How to use the officer line. Military history, weapons, old and military maps

This subject is familiar to most guys who grew up in the 90s. Classmates glanced at the happy owner of a transparent strip with many holes in the form of various geometric figures with envy. These days, this item is more of a rarity.

Officer line rather, it is a kind of stencil with which special signs can be applied to paper. For ease of use, it is usually made of some kind of transparent material. The USSR officer ruler was made of transparent celluloid. The material was not completely transparent, but had a yellow-gray color. In modern Russian army an officer's ruler is used, cast from solid transparent plastic.

It is used for orientation, according to a topographic map, on the ground, determining coordinates, with its help it is possible to draw fonts, figures, numbers, measure angles. In fact, it is a universal tool and a complete set of drawing devices in one tool. Intended for:

measurements, including on topographic maps and plans;
drawing on working documents ( topographic map) conventional signs, somehow:
own and enemy formations.
their intended tasks
their actions, planned and actual
placement of various weapons, equipment and means
use of various weapons and equipment
prohibited zones, zones of fires, floods, radiation, chemical, biological (bacteriological) contamination
military highways, routes, column roads
creation of graphic images, schemes, plans.

See also:

Arriving after graduating from the Academy in the sunny city of Arkhangelsk, work began on preparing for flights, which consisted, first of all, in the desire to fly, solid theoretical knowledge, prepared flight maps and black socks, as a bright future showed.
I already wrote about the role of black socks, and if you haven’t read it, then read it.
The desire to fly became obsessive. The matter remained only with the prepared flight maps. In addition to the route with airfields, it was necessary to designate restricted areas, radio navigation aids, elevation and much more. The officer line helped a lot in this. The officer's ruler had stencils, and the preparation of cards was not too tedious. However, officer's rulers were not included in the mandatory navigational equipment, but were sometimes sold in military auctions, and were not only officer's rulers, but also in short supply.
I had such a valuable officer line. In addition, I was talented enough in drawing, so my flight maps could compete with works of art. In general, flight maps were prepared and began to fly. Flights, by the way, were not in short supply.
Somehow it was necessary to show flight maps to the chief navigator with a new top-secret zone marked. We were in reserve, and I decided to draw that top-secret area on the flight map. I was about to go to paint, when I discovered that I had lost the officer's ruler. You don't have to talk about it. how upset I was. My mood was corrected by the An-24 commander with whom we flew. He said:
-Hold, Lech, the ruler. You have a bubble!
I gratefully took the ruler, on which the commander's name was scrawled, and put it in a safe place, and we safely drank the bottle I bought after the flights.
I have already retrained on the Tu-134, managed to get married and buy an apartment, and my wife gave birth to a child, and the child grew up to sledding. With the whole family, we went for a walk and, passing by the military trade, we decided to go there.
It was the end of the month, the military trade, fulfilling the plan, “threw out” the deficit in the form of officer lines of which I bought about ten.
The next day I went into the navigation room and presented a ruler to everyone sitting there. The same An-24 commander with whom I flew was sitting there, and who helped me out with an officer's line for a bubble.
“And me,” he asked.
I gave him the same ruler that I once received from him for the bubble.
Another important navigational attribute was the NL-10 navigation bar. The navigational slide rule is a very handy thing for calculations, scratching the spine and other equally useful things. These rulers were given to us, but I had a clear respect for the ruler, so it was enough for me for a period of 2 and even 3 times more than it was supposed to. So I saved the rulers and was very pleased that the country was getting richer. The country is rapidly getting richer, and I am getting richer with the country.
I moved to my homeland, to Leningrad, St. Petersburg.
There I was given a new navigation bar and I flew again. Then I met an American (When Bolivar can't stand two)
That American woman had a cousin who flew a Lear-Jet. All foreigners were obsessed with our wooden abacus. So I decided that NL-10.
just amaze him cousin! And so it happened, but that's another story.
In general, the NL-10 navigation line flew with me for 5 years in the North and another 2-3 years in St. Petersburg and collapsed. I also had a spare NL-10, and used it. Maybe he showed something to someone, maybe he brought up someone, maybe something else, only there was no ruler in the navigational portfolio! And that's why I was very upset about it. We had to fly first to Arkhangelsk, and then to Naryan-Mar, but there was no line. No, these are the tracks of my childhood in Aviation, but there is no NL-10! I flew there without navigation devices, but there is no navigation bar! It's like on a steamboat you suddenly discover that there is no lifeline!
I flew with a very heavy heart and without a spark of any inspiration.
We sat down in Arkhangelsk, where everyone remembers and loves me. I'm to the chief navigator, they say there is no ruler. But Leonid Alexandrovich would be glad to give, but there is nothing.
We flew to Naryan-Mar. There is no mood at all. (What the country has been brought to. There are not even navigation rulers!)
I come to the navigation room, and there on the table NL-10 is almost new, but with the name of the happy owner. I almost fell on my knees just to get the ruler back. And that navigator on duty told me, they say, if only to exchange for an officer. I almost jumped for joy! I have had those rulers since those Northern times, and after 5 minutes they were already with that navigator on duty, and I had the NL-10!
Then we landed at Pulkovo. My ruler was soon found, and a couple of days later all our pilots began to bring me navigation rulers. They brought it to the whole squadron! When they wrote me off in 2004, I gave all the lines to the young guys, and kept two for myself. The one with which he flew before the “loss”, and the one from Naryan-Mar.

Various lines of officers (commanders) of the operational-tactical level of command, navigation, "standard" officers and simply having patterns in themselves in accordance with the legal documents of the National Guard, the Armed Forces of the RF Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and other law enforcement agencies (departments), as well as there are lines for dentistry...

1. A topographic ruler measuring 15*12.5 cm is very convenient when working with maps of basic scales 1:10,000, 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000. Allows you to very quickly determine the coordinates of objects (points) and angles on them. It is indispensable when passing standards for topography. The price is 250 rubles per piece.

2. The ruler of the operational-tactical control link (medium) in A5 format and 21 * 15 cm in size has the main tactical patterns (figures) and allows you to quickly and conveniently apply a tactical situation, take coordinates and determine angles using standard ruler scales and a hemispherical protractor. The price is 450 rubles per piece.

3. A large officer's ruler of the operational-tactical level of command for the work of topographic maps (schemes) of various scales 27 * 18 cm in size, just under the field (commander's) bag. It has much more patterns (figures) and allows you not only to apply a tactical situation, take coordinates and determine angles with a full-fledged protractor with a 360 degree scale, but also sign conventional signs with the same height of letters and numbers (especially convenient for those who have "lame" handwriting). The price is 600 rubles per piece.

4. Ruler for dentistry (orthopedists). It helps to calculate where to move the teeth in millimeters, to the correct position, their inclination, etc. The price is 220 rubles per piece.

5. The officer's "standard" line has licks developed back in Soviet time and a number of additional ones. The price is 300 rubles per piece.

6. The navigator's ruler contains licks intended for work by military personnel of aviation military units and units, directly by navigators and cadets of the corresponding higher educational institutions. The price is 280 rubles per piece.

7. Likalo military size 15 * 10 cm, compact enough for a breast pocket. It does not have a ruler scale and is designed to work on conventional topographic maps (working map, commander’s decision map), diagrams and plotting on them the tactical situation in the immediate areas of defense and concentration of troops, directions of the main and other strikes, aviation fire, a number of KNP battalion, company, platoon and a number of intelligence agencies. The price is 250 rubles per piece.

In the presence of rulers, sending is carried out by mail on the same day after the order and payment or the next. All lines are made from modern material 0.5-0.7 mm thick, bend and do not break (without fanaticism, of course). Payment in cash or transfer to a Sberbank card. If you have any questions, write here by mail or whatsapp, call, ask! I will send additional photos of the lines via whatsapp. In cases where they did not pick up the phone, it means I'm busy, I'll call you back ...

This subject is familiar to most children who grew up in the USSR. Classmates glanced at the happy owner of a transparent strip with many holes in the form of various geometric figures with envy. These days, this item is more of a rarity. Even the military itself is less and less resorting to the use of paper maps.

A bit of history

The exact time when people began to use the ruler is unknown, however, during excavations of the settlements of the ancient Hellenes buried under layers of sand and stone, archaeologists found even wooden planks with divisions. This is not surprising, because the architectural monuments of that era are impressive. The ancient designers who created these structures probably used one or another drawing tool when developing projects.

A ruler with modern measures of length appeared in France. One fine day, people got tired of endlessly converting one measure of length into another (pounds, inches, arshins, cubits, etc.) and a meter was taken as a measure of length - one forty-millionth of the circumference of the globe.

Well, like any human invention, the ruler, having been born, began to develop rapidly. There are no lines whatsoever. The usual strip with divisions. Ruler in the form of a square with different angles. The usual indispensable protractor in drawing is a semicircle with divisions into degrees, etc.

Why did the officers need a ruler

The military, planning their actions, have used maps since time immemorial. And if the generals of antiquity did not have questions about how to plot the location of their troops and enemy forces on the terrain map, then in times close to modern times, everything became not so simple.

The success of a planned offensive often depended on the strict execution by subordinate units of a specific task in a specified place and in given time. Not the last role in this was played by the maps of the area that the commanders had. The locations of units, the directions of strikes and counterattacks, and the locations of fortifications were marked on them.

Troops have long ceased to consist only of cavalry and infantry. On the map, it was necessary to indicate both machine-gun nests, and the location of communications equipment, gun crews, positions military equipment and much more.

It is precisely because of the variety of symbols and signs applied to military topographic maps that it became necessary to unify all these designations. The goal is to make a map developed by one officer understandable and "readable" for all his other colleagues in uniform. The standard officer line began to be widely used during the First World War, and at once by all the warring parties.

What is the line of officers

Probably everyone knows what this drawing tool looks like. The officer's ruler is rather a kind of stencil with which special signs can be applied to paper. For ease of use, it is usually made of some kind of transparent material. The USSR officer ruler was made of transparent celluloid. The material was not completely transparent, but had a yellow-gray color. In the modern Russian army, an officer's ruler is used, cast from solid transparent plastic.

Lovers of antiques appreciate the Soviet version. But not only collectors are drawn to the old days. Oddly enough, officers who, by occupation, still have to use the ruler, also prefer “Made in the USSR”. The fact is that the officer's ruler, made of celluloid, practically does not break, unlike the modern brother.

What are

The officer's ruler is not 100% universal. Some troops had certain types. Here, for example, is a standard officer line. Photo from a standard set of officer's tablet.

Not much different and the next option. This is a naval officer's line. Cadets of military schools also had their own line.

And here is another officer's line. Photo from the equipment of the US Army.

And such rulers were found on prisoners or those killed German officers during the Great Patriotic War.

How it is used

Any of the listed types of rulers contains a set of all kinds of badges that the military usually designate certain tactical units. It is enough to put a ruler, press and circle the desired figure with a pencil. A whole set of various symbols and various figures (contours aircraft, ships, other pieces of equipment) contains any officer line.

Scale windows are designed to, without wasting precious time on calculations, estimate the distance on the map in real units of measurement. All other features of the standard line No. 2 are the same as any other drafting device. Separate edges of the officer's line are made in the form of irregularities of various configurations. With their help, wavy lines are drawn on the map. Almost all rulers have a familiar protractor - an angle measurer.

Some copies have a section in the form of a magnifying glass, with which you can make out small symbols and inscriptions on the map.

It is more difficult to use specialized lines. For example, an artillery officer's line. This is a whole measuring device with which the gunner could calculate, in addition to the firing range, some parameters of the ballistic trajectory, sector of fire, etc.

Application of symbols on topographic maps and other working documents).

In English - combat mission plotter (line of combat events)

It is used for orientation on a topographic map, on the ground, determining coordinates, with its help it is possible to draw fonts, figures, numbers, measure angles. In fact, it is a universal tool and a complete set of drawing devices in one tool.

Intended for:

• measurements, including on topographic maps and plans;
• drawing on working documents (topographic map) conventional signs, such as:
  • own and enemy formations.
  • their intended tasks
  • their actions, planned and actual
  • placement of various weapons, equipment and means
  • use of various weapons and equipment
  • prohibited zones, zones of fires, floods, radiation, chemical, biological (bacteriological) contamination
  • military highways, routes, column roads
• creation of graphic images, schemes, plans.

Compound

Includes:

• ruler;
• protractor (180 degrees) with a two-sided millimeter scale of divisions;
• various geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, squares, triangles, ovals, and so on);
• special graphic images and inscriptions Ruler officer, price and manufacturer;
• scale scale;
• stencils.

The size

Price

• USSR - 47 kopecks;
• Russian Federation - from 7 to 30 rubles.

see also

• Artillery Circle AK-3
• Chordogoniometer

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Notes

Literature

• I. D. Pombrik, N. A. Shevchenko, "Commander's Work Card", Military Publishing House, Moscow, 1967.
• Great Soviet Encyclopedia . - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Textbook, "Military Topography", a team of authors, Military Publishing House, M., 1983.
• Combat Charter of the Ground Forces, Parts I, II, III, Military Publishing, M., 1983.
• Universal German-Russian Dictionary, Akademik.ru, 2011.

Links

An excerpt characterizing the Officer's line