1945 Yost WWII Unit Route Map of the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion in Europe

This is a rare c. 1945 World War II unit route map of the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion in Europe prepared by 1st Lieutenant Francis L. Yost. This map highlights the battalion's movements across the continent, details its campaigns, and remembers the members of the battalions that were killed in action.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces northern and central Europe from Cherbourg, France, east to Salzburg. An orange line follows the 692nd's movements across Europe. Beginning with disembarkation at Cherbourg, the arrows follow the battalion east to Brussels and their first engagement in the campaign to liberate Antwerp. After that fight, the arrow points south and follows the 692nd to combat along the Siegfried Line before the battalion occupied defensive positions along the Roer River during the Battle of the Bulge. In February and March 1945, the battalion fought to the Rhine River and helped capture Cologne. After capturing Cologne, the 692nd continued its move south and was in Munich on April 30, 1945, and ended the war on the Salzach River. Text boxes along the top and bottom of the map provide short commentaries on these movements, from embarkation in New York through disembarkation, its three major campaigns, and then the trip home across the Atlantic on a Liberty ship. Insignia of armies, corps, and divisions to which the battalion was assigned frame the map on the left and bottom. Statistics concerning medals, rounds fired, enemy weapons and vehicles destroyed, enemy strongpoints neutralized, and number of prisoners captured appear along the left side of the sheet. On the right, the battalion's 19 members killed in action are remembered in an Honor Roll beneath a gold star. A complete roster of the battalion is printed on the verso.

World War II Route Maps

Maps tracing a unit's movements during World War II were created by American and British units both during and after the war. As a genre, these maps represent a wide range of aesthetics, from the purely functional that label places and provide dates, to the artistic, even comic. Many combine the two and provide a visually striking but historically informative summary of the unit's peregrinations.

Publication History and Census

This map was 'prepared by Francis L. Yost' and published c. 1945. Yost's time overseas matches that of the 692nd, and his highest rank attained (1st Lieutenant) matches that of the Yost who created this map. We note only one cataloged example, located at the University of Michigan. We know only one other example that has appeared on the private market in recent years.