XIX Corps in Action: From D-Day (6 June 1944) to Germany
- Title:
- XIX Corps in Action: From D-Day (6 June 1944) to Germany
- Alternate Title:
- XIX Corps in Action
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- MacMillan, T/5 Henry J.
- Date:
- 1944
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1320.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1320_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Subject:
- World War II
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 44 x 68 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- Following the end of World War II, many military units issued decorative maps of their areas of operation intended to commemorate their service. The collection includes several examples: ID #1331, 50th AAA Brigade (1945); ID #2116, 69th Infantry Division (1945); ID #2280.01-.02, XIX Corps (1945). Virtually all of these maps were issued either immediately after the end of the war or in connection with a later reunion of the unit.
This map is particularly unusual and interesting, because it was produced in October 1944, while the unit was still heavily engaged in battle, and was therefore part of the continuing effort to maintain morale. In the top right corner of the map - the portion of Germany under attack by the XIX Corps - is an image of a large Wagnerian opera singer lighting her torch to a funeral bier. The text reads "Last Acte - Now Playing - Die Gotterdammerung - Conducted by Eisenhower." Below that, the map says that "the 1944 edition of the German national anthem" will be "Deutschland Unter Allies." The map was printed on one side of an edition of the unit's newspaper, "Le Tomahawk," ID #1320.02. (The tomahawk was the symbol of the XIX Corps. See http://www.xixcorps.nl/XIX_Corps_Insignia.htm, accessed January 25, 2015.) In addition to some notes about D-Day activity, the newspaper summarizes the unit's actions in September and provides considerable detail on the successful fight from October 2-16 to breach the Siegfried line and encircle Aachen. The XIX Corps continued fighting in Germany until the German surrender in May 1945. See http://www.xixcorps.nl/XIX_Corps_Chronology_May_1945.htm, accessed January 25, 2015. Interestingly, the same unit produced an updated version of this map at the end of the war, again on one side of the "Tomahawk" unit newspaper summarizing later engagements. See ID #2280.01-.02, "XIX Corps in Action: From Siegfried Line to Victory."
For a comparable German map, intended to raise morale in 1942 concerning the fighting along the Eastern Front, see ID #1306, Mit Uns im Osten (With Us in the East).
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:
- Le Tomahawk (newspaper), vol. 2, no. 6 (October 1944).
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.