1945 Turner Map of the World at the End of World War II

This is a 1945 Stanley Francis Turner map of the world at the end of World War II. The map depicts the world from St. John's in Newfoundland, Canada to Salt Lake City, Utah and from the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean to Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Myriad events throughout the European, North African, and Pacific Theaters of War are identified, including numerous declarations of war, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the D-Day Invasion of France, the liberation of Rome and Paris, and nearly all the amphibious landings in the Pacific island-hopping campaign. Rommel's retreat from Egypt through Libya into Tunisia is noted by a white line, while solid white lines in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific illustrate the greatest extent of Axis gains.

Two large flags, just below center, commemorate and celebrate V-E (Victory in Europe) Day, May 8, 1945, and V-J (Victory over Japan) Day, September 2, 1945. Events in the European Theater are chronicled along the map's left border, from the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938 to Clement Attlee's inauguration as Prime Minister, replacing Winston Churchill. Events during the Pacific War are listed along the right border, from the beginning of the Shanghai Incident between China and Japan in January 1932 to V-J Day. A 'box score of the Pacific War', situated along the bottom border, lists the number of ships lost by both the Japanese and the U.S. during the course of the war, along with the comparative losses of the number of airplanes. A large inset map of Japan is located in the lower right corner, while photographs of the Pearl Harbor attack and one of the mushroom clouds from the atomic bombs dropped on Japan occupy the upper right corner. Photographs of General Eisenhower and General MacArthur are included in the lower left corner.

A Closer Look at the Map

Capitals and other cities throughout the world are labeled, with the capitals of important belligerents, such as Paris, Vichy, London, Berlin, and Tokyo, written in bold. Countries are labeled and shaded varying colors, signifying their status as having been liberated by the Allies, originally one of the Allies, neutral nations, and the Soviet Union. Surprisingly, Brazil is also yellow, even though it was not directly associate with the Soviet Union during the war. The United States, China, French West Africa, Iceland, and Greenland are shaded orange, potentially because they joined the Allied cause after the beginning of the war.

This map was created by Stanley Turner and published by C.C. Peterson. C.C. Peterson never updated their copyright on Turner's maps, thus the date remains 1942 for all editions of the Dated War Maps of this design. This is the 28th edition of the Dated Events War Map and this particular example was distributed by Burbank's Filling Station in Riverside, Rhode Island.