Rshew "Meat Grinder" maps help.

[Beattie-B]

Just wanted to apologize to the admins ahead of time as I wasn't certain where maps should go, please feel free to move it as you see fit.

I have been pouring over a pair of maps I picked up a while ago on a whim, but have come up short on explanations as to what is written on each of them. The first of the two is massive (almost the size of a queen size bed) and appears to be a Luftwaffe navigation map (due to the red numbered boxes?) with pencil markings starting in Golodok, Russia and fanning out to Temkino, Subzoff, Rshew, and Olenino while similar lines shooting off by way of main roads are x'd off at Ossuga, Russia and Sytschewka, Russia. What's further confusing are the strange sets of numbers penciled on the map for three of the main cities and the unfortunate part that the surrounding borders of the map which include the legend have been cut off. The interesting part is that this map is so big that it covers a large portion of central Russia including Moscow, Minsk, Bryansk, and Gomel. I will post about the second map after but was wondering if anyone had any insight as to what the lines, x's, numbers, or even the odd pencil scratch in areas may mean? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Beattie-B]

more detail photos of map 1

[Beattie-B]

last of the map one photos.

[Beattie-B]

The second map is more the traditional type despite having the borders cut off it retains the top portion with title and scale (Russland 1:100 000 Zusammendruck Rshew West Truppenausgabe 1. Ausgabe von 1. VII. 42 0-36-XVIII West) The other thing that sets this map apart from the much larger one it came with include the blue line around Rshew which is similar to the german front line in late 1942, another marking appears to be an orangish heart shape around the city of Bondarewo with a line circling around crossing german lines and an X at the town of Pustoshka (Pustoshka 1-ya Пустошка 1-я on google maps). Furthermore the possible map owner left his signature at the top but cannot seem to make out the writing. As before any help would be appreciated if anyone is familiar with the areas history sadly the best book for this topic is one not of my native language.

[Beattie-B]

last two photos of map number two

[Beattie-B]

One last strange thing is the presence of another map on the back of the map number two titled Uljanowsk (Simbirsk) which is a 1:300 000 map of the area. Underlined at the top is Sonderausgabe ! Nur fur den Dienstgebrauch! below. The other marking is X.40 (which I assume is a date for 1940?). The other interesting part of this map is that it appears to be a copy of a Russian map (russian characters for city and town names) with German translations in red.

[SIS 5]

Hi Beattie-B,

very interesting maps. The Luftwaffe unit starting from this airfield could be the Kampfgeschwader (bombardment wing) 1. The airfield could be Schatolowka-Ost between Potschinok (Починок) and Engelgardtowskaja (Энгельгардтовская), east of Schatolowo (Шаталово).
Sorry, I´m no expert of the other questions.

To the other map on the back of the map number two titled Uljanowsk: that could be a map for the flight to Kasan and Kuybyshew (now Samara), where were important armament companies.

Regards

Bert

[Beattie-B]

Greetings SIS 5,

I believe you may be onto something with the airfield, what complicates that is the fact that the Luftwaffe maintained 2 separate airfields in the same area (Schatalowka/Schatalovka) east and west and with so many units passing through both airfields in 1942 it's nearly impossible to tell which unit these maps could have belonged to sadly, maybe the name at the top of the Rshew-West map (#2) can shine some light but it's a stretch.

As for the map on the back of map number two i found it awfully strange since I wasn't aware of any fighting by land or air in these areas but will investigate further.

Still looking for an answer on what the numbers for Subzoff, Rshew, and Timko mean and the corresponding symbols above them on map 1.

Thanks again,
-Brett

Hi Beattie-B,

very interesting maps. The Luftwaffe unit starting from this airfield could be the Kampfgeschwader (bombardment wing) 1. The airfield could be Schatolowka-Ost between Potschinok (Починок) and Engelgardtowskaja (Энгельгардтовская), east of Schatolowo (Шаталово).
Sorry, I´m no expert of the other questions.

To the other map on the back of the map number two titled Uljanowsk: that could be a map for the flight to Kasan and Kuybyshew (now Samara), where were important armament companies.

Regards

Bert

[SIS 5]

Hi Brett,

You are right. It was only an idea.
To the name at the top of the Rshew-West map: it could be W. Baumgartl or W. Baumgarts (two last names, the first more common in the south, the other in the north of Germany.

Regards

Bert

[cesky67]

Brett

It seems that the middle set of numbers is the distance in km from the point of origin.(I measured it from Engelgardtowskaja.) The two other columns I dont know yet.

Cesky

[cesky67]

Brett

I hope this not just a coincidence but the angles east of North correspond with the figure in the first column from the point of origin. So that 281 is 28.1 degrees east of north, 321 is 32.1 deg E of N and 621 is 62.1deg E of N.

Cesky

[Beattie-B]

Thanks SIS 5,

It's certainly a difficult name to make out but I'm thankful for your help none the less!

Warmest Regards

Hi Brett,

You are right. It was only an idea.
To the name at the top of the Rshew-West map: it could be W. Baumgartl or W. Baumgarts (two last names, the first more common in the south, the other in the north of Germany.

Regards

Bert

[Beattie-B]

Thanks Cesky!

I've been looking along the lines of any pilots with the name on the map provided by SIS 5 with no luck but it's increasingly looking like these may be Luftwaffe navigator maps. I do appreciate the effort in helping!

Warmest Regards,
Brett

Brett

I hope this not just a coincidence but the angles east of North correspond with the figure in the first column from the point of origin. So that 281 is 28.1 degrees east of north, 321 is 32.1 deg E of N and 621 is 62.1deg E of N.

Cesky