1941 Turner Map of Europe During World War II - his first map!

This is a 1941 Stanley Francis Turner map of Europe during World War II (1939 - 1945), likely Turner's first 'Dated Events' map. This map was issued in late May or early June, based on the events noted. Text boxes mark events, including combat actions and declarations of war, beginning with the 1938 Anschluss. Icons illustrate areas rich in resources, including steel, wheat, coal, and iron - valuable to the war effort on both sides. France is divided into the Occupied Zone and the Unoccupied Zone.

Inset Maps

An inset in the upper left details American forces and marks American and British naval bases, also naming a handful of events. A second inset, along the top, illustrates Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Soviet Union. The third inset in the top half of the map details East Asia and the Pacific, marking American, British, Japanese, and Russian naval bases as far east as Wake Island. Curiously, no mention of fighting in Asia is made. In the lower-left, a fourth inset details the situation in Africa and marks the failed Free French attack on Dakar and De Gaulle's successful arrival in Douala.

Turner's First World War II Map?

Unlike nearly every other map Turner published, the coloring on this map is not coordinated. Here, the color is only used to distinguish between countries, not to align them with one side of the conflict or another. It appears that this is also Turner's only map where oceans are black. We have been unable to locate an earlier Turner map, suggesting that this is his first. His many subsequent maps, published throughout World War II, represent individually and in aggregate a unique cartographic history of the war.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Stanley Francis Turner and published by C.C. Petersen in 1941. We have been unable to locate any other examples of the present - making it also the rarest Turner map.