1944 Sundberg Map of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the East Indies

This is a 1944 Edwin Sundberg map of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the East Indies, published in the Sunday News in New York City. Sundberg chose to illustrate the region in the opposite orientation from what most of his American audience would have been accustomed to, providingSunday News readers with a new perspective ('the Japanese point of view) on the continued push across the Pacific toward Japan.

A Closer Look

The map is oriented to the South with coverage embracing the western Pacific from Hawaii to Chian and from Kamtschka to Australia - thus encompassing the full theater of the Pacific War. The Soviet Union and the Aleutian Islands of Kiska and Attu are illustrated along the bottom border. (Sundberg's readers would have been familiar with these islands since the Japanese invaded them in 1942.) Hawaii is labeled along the left border to help orient Sundberg's audience but does not appear on the map. Japan, Korea, and part of Sakhalin are shaded orange to highlight Japan's home territory. An orange border encircles territory conquered by the Japanese, including Manchuria, coastal China, the Philippines, most of Southeast Asia, and the East Indies. Two orange lines illustrate Japan's outer and inner defensive lines, including the Marshall Islands, Marianas Islands, Gilbert Islands, and the Caroline Islands. Air and sea routes are illustrated throughout.

A short text in the lower right explains the map's perspective. Sundberg states the map looks 'out from Tokio [sic] to the south.' He continues to explain that, after expanding their territory, Japan encountered severe supply issues that could not be sustained. American victories began restricting supplies and caused Japan to create defensive strategies. He even speculated that Japan would leave the Home Islands to their fate and would fight the war's final battles in Manchuria.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by Edwin Sundberg and published by the Sunday News on April 23, 1944. We note a single cataloged example, which is part of 'War Map: Pictorial and Propaganda Map Collection 1900-1950' at the Library of Congress.