Map Cases

Introduction

There was a wide range of Map cases in service, many being officers’ private purchases. Here, just the four numbered Cases and variants are covered. Apart from Case No. 1, the remainder could be termed “infantry” versions, as photographs would seem to indicate them as the prime users. There are two versions of the No. 2 Case, sufficiently different to have at least been distinguished by an advance in Mark Number. Recently a Sealed Pattern has revealed that, at first, the Army did not distinguish between these – Form, Fit & Function being their guiding principle. Of the two cases, it can be observed that one is “ersatz” and the other “de luxe”. However, if the evidence is to be accepted, the ersatz came first, which rather flies in the face of normal logic. To term the de luxe version as Emergency Pattern is to cause a great slight to its design and it can also be observed that the “skeleton” type would have been far easier to manufacture.

LoC §B4097 had introduced Cases, map, G.S., No. 2, Mk. I (and Cases, map, G.S. No. 1 Mk. 1) into V.A.O.S. Section V2 Surveying and Drawing Instruments and Watches, which would have attracted a V2/VB prefix. However, in the 1956 edition of V.A.O.S. Section W10, Compasses, Watches, Survey and Drawing Instruments, there is an obsolescent listing for W10/VC 0270 Case, map, G.S. No. 1 Mk. 1. The code prefix shows it must have been moved from Section V2 to V3 Flash Spotting, Sound Ranging, and R.A. Survey Stores. It was then transferred to W10. This was probably post-war, as in 1943 only Sections W1 to W5 existed. Known examples of the Case No. 2 are prefixed VC.

NOTES ON V.A.O.S. SECTION TRANSFERS

To better understand such transfers, a comparison to Karkee Web can be made. An initial structure was set-out and served us for a year. Over time, it is slowly being revised, Non-Patterned Equipment being a new section, which will better address the themed coverage we now wish to present. The V.A.O.S. is no more than themed coverage of the Army’s total stores holdings. During the War, there was an explosion of new equipment and, as technology advanced, other stores were superseded, entailing a different approach to the themes of the VAOS Sections. Also increased varieties of stores of one theme, would be seen as deserving their own Section. Extrapolating from our experience, we observe that “…R.A. Survey Stores…” must have had some common ground with “…Surveying…Instruments…”, making a conflation sensible. Section W only ran up to W5 in 1943, so W6 -10 had subsequently been added. Note that Compasses were the direction finding variety, not the drawing instrument.