1943 Wisner Map of the Japanese Empire During WWII for the <i>Chicago Sunday Tribune</i>

This is a 1943 William Wisner map of the Japanese Empire during World War II. Published on February 14, 1943, Wisner's map captures the moment when the tide of the war was turning in the Allies' favor. The American Navy sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers during the June 1942 Battle of Midway, and the Japanese had been on the back foot since. The Battle of Guadalcanal ended just days before this map's publication, securing the first Allied ground victory in the Pacific. By publishing this map, the Chicago Sunday Tribune gave its readers a visual summary of the status of the war in the Pacific following the critical victory at Guadalcanal.

A Closer Look

Depicting the western Pacific and East Asia, a dashed-and-dotted line encloses the Japanese Empire from Karafuto south to the Caroline Islands and the Marshall Islands. Japan and its overrun territories are highlighted in red, including Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and parts of China. Half of New Guinea and Guadalcanal are yellow after the Allies successfully captured Guadalcanal and invaded New Guinea. The bold red line marks the 'high water mark' of Japanese aggression in the Pacific, but it doesn't quite reach Pearl Harbor, which appears along the right. The black dashed line encircles the area where the Japanese have established air bases that could reach Australia and other Allied positions.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by William Wisner and published by the Chicago Sunday Times on February 14, 1943. We note a single cataloged example in OCLC, at the University of Chicago.