Mit Uns im Osten [With Us in the East]
- Title:
- Mit Uns im Osten [With Us in the East]
- Alternate Title:
- With Us in the East
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Faller, Leo [1902-1969]
- Date:
- 1942
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1306.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1306_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Materials/Techniques:
- color printing
- Subject:
- Deception/Distortion
World War II
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 50 x 112 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This large fold-out pictorial map accompanied a propaganda book entitled Mit Uns im Osten, a series of photos documenting the Ulm Infantry Division (German 5th Infantry Division) as it fought on the eastern front in 1941. The Division's symbol - the image of the Ulm Cathedral atop the wings of a seagull - adorns the compass rose.
The book is a collection of generally patriotic, victorious war photographs: military gear, troops working together, the capture of villages and enemy soldiers, the award of medals. The images on the map reinforce the positive message. The only tanks on the map are German. The sky is filled with German bombers and fighters, while only two Soviet planes are shown - crashed west of Minsk. The German troops are organized, whether performing routine duties or attacking surrounded Russians. The Soviet troops, in contrast, are fighting chaotically when they're not surrendering or being marched away as prisoners.
The mapmaker was Leo Faller, a German painter and graphic artist. The legend below the map on the left says that it was approved by the senior Propaganda Division of the Wehrmacht (Freigegeben vom Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, Abteilung fur Wehrmacht Progaganda III) on January 12, 1942. The map is not mentioned or credited in the book, and may have been added by the publisher.
The map presents an illustrated timeline of the Division's activities as part of the German Army Group Center, beginning in the fight along the Bialystok-Minsk front in June 1941, and continuing in the battle for Smolensk in July and August (see Kirchubel 2007, 10 (chronology)). The Ulm Division's battle for Viazma (Wjasma on the map) was part of operation Typhoon, the German drive to capture Moscow launched on September 30. The map shows the Ulm Division engaged in the final drive for Viazma on December 2-10, 1941, the last date provided, and about the same time some Panzer units had reached within 12 miles of Moscow. In fact, this was the high water mark of the Division's activities, and essentially the high water mark of the German invasion. Winter was closing in, wet and cold. And the Russians had rushed troops from the Soviet Far East
during the month of November alone, their forces along the front and in close reserve had grown by 1.8 million men, mostly committed to defend Moscow (Ibid. 77-78, 86, 89). The failure of Operation Typhoon was certainly known at the time this map was "approved" in January 1942.
For another map intended to boost morale, this one issued in October 1944 by an American unit fighting in Germany, see ID #1320.01-.02, "XIX Corps in Action: From D-Day (6 June 1944) to Germany."
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Köstlin, Wolfgang, ed. 1942. Mit Uns im Osten: Eine Bildfolge vom Einsatz der Ulmer Infanterie-Division [With Us In the East: A Sequence of Images from the Ulm Infantry Division]. Stuttgart: Chr. Belser Verlagsbuchhandlung.
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.