23 April- St George's Day, a day to celebrate for those lucky enough to be born English! But also the anniversary [91st this time] of the astounding raid on Zeebrugge.
Contemplating this reminded me of something on my, recently re-established, computer- maps I'd started making of the attack using BattleMaps software. I was fortunate to be asked to take part in a trial of this product and even with my level of IT skills it has proved to be most useful.
A simple interface allows military symbols to be plotted on a background or image [see below] of your choice. Landscape features, including contours, can be easily created and re-used as a base for the map. The accompanying images are stills [produced by the programme] but to see the various phases smoothly cycle using the in build slideshow function is a thing of beauty. It's probably my lack of knowledge but I would have liked to embed the slideshow within a programme such as PowerPoint, or be able to use a stand alone player- but I believe I'm using an early version and this may have been corrected.
The above is a map of an action of the Essex Yeomanry on 13 May 1915, plotted onto the modern day Belgium NGI map. This is one of a number of phases used to illustrate the action to a local Western Front Association branch. A case of a picture paints a thousand words.
Don't just take my word for it, you can trial the software for 14 days before purchase, visit BattleMaps for more details.
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