map
| Thumbnail |
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| War diary |
1/5th South Staffordshire Regiment |
1/5th South Staffordshire Regiment |
| TNA piece* |
WO95/2686 |
WO95/2686 |
| Date |
June 1917 |
June 1917 |
| Area covered |
Raid on Nash Alley near Lens |
Positions W and NW of Lens |
| Download |
1.5Mb |
1.8Mb |
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| Thumbnail |
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| War diary |
1/4th King's Own Yorkshire Light Inf. |
2/14th London Regiment (London Scottish) |
| TNA piece* |
WO95/2806 |
WO95/4668 |
| Date |
9 October 1917 |
November-December 1917 |
| Area covered |
Wallemolen, Belle Vue |
West of Jerusalem |
| Download |
800kb |
800kb |
* These maps are extracts from war diaries held at the National Archives. They are all Crown Copyright.
Campaign maps
Maps from various histories of the war:
| The
Von Schlieffen Plan - Germany's planned attack on France,
1914 |
| Scene
of the Chief Operations near Mons and Charleroi - August
1914 |
| 1st
Phase of Retreat from Mons, British Positions 23rd - 28th
August 1914 |
| 2nd
Phase of Retreat from Mons, British Positions 28th Aug.
- 6th Sept. 1914 |
| The
British Positions before Ypres, October 29th, 30th and
31st 1914 |
| Battle
lines of Germany's attack on France, 1914 |
| Lines
of the Allied Armies in Northern France at the end of Oct.
and beginning Nov. 1914. |
| British
and French positions before Bethune at the time of the
German attacks on Givenchy and Cuinchy, January 25, 1915. |
| Battleground
of Neuve Chapelle, showing British positions March 10 -
14, 1915. |
| The
Ypres Salient before and after the Second Battle of Ypres,
April 22 - May 13, 1915. |
| Operations
of the 1st British Army, under Sir Douglas Haig, during
May and June, 1915. |
| Battle
of Loos, the battle lines of the 1st British Army at daybreak
and at nightfall on September 25, 1915. |
| Allied
line round Loos and Hulluch after the German counter-attack
of October 8, 1915. |
| Scene
of the fighting at St. Eloi and the British Salient round
Ypres in the spring of 1916. |
|
British
line in Artois in the spring of 1916 after the relief
of the French army south of Loos. |
| The
Allied Line from the Sea to Rheims, in June 1916. |
| Map
of the Somme from Philip Gibbs "The Battles of the
Somme" published 1917. |
| Allied
Battlefield on the Somme : showing gains from July 1st
to September 18th 1916. |
| The
join of the British and French lines on the Somme at the
end of July 1916 |
| The
Battle of the Somme : position of the British line at the
end of July,1916. |
| The
Battle of the Somme : positions on Thiepval Ridge, September
14 - October 31, 1916. |
| The
Battle of the Somme: Allied lines before September 15 and
the beginning of October 1916. |
| The
Battles of the Ancre : British advances from October, 1916
to February 28, 1917. |
| Butte
de Warlencourt : position of British line at the end of
November 1916. |
| German
retirement to the Hindenburg Line March 1917. |
| The
Battle of Arras: lines from April 9th to May 17th, 1917. |
| The
Battle of Messines : lines before and after the battle,
June 1917. |
| The
Northern Flank of the Allied Line, July 1917. |
| Ypres
Salient before the Battle of July 31, 1917. |
| Battle
area East of Ypres, showing line before attack on August
16, 1917. |
| The
Battle of Ypres, successive stages of Allied advance, July
30 - November 26 1917. |
| The
Battle of Cambrai, November - December, 1917. |
| The
German advance & British retreat, March 21st - April
5th 1918. |
| Allied
Lines in Flanders before and after the German Offensive
in Flanders, April, 1918. |
| Allied
lines in Flanders - during the German offensives April
9th - April 30th, 1918. |
| British
Second Army front south-east of Ypres in Mid-June 1918. |
| Line
of British Fourth Army before Amiens on July 4th 1918. |
| Allied
line north-west of Rheims May 27th 1918, and position west
of Rheims June 6th, 1918. |
|
Limit
of the German advances on Paris, July 1918.
|
| Positions
of the British and French Armies, August 1918. |
| The
Battle of Amiens, August 8th 1918. |
| The
Battles of Amiens, Bapaume, and the Scarpe : Allied line
between August 8 and September 8, 1918. |
| Positions
of the British and French Armies in Mid-September 1918. |
| British
Attack on the Hindenburg Line between Cambrai and St. Quentin,
September, 1918. |
| The
Belgian Coast, 1918 :Allied Line between September 28 to
October 25, 1918. |
| The
British Line east of Lens and Armentieres, October 3, 1918. |
| The
Allied Line on October 18, 1918. |
| Allied
line on August 8, 1918 and on Armistice Day, November 11,
1918. |
| The
Theatre of War on the Western Front showing the main
battle lines September 1914 to November 1918 This
map is a 340Kb download |
Modern maps
I find www.viamichelin.co.uk indispensible for modern-day online road maps of France and Flanders
and Google Earth is excellent for modern day satellite images as is Geoportail for France
reddit 