An Operational Map of the Polish Coastal Front 1970

The map of the Operational Plan for the Coastal Front, from Poland 1970 forms the basis for this paper. The map portraits the blueprint of the combined operational war plans for the Polish military in the late 1960’s and 70’s. It details the offensive against NATO countries and their forces in Northern Europe. As such, this map is clearly designed as an operational map produced to outline and regulate, not just the actual plan of the offensive, but also to produce a narrative about the Polish army as capable of undertaking such a massive enterprise. We argue, with a point of departure in this particular map, that the regional, operational scale of military maps can be understood as performative maps, outlining not just plans and structuring space, but often also narratives.

本论文以1970年波兰《海岸前线作战计划》（Operational Plan for the Coastal Front）地图为研究基础。该地图展现了20世纪60年代末至70年代波兰军队联合作战计划的蓝图，详细阐述了针对北大西洋公约组织（North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO）国家及其驻北欧部队的进攻作战行动。据此可知，该地图本质上是一份作战行动地图，其设计初衷不仅在于勾勒并规范这场进攻行动的具体方案，同时也旨在构建叙事以彰显波兰军队有能力执行此类大规模军事行动。基于这张特定地图，我们提出论点：军事地图的区域作战尺度可被归类为展演性地图（performative maps），这类地图不仅用于规划行动、构建空间架构，通常还承载着叙事功能。