1945 188th Field Artillery Battalion World War II Pictorial Route Map of Europe

This is a 1945 188th Field Artillery Battalion World War II Route Map of Europe. The map traces the battalion's movements during the war, marking important events, and providing comedic commentary on the experience.

From England to Germany

Tracing the 188th Field Artillery Battalion's wartime experiences, the map picks up the battalion's route on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) in Selsey, England. It follows the battalion's movements through southern England to a marshaling area in Bournemouth and June 10 embarkation at Weymouth. The battalion landed on Utah Beach on June 11 (D+5) and, by July 5, was fighting alongside the 82nd Airborne. The battalion's progress across France is illustrated, noting dates and important events, including the July 25 breakthrough with the 1st Division. Bagnoles and Chartres follow in quick succession.

Paris is marked by a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower and a French woman reaching out to embrace a GI in a jeep. The GI, with eyes fixed on the woman, nearly overturns the jeep and elbows his buddy in the face! Then comes 'The Rat Race' across northeastern France, when the Allies chased the German army over hundreds of miles. Significantly, at Mons in early September, the battalion helps capture a German major general and his staff.

Next is the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge during Christmas 1944, illustrated here by a GI bracing against the wind with snow on his helmet and shoulders. After the victory at the Bulge, the map marks the crossing of the Rhine (an important event in the memory of many GIs) and a quick advance across Germany. Perhaps the most important event for many of the men in this battalion happened on April 23, when they fired the 70,744th and final round. Intriguingly, the map does not note V-E Day, a rare occurrence in the genre. The map ends on May 11 in Bachra, where the battalion was assigned to Occupation Duty.

The final illustration, in Germany below Bachra, features a soldier (likely a private) on sentry duty sweating under the watch of an officer as a shapely German woman walks by in a short dress. American soldiers were strictly forbidden from 'fraternizing' with German civilians, but that didn't prove to be a problem for some. The insignia of the 188th Field Artillery Battalion occupies the upper left, while the insignia of the VII Army Corps (to which the 188th was assigned) occupies the upper right.

World War II Route Maps

Maps tracing unit movements during World War II were created by both American and British forces during and after the war. As a genre, these maps represent a broad range of aesthetics, from the purely functional that label places and provide dates, to the artistic and comic. Many combine the three and provide a visually striking but historically informative summary of the war.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by an unknown artist and reproduced by the 663rd Engineer Company in 1945, likely in Germany. We note three cataloged examples. One appeared in a bibliography of military histories at the Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania published in 1978, another is part of the Clarence M. Forester papers at the Minnesota Historical Society, and a thrid is held at Texas A and M University.