1943 News Map of the Week, Early June 1943, World War II Developments

Global Counter-attack against Axis Forces.

This is an impressive June 1943 wall map prepared by News Map of the Week, Inc. in Chicago. It discusses major news events of the second week of June 1943, mostly relating to World War II (1939 - 1945), including a Chinese counter-offensive in western Hubei, as well as other domestic and international issues such as striking coal miners and a new government in Chile.

A Closer Look

The sheet is divided roughly in half, with the top being a world map on a Mercator Projection centered on the Americas and with countries color-shaded for easy distinction. Numbers, text boxes, and illustrations appear near various countries, referring to news from the preceding week, with the numbers corresponding to brief news stories recounted in the lower half of the sheet. The top story concerns a Chinese counteroffensive against Japanese troops (the Battle of West Hubei), backed by American planes, a costly victory that reclaimed significant territory around the city of Ichang (Yichang 宜昌) on the Yangtze River. Most other news stories relate to the war in one way or another, including developments in the Pacific Theater and, on the Russian Front, preparatory attacks that culminated in the decisive Battle of Kursk several weeks later. Even stories that ostensibly were not related to the war, such as a change in government in Chile or striking workers in the U.S., were deeply affected by the context of the war, showing how it pervaded all aspects of life at the time.

It should be noted that, although similar in style and content, the present map is distinct from the Newsmaps (one word) produced by the Army Information Branch for training and informing soldiers, several of which we have sold previously. Instead, this was an entirely civilian affair published by a private corporation for public consumption.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by News Map of the Week, Inc. in early June 1943. Although some other weekly news maps by the same company are cataloged in the OCLC, the present map is not, nor in any other institutional collection.

Cartographer

News Map of the Week Inc (c. 1940 - c. 1973) was a company based in Chicago, Illinois that published weekly educational broadsides that were distributed by subscription to elementary and high schools across the United States. The broadsides consisted of a world map on the top half and short summaries of the past week's headlines on the bottom half. Sometimes historical content other than material relating to the past week's news was included.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Wear along original fold lines. Slight loss at a few fold intersections.