The Battle of Medusa Map

Operation Medusa was one of the most significant land battles ever fought by NATO. The 2006 battle was a Canadian-led offensive during the war in Afghanistan (which has very recently ended with the withdrawal of  American-led troops). The Battle of Medusa led to NATO establishing government control over the area of Kandahar Province west of Kandahar city.Although the operation was a success it also resulted in the deaths of 12 Canadian soldiers and 14 British military personnel.

The Operation Medusa interactive map includes a number of map layers. The Objectives layer highlights on the map a number of villages in the Arghandab River valley which were a Taliban stronghold. The IED Heat Map layer and the IED Strikes and Finds layer highlight on the map the improvised explosive devices encountered by the Canadian troops during the battle. 

The Operation Medusa interactive map also includes a map overlay which appears to be satellite map which (judging by the numbered labels and colored annotations) appears to have been used to plan the battle operations. I can't be sure if this satellite map was actually part of NATO's resources for the battle. This is because the Operation Medusa map is critically missing an 'About' section. The result of this omission is that the Operation Medusa map desperately needs a written introduction to the battle, an explanation of how it progressed and an overview of the outcome of the battle.

Interactive military maps don't appear too often on Maps Mania. However I did post a very good map of the The Battle of Hong Kong 1941 last week. This map recounts the story of the Japanese capture of Hong Kong in the Second World War. The timeline control and text in this map provide a great example of how the context of a complex battle can be explained on an interactive map. 

You can view more military related maps using the military label on Maps Mania.