York: German 1940s WW2 town plan

Historical photographs and views for museums, archives and collectors

Business opportunity: Republish the rare town plan of York issued by the Germans in 1940 for their invasion of Britain (or buy a single copy)

In the early 1940s, the German army planned to invade Britain.

As part of their invasion preparations, they issued small-scale A5 or A4 coloured street plans of towns and cities across the UK to be attacked by ground troops during the invasion including an A4 plan of York.

These town plans were issued strictly For Official Use Only! (Nur für den Dienstgebrauch!) by the German Department for War Maps and Surveying (Abteilung für Kriegskarten und Vermessungswesen) within the German General Staff (Generalstab des Heeres).

Operation Sealion (Operation Sealöwe): Although the Germans abandoned their invasion plans following the Battle of Britain, they would have used the same fast-moving Blitzkrieg tactics against English towns and cities which had been so successful earlier in the war against Poland, the Low Countries and France.

Rare opportunity: As 1940s originals of these invasion town plans are difficult to find, we're printing a very small number (around 4 or 5) of a special A5 (8.5 x 6 inches; 21 x 15 cms) edition of the York town plan for £6. More importantly, a high resolution scan enabling you to publish and market your own copies in any size, format or number you want is also available for just £18.

Watermark overlay not on scan or image provided

A5 colour printed edition - £6: Our own special A5 edition for collectors is supplied on fine white paper, captioned on the reverse and laminated for protection or for museum and public or private exhibition display, costs £6, post free UK.

Copyright: The copyright notice shown on the image above does not appear on the town plan supplied. However, please note that images supplied by Coloptics in this A5 printed format remain the copyright of Coloptics and are supplied for personal use only (including private or public display) - you may not copy or reproduce them in any way, or post them on the internet. If you wish to reprint or republish this town plan you must purchase a high-resolution scan of the town plan - see next paragraph.

Business opportunity: high resolution 600 d.p.i. scans, at £18: This rare town plan is now available from us as a high resolution 600 d.p.i. scan, complete with its German text, taken from our private collection of originals, at a cost of £18. The scan is supplied on a memory stick or cd-rom under a non-exclusive single-user licence enabling you to print out or republish and market multiple copies of this image in any size from postcard to large poster.

No copyright or royalty fee: No further copyright or royalty fee is payable but each image, however printed or distributed, must contain at the head or foot of the image the credit line in small but legible type "Historical image © Coloptics.com". The copyright notice appearing in the centre of the images above does not, of course, appear in the scan provided.

Never before reprinted or widely marketed: We ourselves have reprinted a very small number (around 4 or 5 of each) of this same historical image in an A5 format.

With this exception, we're not aware of this town plan ever having been reprinted or made available to the general public in any format, thus providing you with substantial opportunity for printing and marketing this item in larger and varying formats within local regional areas to a wide range of private and trade customers.

How to order by debit/credit card: Click on the Visa/MC logo to order securely by debit or credit card through PayPal.

German York town plan A5; 8.5 x 6 inches; 21 x 15 cms: £6.00 post free UK

German York town plan high resolution scan cd-rom: £18.00

Click here to order town plan scan cd-rom

How to order by cheque: Send your order with a cheque, made payable to "Coloptics.com", to:

The Clique, 7 Pulleyn Drive, York YO24 1DY, U.K.