"I just love Google Earth: Paltzig 1759 shocker" Topic

Looking around for a new SYW battle to do in a few weeks. I decided, after looking at the OOB on Kronoskaf

link

to do Paltzig / Kay. I need to paint two more units of Russian cavalry, but that's no biggy; I've had them in the lead pile for a year now and I've been running out of excuses not to do them – 3 cavalry units and two command figures and the 'planned' army is done, and that particular shiny pile will be no more.

Then I looked at the Kronoskaf map (and the Duffy one), and boy it's hilly. The Kronoskaf map shows a deep valley with a marshy stream at the bottom with hills rising up all around it. A challenge to set up that terrain. Then just to get a proper feel for it I went to Google Earth (Paltzig is at 52:07:33.08N 15:29:32.70E) to have a proper look. Luckily, it has a 360 degrees road view from Paltzig to Kay (running, roughly, east or south east across the battlefield); it's the same road that passes the lake on the Duffy map).

Boy it's flat! At most, it's very gently rising ground with a few gently rolling hills here and there! There are also lots of trees, especially at the boggy ground. Paltzig / Kay will be no problem to set up! The more I use Google Earth for this kind of thing the more impressed I am with it. Especially the 360 degree view from roads, which give a very good feel for places.

I do the same for WWII battles.

Has it been strip mined for lignite, that has happened on some of the 1813 battlefields in Saxony so Google Earth is no use in these cases.

Current landforms are no use in confirming historic landforms.

Things can change without intervention, through natural processes..

And of course we can build drainage, remove earth, mine, put in roads and rail lines, and change agricultural land use, all of which will change the landform over time.

This is true, but agricultural land, except for field boundaries, largely stays the same. Inland erosion isn't usually (I say usually) significant over 150 years. The constant ploughing of fields does soften slopes over time, it is true, but the slopes do not disappear, hills do not become depressions, and you can usually see, from the nature of the land use, if this might have happened.

Certainly, unless open cast mining is involved, hills do not disappear nor the general lay of the land over a distance of two or three miles – it's 'shape' and 'general nature' doesn't alter much, and that is what I use GE for.

The change I have most often found, is the course of rivers, which can change quite a lot in a short space of time due to human intervention to improve drainage. There was a lot of this in northern Italy, to name but one place, that has changed some Italian Wars battlefields significantly – but again, you can sometimes see the old waterways in the aerial photography. The other thing you can't rely on is woodland – for almost any battlefield.

Most rural settlements don't change much either, they are a little bigger perhaps but, most places haven't seen the changes that, say, the SE of England has. Also the addition of new roads and rail links changes the look of some landscapes, but disregarding the 50m to either side, these don't change the lie of the land much either.

Battlefields I've looked at recently that haven't much are

Marignano 1515, more densely populated, being 10 miles from Milan, but otherwise the general landscape is the same – even the course of the waterways.

Zorndorf 1758, almost unspoilt. Agricultural land.

Bir el Gubi 1941, you can still see the Italian trench lines.

Paltzig, almost the same. Agricultural land.

I wouldn't use google earth for most ancient battles,but it is useful, depending on the local (some battlefields have been completely wrecked by human intervention) for a lot of battlefields, especially if you are aware of the pitfalls. GE should not be dismissed out of hand. Things often DON'T change that much.

I've looked it up using the old pre-WW1 German survey maps, Typically it covers four separate sheets

Skampe (included Paltzig)

Kalzig (NIckern)

Zuellichau (Kay)

Rothenburg