Air Fronts: FM 21-25, Elementary Map and Aerial Photograph Reading - CHAPTER 10. On the Road

CHAPTER 10: ON THE ROAD

It is very easy to get lost when you drive along a highway, even in the United States where there are all kinds of signs and directions about for the use of the motorist. It is even easier to lose your way in strange country and in wartime. Maps and compasses are important instruments to keep you on the right road. You must keep your map oriented, preferably by inspection, if you can find the right roads on your map (fig. 111). Besides that, you must check yourself at all times. You, must watch your mileage gauge at all important points, and keep a record of it in a notebook or on your map, so that you always know where you are.

Figure 111

The mileage gauge is especially important in a case like figure 112. Here the driver finds two left intersections on the road, a mile apart. His map is out of date and shows just one road. Which one should the driver take? By measuring the distance from his starting point to the junction on his map the driver can find out how far he should have traveled before taking the turn. Now he had been careful enough to watch his mileage gauge before he started on his trip he would be able to figure out how far he had come and he would know which of -the two roads was the right one. If he had failed to note his mileage gauge, he would not know, which road to take.

Figure 112

Figure 113