1944 Petruccelli Political Cartoon Map Highlighting the Defeat of Imperial Japan

This is a 1944 Antonio Petruccelli political cartoon map of East Asia and the Pacific during World War II. The map depicts the region from India to the Central Pacific and from the Soviet Union to Australia. Everything is colored black except for Japan, Formosa (Taiwan), and the Kurile and Ryukyu Islands. Meant to emphasize American and Allied gains in the Pacific Theater, a 'Star-Spangled' fist, representing the U.S. military, is delivering body blows to an incredibly racist caricature of a Japanese officer, while a joint British and American foot is pushing from behind in India and Burma.

The Pacific War in 1944

Perhaps the legacy of the Pacific War is its brutality. Before 1944, the war in the Pacific was a close fight, with the bloody, months-long Battle of Guadalcanal and the epic naval battles at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. It was not until June 1944, when American forces captured Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Marianas Islands that the war began to shift decisively in favor of the Allies. The United States Army Air Force was able to base the brand-new B-29 Superfortress out of airfields on these islands, particularly Tinian, which had a range long enough to bomb cities on the Japanese home islands, a feat that was impossible before the capture of these islands. Allied forces also began the liberation of the Philippines late in 1944, which is highlighted here by two red arrows pointing directly at the archipelago. By the time this cartoon was published in October, it was clear that the United States had the upper-hand in the Pacific, but that an unknown amount of brutal fighting was left before the Japanese would surrender.

This cartoon was created by Antonio Petruccelli to accompany an article bearing the same title by Robert Bellaire published by Colliers in 1944.