ENGINEERING GEOSCIENCES AND MILITARY OPERATIONS

The earliest recorded use of geology for the terrain assessment of the battlefield occurred at Katzback in 1813 and contributed to the defea t of Napoleon's Army. Ever since, most major military operations have utilized geologic counsel to evaluate the terrain and features or exec ute battle actions. The value of geologic insight was recognized in bo oks on the military applications of geology in 1859 and 1885 and the r elease of ''Militargeologie'' in 1913 by a German Army officer. During World War I, geologic data became available on specialized maps for: trafficability and movement of supplies, vehicles and personnel; ident ifying water and construction materials sources; planning and design o f surface and underground fortifications; and guidance of underground warfare via tunneling. U.S. Forces (1917-18) prepared the first engine ering geology maps for battlefield use and construction of field works . All participants acknowledged the importance of geology after the wa r for resources, strategy, and understanding battleground features for tactics and combat. A field manual for Military Geology (Wehrgeologie ) was released by the German Army in 1938. The geologic assessment of potential battle areas and strategic features became increasingly impo rtant during World War II, for example, pre-war German terrain maps of North Africa with location of water sources and the wadis, steep-wall ed barriers to mechanized movements. The U.S. Military Geology Unit pr epared geologic folios for the southern European operations and throug hout the Pacific Island region, The British Military Geology Unit supp lied maps and geologic counsel for the western European operations. Re finement of on-going geological practices aided such operations as: th e selection of airborne landing sites and airfields, beachheads and as sault landings; location and construction of surface and underground p rotective installations; as well as other works, for example, harbors for Normandy landings. Military geophysics became critical for naval p urposes, for example, development of magnetic and acoustically active mines, tracking German U-boats and supplying maps of the sea bottom an d sediments; aerial heat-sensing techniques identified Vietnam Era mov ements beneath the jungle cover. During the 1940s and 1950s, GeoScienc e principles and techniques were utilized on an unprecedented scale fo r military and engineering purposes. Tunneling, so successful by Union Forces in Civil War and by the British in World War II, became a majo r offensive weapon of the North Koreans in the 1950s. Infiltration tun nels exist today beneath I-he Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and South Korea . The permanent Military Geology Branch, U.S. Geological Survey (1946) , studied atomic rest sites in the Pacific and Nevada. Research by U.S . Army Corps Engineers and RAND Corporation led to the design and cons truction of underground installations by the 1960s. Geoscientists inte rpreted the Rainier (1957) nuclear detonations and discriminated betwe en a nuclear explosion and a seismic event. This National Security pro ject (1957-66) relied on many GeoScience principles and techniques, an d the Plowshare program of the 1960s adapted this database for many po tential military and industrial purposes. Geologic efforts during the Vietnam Era of widespread guerilla warfare required a shift from the e stablished approach of folios and terrain maps by a centralized geolog ical unit. Geologic functions were largely refocused from the army com bat forces to the Defense Intelligence Agency by the 1970s. Many Natio nal Security projects serve the military establishment and are depende nt on the principles of geoscience. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.