Bit of a Arras Map Markings Side Project

[RNAS10_Oliver]

I've been jumping onto the Flugpark server and it's associated Discord since some time in the latter parts of 2019. During that time I've heard nicknames made up for some of various the woods, rivers and lakes etc that exist nameless upon the Arras map. I began to get curious on what the actual historical names for these features were. And intended to post up about a couple that I had discovered and discuss/query what some of the others might be. I forgot about that. But after some discussion last week about the labels and urban areas that have been added to No Mans Land in the current Flugpark missions I have decided to resurrect, but also to expand upon, the idea and do something about these nameless features as a semi-interesting side project.

 

 

In short I'm going to produce some maps of the current Flugpark missions for reference. But should caution to not expect anything soon.

But I've also investigated and figured that for single players I should be able to provide these as a mod for your in game map.

 

In contrast to the Arras map, the map for Rhineland has it's rivers and lakes marked. So I've extracted the various images that make up both the Arras and Rhineland maps from the game files. And after a brief search I believe I've discovered a font that, if not the same, comes rather close to being the font that appears on the Great Battles maps. Having found that I've matched the colour and size for the labels on Rhineland's rivers. I've also figured out a font colour that is of the same hue, saturation and brightness difference to the woods colour as the ones for water are. This should mean that the markings I place for woods and waterways do not look too out of place on the map aesthetics wise.

 

 

Now I'm onto the research for the actual historical names and marking them on the Arras map. Seems that modern digital maps and satellite images overlay and match up rather well to the woods, rivers and roads on the Arras map so figuring out what an in game feature is representing in the real world is quite simple. However rather than just use names from modern digital maps (which might have changed since) I am instead checking period maps from these websites (cheers to @US213_Talbot for pointing me towards these).

 

British First World War Trench Maps, 1915-1918 - National Library of Scotland (nls.uk)

WWI Trench Maps & Aerial Photographs | McMaster University Library

 

The large majority of these maps are British and do include some nicknames. But I am preferring short anglicised versions of the French name where these can also be found in them otherwise I'm resorting to the nicknamed versions. One good example of these variations in names is the wood in the SW corner of 1006:8 as on modern maps this appears to be named Bois Des Fourcaux but in the period maps I've seen so far the names Bois Des Foureaux and High Wood are instead used. So I am using Foureaux as the name.

 

 

Another thing to note is that on the Arras map some features appear to the player as being one complete feature. But on period maps are multiple adjacent features. In these cases rather than have more than one name for each feature on the in game map (to save space and player confusion) I am choosing the name for the feature that appears largest or is associated to another feature (woods named after towns etc) on the period maps. One good example of this is the wood in 1106:9 as on the period maps this is shown as being two adjacent woods named Hindleg and Hem. Rather than assign both the names Hindleg and Hem to what appears to the player as a single wood on the map I am using just the name Hem as the wood is situated north of the village of the same name.

 

 

Is this something others would be interested in seeing in their game?

Are there any particular terrain features from history it would interest you to know the location for on the game map?

During your sorties with other players what nicknames for terrain features do you have and use?

Are there any particular terrain features that you tend to use during game for waypoints and forming up?

Edited February 8, 2021 by Oliver88

[J2_Trupobaw]

The forest at Adinfer, south of Arras in 0805. It's single big object along the front south of Arras, so lots of position making on front is done in relation  to it. Called "Adinfer forest" in Storm of Steel.




I found a modern sign there which says "Bois de chauffage" - "Heating wood". I'm pretty sure it's not what forest is called  but I also think it's a great nickname. Heatingwood? Firewood?
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.1878708,2.6897535,3a,22.6y,161.43h,80.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz6lz-lvghn9G_eII_vp_Hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by J2_Trupobaw

[RNAS10_Oliver]

22 minutes ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

The forest at Adinfer, south of Arras in 0805. It's single big object along the front south of Arras, so lots of position making is done in relation  to it. Called "Adinfer forest" in Storm of Steel.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//Adinfer,+62116,+France/@50.1783378,2.7430831,19058m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x47dd448b5299d0af:0xd45c55770dbbcaae!2m2!1d2.6937373!2d50.1887456!3e0

I found a modern sign there which says "Bois de chauffage" - "Heating Wood". I'm pretty sure it's not what forest is called  but I also think it's a great nickname.
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.1878708,2.6897535,3a,22.6y,161.43h,80.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sz6lz-lvghn9G_eII_vp_Hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

Yep got Adinfer already. That was actually one one of the ones I found out about ages ago but forgot to post up about. It’s named Adinfer Wood in period maps also.

If you or anyone else is interested in helping to discover these terrain features (no commitment) there is this google spreadsheet that I’ve setup to record everything.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-v5x26Se9Jim4bRWGqYR1LAScXVs9nT7GFIym4YkP4/edit

 

The so called “Fokker Lake” near Bapaume is something struggling with naming. And unfortunately might have to go unnamed. Talbot and I had looked in the period maps that have linked in this thread but the feature does not seem to exist in any seen so far. From satellite imagery you can see that “Fokker Lake” is actually a collection of three ponds;

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/62121+Bihucourt,+France/@50.1155738,2.7898913,15z/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x47dd505bcb63976f:0x14a093f3405b7676

 

Perhaps this was something created post war but included in game due to existing on whatever data the devs used for mapping the area? Or maybe just does not exist in the maps because it had not been surveyed. There are some areas in some period maps where this is evident and as a result have “not surveyed” marked on them.

[J2_Trupobaw]

9 hours ago, Oliver88 said:

Yep got Adinfer already.

To late! It's Firewood now  ! I can't unremember it!



Will look at things in spreadsheet, no commitment  .

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by J2_Trupobaw

[76SQN-FatherTed]

I have to say I quite like our (ie FC players) nicknames for these un-named map features - I think it echoes what the guys at the time did with "foreign words" or places with no immediate name.  That's not to say that research into the real and/or historical nick-names of places on our map doesn't add to the ambience.  For example, "High Wood" definitely rings a bell from my reading and to see that placed on an in-game map would be a big tick on the immersion counter.

 

Keep digging - I am sure that there a lot of places/features that are geographically small, but whose names have a lot of poignancy for those who have an interest in WW1.  Seeing them on the map can only help in bringing the game to life.

[J2_Trupobaw]

On 2/9/2021 at 12:05 AM, Oliver88 said:

The so called “Fokker Lake” near Bapaume is something struggling with naming. And unfortunately might have to go unnamed. Talbot and I had looked in the period maps that have linked in this thread but the feature does not seem to exist in any seen so far. From satellite imagery you can see that “Fokker Lake” is actually a collection of three ponds;

 

The German Lake is a collection of fishing ponds that well may not have a name. It was/is part of the Miraumont village, which was completely destroyed during the War, so Miramount pond is a possibility. Nowadays, it's site of camping site called "La Herelle" (no idea if the name of camping has anything to do with name of ponds). The camping can be contacted by email at  laherelle80@gmail.com , so we may ask locally if pond has any name...

Note that the ponds seem man-made (a stream going west to Ancre is passing through it) and lies in area scoured by German retreat to Siegfried Line in early 1917, so it's qustionable if it was even there in 1918 - opening the flood gate to deny fishing ponds and to flood Miramount was easiest thing to do.  (On photo - rail bridge in Miramount in 1917; railway passed in 300m of the ponds)


 

Edited February 19, 2021 by J2_Trupobaw

[J2_Trupobaw]

BTW, following the German tradition of finding names of landmarks by sending guy on bicycle to check the roadsigns, here's sign at Fokker German Lake Miraumont pond:

("hardi" supposedly means bold, not hard.)




 

[JGr2/J5_Baeumer]

I had heard that "Fokker Lake" was the result of the huge (infamous) sapper mine explosion that was filmed. Perhaps that was one of the other features but it's reportedly on the map.

[RNAS10_Oliver]

On 2/9/2021 at 12:14 AM, CfC=76SQN-FatherTed said:

I have to say I quite like our (ie FC players) nicknames for these un-named map features - I think it echoes what the guys at the time did with "foreign words" or places with no immediate name.  That's not to say that research into the real and/or historical nick-names of places on our map doesn't add to the ambience.  For example, "High Wood" definitely rings a bell from my reading and to see that placed on an in-game map would be a big tick on the immersion counter.

 

Keep digging - I am sure that there a lot of places/features that are geographically small, but whose names have a lot of poignancy for those who have an interest in WW1.  Seeing them on the map can only help in bringing the game to life.

 

Yeah agree, both methods have a kind of historical accuracy and have merit. And do not worry because players providing names for features would continue to be required even after we have something releasable here. The reason being the game maps area clearly (and kind of understandably) based on modern maps and there are to be lots of features that remain unnamed as they did not exist at the time.

 

22 hours ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

The German Lake is a collection of fishing ponds that well may not have a name. It was/is part of the Miraumont village, which was completely destroyed during the War, so Miramount pond is a possibility. Nowadays, it's site of camping site called "La Herelle" (no idea if the name of camping has anything to do with name of ponds). The camping can be contacted by email at  laherelle80@gmail.com , so we may ask locally if pond has any name...

 

Sorry but you are wrong about this. The wood in 09065 on the game map can be seen to be Loupart Wood and as Miraumont (and its campsite and ponds) are to the west of this they cannot be the lake in 0906 that we refer to as the German or Fokker. Can also see that it's not Miraumont due to the relative positions compared to Bapaume. The German or Fokker is indeed a collection of ponds but as mentioned earlier is one that does not appear on maps from the war, but does exist on modern maps.

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Oliver88

[RNAS10_Oliver]

5 hours ago, J5_Baeumer said:

I had heard that "Fokker Lake" was the result of the huge (infamous) sapper mine explosion that was filmed. Perhaps that was one of the other features but it's reportedly on the map.

 

That is also something that Talbot postulated when we discovered that this lake does not exist in historical maps from the war. It's a collection of ponds in modern times;

 

https://goo.gl/maps/8Hcihx1a3Nq8Dv2E9

 

Have any more info on what mine this was or when that occurred? As the maps from March 1918 appear to show earthworks and (think) isolated trenches here.

 

 

 

[Chief_Mouser]

'The real name of High Wood, as used before the War and as marked on French maps today, is Bois des Fourcaux – the word relating to pitchforks. However, during the First World War it was marked on some maps as Bois des Foureaux.'  High Wood - the Somme : World War One Battlefields (ww1battlefields.co.uk) Anyone British would have known it as High Wood; one of the most famous, longest and bloodiest battles along the Somme.

It is reckoned that there are still 8,000 dead in there, never found or recovered. Also, scene of the last cavalry charge by the British Army IIRC.

 

It's a noble effort to name as much as possible, but until No Man's Land is totally redrawn and the destruction of the surrounding countryside incorporated into the map it's pretty pointless.  The 1916 Somme battlefield is completely missing from the Arras map, and the German Spring offensive in 1918 moved so swiftly that it wouldn't have created such a broad swathe of craters in so short a space of time.

See this map for levels of terrain damage.

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[RNAS10_Oliver]

6 hours ago, J5_Baeumer said:

I had heard that "Fokker Lake" was the result of the huge (infamous) sapper mine explosion that was filmed. Perhaps that was one of the other features but it's reportedly on the map.

 

Your not referring to this "huge (infamous) sapper mine explosion that was filmed" are you?

 

 

This is the Hawthorne Ridge mine and exists on both historical and modern maps. And it is located close-ish to one of the features that we have on our in game map (water in 10058). So I can see how someone could come to the conclusion that 10058 is the Hawthorn Ridge mine. But it's not. What we have is just some body of water that is at (or part of) the Ancre River (or its Canal) and bordering Thiepval Wood. The Hawthorn Ridge mine would be around in the NE portion of 09051.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Oliver88

[No.23_Triggers]

Allegedly, the Hawthorne mine was heard in London when it detonated, and was the largest ever "man-made" sound in history. Incredible...

...Re: new map markers, I think it would be a great addition to the in-game map. I, for one, would love to have more location names on the map. 

As a point of interest, I looked at one of the community maps from WoFF to see how everything lined up...there are some interesting landmarks that don't seem to be marked in IL2: 

At a glance, a couple of the big ones that were absent were: 

- Havrincourt Wood
- Delville Wood
- surprisingly, Albert! 

...that being said, I did notice that there were some things that were quite drastically different in the WoFF map...for one, the river Scarpe seems to not be marked...

EDIT: 

Here's Havrincourt Wood on the IL-2 map:

Edited February 22, 2021 by US93_Larner

[RNAS10_Oliver]

5 hours ago, US93_Larner said:

Here's Havrincourt Wood on the IL-2 map:

 

Have seen this wood while browsing around and searching the names for other woods on the historical maps (the one in 09084 seems to be a post-war addition)

Had not gotten around to recording this one and marking on the map though, entering into the spreadsheet now, cheers. In historical maps the northern and north eastern protrusions are named as High (or Haut) and Femy woods respectively and would seem (according to the Brits doing the surveying) that much of these two parts were cut down by the Germans at some time.