Den sovjetiske militære kortlægning af Danmark under Den Kolde Krig

This article investigates the Soviet military mapping of Denmark during the Cold
War, based on a collection of Soviet Cold War maps held at the Royal Danish
Library. Data from the collection suggest that the Soviet General Staff systematically produced topographic maps, city plans and thematic military maps over Danish territory from 1951 to 1990. The topographic mapping of Denmark was initiated in early 1950s and by late 1950s or early 1960s, the Soviet military managed to produce topographic maps completely covering Denmark. These topographic maps were updated throughout the period, initially based on a systematical collection of Danish topographic maps, and later by means of remote sensed data. An analysis of these maps shows, that even though the Soviet military managed to have produced a complete cover of topographic maps of Danish territory, the topographic maps generally holds very little information about criticalDanish infrastructure and military facilities. This is surprising, as comparative analysis between Soviet and East German military maps reveals that such information was indeed available on East German versions. Moreover, several errors and inconsistencies have been discovered in the topographic maps as well as the city plans, which suggest that information represented on these maps was not collected on the ground. However, it is evident, that apparently the soviet military did not systematically include information collected by other Warsaw-pact allies. However, the few Soviet thematic maps on strategic-operational scale, that are known from Denmark, contains detailed information about Danish military geography and Danish coastal fortifications and especially the capacity of the rail and road network. The article concludes that the most likely possible explanation for this difference in information level is due to the lack of interest in tactical information on Danish territory, as one of the wartime missions of Polish and East German forces was to invade and occupy Denmark. Thus, the Soviet interest in Denmark was limited to the strategic-operational level required for the general planning and control of the Soviet General Staff and the Theatre of War HQs.