Fields of battle : terrain in military history

Terrain has a profound effect upon the strategy and tactics of any military engagement and has consequently played an important role in determining history. In addition, the landscapes of battle, and the geology which underlies them, has helped shape the cultural iconography of battle certainly within the 20th century. In the last few years this has become a fertile topic of scientific and historical exploration and has given rise to a number of conferences and books. The current volume stems from the international Terrain in Military History conference held in association with the Imperial War Museum, London and the Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, at the University of Greenwich in January 2000. This conference brought together historians, geologists, military enthusiasts and terrain analysts from military, academic and amateur backgrounds with the aim of exploring the application of modem tools of landscape visualisation to understanding historical battlefields. This theme was the subject of a Leverhulme Trust grant (F/345/E) awarded to the University of Greenwich and administered by us in 1998, which aimed to use the tools of modem landscape visualisation in understanding the influence of terrain in the First World War. This volume forms part of the output from this grant and is part of our wider exploration of the role of terrain in military history. Many individuals contributed to the organisation of the original conference and to the production of this volume.

Peter Doyle and Matthew R. BennettKerry CathersTrevor HalsallTrevor HalsallShell Kimble and Patrick O'SullivanJudy Ehlen and R. AbrahartWalter Earl PittmanTony PollardMartin Marix EvansEdmon Castell and Sonia RouraPeter Doyle and Matthew R. BennettPeter ChasseaudPeter Doyle and Matthew R. Bennett and Roy Macleod and Louise MackayFranky BostynRob ThompsonEdmon Castell and Lluis FalcoEdward P.F. Rose and W. Michael Ginns and John T. RenoufJames Underwood, Jr. and Robert F. GiegengackJohn A. CiciarelliStephen BadseyRon N.E. Blake

Contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Terrain in Military History: An Introduction	p. 1
'Markings on the Land' and Early Medieval Warfare in the British Isles	p. 9
Geology and Warfare in England and Wales 1450-1660	p. 19
Battles on Chalk: the Geology of Battle in Southern England during the First Civil War 1643-1644	p. 33
Terrain and Guerrilla Warfare in Navarre, 1808-1814	p. 51
Effective use of Terrain in the American Civil War: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862	p. 63
Tullahoma: Terrain and Tactics in the American Civil War	p. 99
The Mountain is their Monument: An Archaeological Approach to the Landscape of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879	p. 117
Maps and Decisions: Buller South and North of the Tugela, 1899-1900	p. 137
The Thirty-Years War, 1914-1945: Mapping the Battlefields of the Past for the Construction of the European Future	p. 143
Terrain and the Gallipoli Campaign, 1915	p. 149
British, French, German Mapping and Survey on the Western Front in the First World War	p. 171
Terrain and the Messines Ridge, Belgium, 1914-1918	p. 205
Zero Hour: Historical Note on the British Underground War in Flanders, 1915-1917	p. 225
Mud Blood, and Wood: BEF Operational and Combat Logistico-Engineering during the Battle of Third Ypres, 1917	p. 237
Across the River: Interpreting the Battle of Ebro or Battlefields as a Didactic Resource	p. 257
Fortification of Island Terrain: Second World War German Military Engineering on the Channel Island of Jersey, a Classic Area of British Geology	p. 265
Piracy on the High Desert: the Long-Range Desert Group 1940-1943	p. 311
The Geology of the Battle of Monte Cassino, 1944	p. 325
Terrain as a Factor in the Battle of Normandy, 1944	p. 345
Airfield Country: Terrain, Land-Use and the Air Defence of Britain, 1939-1945	p. 365
Subject Index	p. 385

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