1945 WWII Route Map of the 486th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion in Europe

This is a rare separate issue 1945 World War II route map of the 486th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion in Europe. The map follows the battalion from its arrival on Omaha Beach to Dessau, Germany.

A Closer Look

A bold red line illustrates the battalion's route, with red flags marking the location of battalion command posts. Typewritten notes highlight events and dates, from the battalion's arrival at Omaha Beach on June 23, 1944, to V-E Day (May 9, 1945), noting that it was 'relieved of AA mission.' Other captions note tallies of downed aircraft, dates when the battalion crossed the Rhine River, and other milestones in their fight across Europe. Yellow on both sides of the red line highlights territory 'furnished AA protection' by the battalion's antiaircraft guns. Major towns are labeled. The whole is overlaid on a winding strip of a map of Europe, providing context to the 486th's movements.

World War II Route Maps

Maps tracing unit movements during World War II were issued by both American and British forces during and after the war. As a genre, these maps represent a broad range of aesthetics, from the purely functional that labels places and provides dates to the artistic and comic. Many combine the three and provide a visually striking and historically informative summary of the unit's experiences.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by an unknown artist and published c. 1945. This piece does not appear in the OCLC, and we note only one cataloged example, which is part of the collection at the Controvich Library. A map bearing the same title was published as part of History of Battery A 486th AAA (AW) BN in 1945. However, that map was printed in black and white and does not include yellow highlighting for the 'area furnished AA protection by Battalion', as on the present map.