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1945 Sarkisian Pictorial Map of the WWII 6th Corps Rest Center in Nancy, France
6thCorpsRestCenter-sarkisian-1945$350.00
Title
VI Corps Rest Center Nancy, France. / The VI Corps Rest Center at Nancy France How to Get Around.
1945 (dated) 17.5 x 17.75 in (44.45 x 45.085 cm)
1945 (dated) 17.5 x 17.75 in (44.45 x 45.085 cm)
Description
This is a Leo Sarkisian pictorial map of the VI Corps Rest Center in Nancy, France, published in March 1945, two months before the end of World War II in Europe.
A Closer Look
Rest centers were strategically located in safe-zones where front-line soldiers could relax, get a shower, clean clothes, and a warm meal. Here, both Officers' Rests, at the Hotel Excelsior, and Enlisted (EM) Rest Centers are located. As advertised here, movies were shown just down the street from the Excelsior. The PX (Post Exchange) and the GI Diner are also marked. An arrow and a Red Cross symbol identify the Red Cross Club, and a French Red Cross worker holds a steaming cup of coffee and states, 'Me Compree Engleesh!' An illustration of a building labeled 'Rejuvenation!!' occupies the lower left. A line of exhausted soldiers in combat gear enters the building from the left, two of whom carry one of their comrades by the shoulders and the legs. Then, with a 'BANG!' the soldiers appear out the right side, running with delight. The one in the lead has turned into a wolf (a common illustration among GI publications representing a lecherous soldier on the prowl women) with money in one hand and a clawed 'paw' outstretched toward a woman's silhouette. On the right, three GIs sit around a table drinking when one of them yells, 'Say! Did I ever tell ya about Anzio or Salerno?' (Sarkisian was at both Anzio and Salerno, suggesting this illustration is a personal reference.) The verso features a list of available entertainment and special services.WWII Rest Centers
Rest centers were established in Italy and France in Rome, outside Florence, near Naples, in Nancy (as here), Dijon, and Bains Les Bains, to name a few. Men were given 3-4 day passes to the rest centers. World War II rest centers have been subject to only limited research; however, a paper prepared for the Combined Arms Research Activity Operations by Dr. Edward J. Drea in 1983 entitled Unit Reconstitution - A Historical Perspective provides the best retrospective,A division stayed in or near the front line until the campaign ended. Individual replacements joined the division wherever it was when they reported for duty. Furthermore, the policy of keeping combat divisions up to strength by a steady stream of replacements made unit rotation impossible and unnecessary. No passes, for example, were granted in the ETO until 1 October 1944. Rest and recreation centers for corps or divisions did not receive attention until mid October of the same year. Even then the division itself had to sponsor a rest area for its men and received little support from corps or army in the projects. Rest centers within corps had very limited capacities, 800 men in the VIII Corps, 600 in V Corps, 2,400 in VII Corps, and 600 in III Corps. Unit commanders designated men as individuals to go to rest centers, while the majority of the unit remained on the line or in reserve just behind the line.Drea continues,
In the Italian Campaign, the British estimated that their riflemen would last 400 combat days because they rotated their infantrymen out of the line at the end of 12 days or less for a rest of 4 days. In contrast, the American soldier in Italy usually stayed on the line without relief for 20 to 30 days, frequently for 30 to 40 days, and occasionally for 80 days. A postwar US Army board recommended that there should be some system to rotate men out of the line for short periods of time for rest. Frequent relief for short periods was preferable to less frequent relief for longer periods. Third Army in the ETO believed that additional planning should have been given to the matter of rest centers for troops coming off the line. Camps were developed ad hoc by the combat units, but a more systematic approach to provide adequate facilities for rest and recreation would have allowed more to have been done for the combat soldier.
Publication History and Census
This map was drawn by Leo Sarkisian and printed by the 661 Engineer Topographic Company in March 1945. This map does not appear in any institutional catalogs and has appeared only twice (that we can identify) on the private market.Cartographer
Leo Sarkisian (January 4, 1921 - June 8, 2018) was the founder, director, and producer of Music Time in Africa, the longest-running broadcast of Voice of America to Africa. He was a musicologist, musician, artist, and audio engineer who spent 47 years working for Voice of America, retiring in 2012 at 91. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Sarkisian was the son of Armenian immigrants who fled ethnic violence in Turkey. He played clarinet in the local high school band and studied Middle Eastern music theory with an Armenian violinist in his hometown. However, it was his talent for drawing that earned him a scholarship. He attended and graduated from the Vesper George School of Fine Arts in Boston with a degree in fine arts, commercial, and illustration art with honors. Not long after graduating, he joined the U.S. Army and served in intelligence during World War II as a cartographer. He served in North Africa (Morocco and Algeria) before participating in the Allied landing at Anzio since he was familiar with the terrain from studying aerial photographs. He also fought in France, Austria, and Germany. During his time in Europe, he continued drawing, using business cards he had found in an abandoned business in North Africa. He drew sketches of wartime life and portraits of people he encountered. After the war, Sarkisian worked as a commercial artist in New York City and spent countless hours reading about music from Japan, China, Central and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East at the New York Public Library and published essays about what he was learning. These essays came to the attention of Irving Fogel, who operated Tempo Records, a company that acquired field recordings for use in movies. Fogel hired Sarkisian because of his knowledge of music and facility with languages (he learned Armenian, Turkish, and French as a child and eventually added Farsi and some Arabic) and brought him and his wife to Los Angeles, where he taught him to be an audio engineer. Fogel sent the Sarkisians to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh in 1950 to help local radio stations. What was supposed to be an 8-month trip turned into 3.5 years after Sarkisian befriended the King of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah. The Sarkisians traveled Afghanistan with a reel-to-reel recorder, recorded local music, and spoke with villagers in their own languages. Tempo sent the Sarkisians to West Africa in 1959, where they recorded in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Guinea. Then, in 1963, while living in Conakry, Guinea, the legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow knocked on the Sarkisian's door and offered Leo a job with the Voice of America in Liberia. That was the beginning of his 47-year career with VOA. Sarkisian launched Music Time in Africa in 1965 and never looked back. Two years later, production of Music Time in Africa was moved to Washington, D.C., but Sarkisian continued to travel throughout Africa for the next 25 years, recording hundreds of hours of traditional and contemporary African music. Leo retired from VOA in September 2012. Leo met his wife shortly after returning to the United States following World War II. He and Mary Andonian married in 1949 and were married until he died. More by this mapmaker...
Condition
Good. Wear along original fold lines. Light soiling. Small area of loss at a fold intersection. Verso repair to a fold separation.