1945 Furman World War II Pictorial Unit Route Map of the European Civil Affairs Division

Restoring civilian governments in occupied and liberated Europe.

This is a 1945 Larry Furman World War II pictorial route map of western and central Europe highlighting the European Civil Affairs Division (ECAD). ECAD was responsible for reestablishing civilian governments in liberated and occupied territories. This map is true WWII scarcity, recorded only at the Library of Congress.

A Closer Look

The map depicts Western and Central Europe from the Bay of Biscay to Poland and Czechoslovakia, and from southern Scotland to central Italy and northern Spain. Red stars in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany mark ECAD offices or headquarters and the dates they were established. Alphanumeric codes near other cities identify the Civil Affairs detachments operating there. In the American Occupation Zone in Germany, a sign reads 'Under New Management U.S.A. Mil. Govt.' Just below a skull and crossbones marks the Dachau Concentration Camp, which is overlaid with a red star, underscoring that an ECAD detachment operated there.

Pictorial Vignettes

Pictorial vignettes occupy free space in Eastern and Central Europe. Some of these highlight wartime events. The most prominent is the Battle of the Bulge, illustrated with a tiny Civil Affairs soldier firing a rifle at a rotund German. There are also caricatures of British Prime Minister Winston ‘Winnie’ Churchill and Soviet Prime Minister Joseph ‘Joe’ Stalin. A calendar near Normandy that reads '7 June D+1 1944' and ECAD's activation at Shrivenham, England.

The remaining illustrations focus on women and alcohol. A GI appears in front of the Eiffel Tower chasing a French woman. Another illustration shows a GI propped up against a tree, drinking wine directly from the bottle while asking a French woman for one of the bottles she's holding. The Riviera Rest Center in Nice is marked by GI ogling a bikini-clad woman.

Not all the fraternization vignettes are comical, though. The German border is labeled 'Non-Fraternization Line,' and a German woman appears near the border of the U.S. Occupation Zone with the word 'Verboten?' (Forbidden). Fraternization was a subject that the U.S. Army took seriously but tolerated up to a point - at least outside Germany. Inside Germany, the official U.S. Army policy banned 'friendly, familiar, or intimate' interactions with German nationals.

The European Civil Affairs Division

ECAD was made up of soldiers trained to help reestablish civilian governments and day-to-day affairs in liberated and occupied territory. A staff of Civil Affairs officers was a part of the command structures of U.S. Army combat units, but the majority of Civil Affairs soldiers arrived in occupied areas after the front-line units moved on to continue fighting. These soldiers were responsible for 'feeding the living and burying the dead'. The U.S. Army viewed the establishment of civil governance in the occupied zones as a means to maintain the integrity of combat units (since these all-important units would not be diverted from combat to perform occupation duties) and to secure communication zones and other rear areas. In the words of General Dwight D. Eisenhower from November 1943:

Military government takes over occupied territory immediately and must face the problems of re-establishing law and order, maintaining securing of communications, suppressing elements of the population that might interfere with current or future operations, restoring facilities such as water, electric power, transportation and communications, seeing that food is supplied to the civil population. … Of necessity, during this phase of military occupation, military government must also deal with other economic and financial and, to some extent, political problems that inevitably arise. … However, as soon as the military situation permits, the responsibility for dealing with fundamental, long-term economic, financial, social, and political problems in occupied territory should shift to the appropriate agencies of government acting under the control of the theater commander pursuant to directives and policies established in the case of an Allied theater, by the two governments. (Millen 13.)

For more information on the European Civil Affairs Division, please reference 'Bury the Dead, Feed the Living:' The History of Civil Affairs/Military Government in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operation during World War II available for free through the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Larry Furman and published in 1945. There is one other known cataloged example, which is part of the collection at the Library of Congress.

Condition

Very good. Verso repairs to fold separations.

References

Millen, R., 'Bury the Dead, Feed the Living:' The History of Civil Affairs/Military Government in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operations during World War II (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute) 2019. Curtis, P., and J.S. Pederson, War Map: Pictorial Conflict Maps 1900-1950 (London: The Map House Sifton, Praed, and Co.) 2016: 207-208. Library of Congress Call Number G3201.S6 coll War Vault.