1943 Burn Pictorial Map of Sicily Celebrating the Allied Victory

This is a 1943 Walter P. Burn pictorial map of Sicily celebrating the Allied conquest of the island and created for the soldiers of II Corps. Depicting Sicily in its entirety, numerous cities and towns are identified throughout the island, including Gela (where the 1st Infantry Division landed), Marsala, Palermo, and Messina. The blue lines demarcate the fighting sector assigned to II Corps. Lines of red dots follow the retreat of Axis defensive lines and underscore Allied progress across the island as of July 10 (the day of the landings), July 13, August 1-6, and August 13. The insignia in the corners represent the U.S. 9th Infantry Division, the U.S. Seventh Army, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, and the U.S. 45th Infantry Division. The insignia of II Corps occupies the top center. The smaller insignia along the sides, top, and bottom represent more specific units, such as the Signal Corps, Engineers, Medical Corps, and Artillery. The three stars just to the left of the II Corps insignia signify Lieutenant Omar Bradley, the commander II Corps during Operation Husky, and the one star on the right references Brigadier General William B. Kean, Bradley's chief of staff. Names of officers surround the entire map and create an inner border, and a cartouche in the lower-left corner provides a summary and explanation of the piece.

Operation Husky and the Battle of Sicily

Launched on the night of July 9-10, 1943, the Allied invasion of Sicily was codenamed, Operation Husky. A combined airborne and amphibious landing, the Allies conquered Sicily in six weeks. Allied planners saw three strategic reasons for capturing Sicily. The first, securing sea lanes through the Mediterranean, meant that Allied shipping would be able to operate in the Mediterranean for the first time since 1941. The second and third were knocking Italy out of the war and diverting German troops from the Eastern Front to southern Europe, thereby taking pressure off Joseph Stalin's Red Army. The second and third goals turned out to be intertwined. Once the Allies pushed all the German and Italian troops out of Sicily, the Italian populace rose and overthrew Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator. Mussolini's overthrow forced Hitler and Nazi Germany to cancel a planned offensive near Kursk and to redeploy a fifth of the troops along the Eastern Front to Italy and the Balkans, which took some pressure off the Red Army and divided Hitler's attention.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Walter P. Burn in 1943 and was printed by the 62nd Engineer Topographic Company in Europe during World War II. This is the only known surviving example.