What does 'Big Hand, Small Map' mean?
Solution 1:
Big hands, small maps - that's the way to kill the chaps is a military saying. It is a saying which discourages having masses of resource but not enough fine detail about what to do with that resource; figuratively, from the idea of having maps too small to have sufficient resolution to see details of how the land lies.
The 'chaps' being killed are one's own soldiers, lost in battles where the military commanders had too little detail to work with and made big mistakes in where they put their resources.
The quotes below are taken from reports where responses are being avoided which are too clumsy, too fast and too ill-informed. Big strong hands, but not enough attention to fine detail.
The Scotsman
I would, as always, be studying the ground. "Big hands on little maps, that’s the way to kill the chaps," is an aphorism drummed into every general’s mind. The country to the south of Baghdad is laced with little waterways, the River Tigris bisects it. Every one must be assessed. Obstacle? Or opportunity? How will they affect my ability to manoeuvre? What use can I make of each terrain feature - and how best can I deny its use to the enemy?
ISIS
There are fields in this desert. Not oil fields, the other kind. Desert is obviously a very relative concept. In case you think I’m falling prey to “big hands, small maps, that’s the way to kill the chaps”, the land ISIS conquered over the summer produces 40 per cent of Iraq’s wheat.
The earliest quote I have yet found is an article in the Spectator in 1966
MANY books are written on strategy these days. And with the broad nibs currently popular almost anyone can take a hand in it: ' Big hands, small maps; —that's the way to kill the chaps.
A quote from a book about the Mau Mau campaign 1945-1960 in South Africa 'A History of the King's Africa Rifles' says :
Senior Officers denote tasks by circling a finger on a map. For bigger tasks a whole hand was necessary. A very big hand could glide very impressively over mountains [on the map]. The troops [subsequently] followed the hand, but not over the smoothness of the map.
The NGram for 'chaps' has a very strong peak in 1920 and it would be interesting to be able to trace this back to the First World War, if indeed that's where it came from and I suspect it might have done, given the circumstances.
I have joined a military forum and put the question out, and am waiting for any responses.