1940 Colortext Map of the Theater of War (WWII)

This is a highly unusual 1940 military map of Europe illustrating the Theater of War in the first years of World War II. Produced in the spirit of Richard Edes Harrison using a globular perspective with exaggerated topography, this map presents Europe from a point far above Bern, Switzerland. The map covers from Ireland to Latvia and from Scandinavia to Switzerland. Central to the map is the Rhine River. To either side of the Rhine, the French Maginot Line (in red), and German Siegfried Line (in yellow), both layovers from World War I, present the illusion of impenetrable defenses. Military activity is every, but especially in the seas, where warplanes navigate towards London and rows of mines defend the North Sea and the entrances to the Baltic. The map is surrounded by a large decorative border featuring machines of war, ranging from battleships, to tanks, to warplanes.

This map was published by Chicago based Colortext Publications in 1940, making it the second to last production of that company. There is no artist identified, although the monogram 'C:H' appears in the lower right. There are at two known variants of this map, one in color, as here, and another in black and white (see Rumsey 11277.00). Today this map is rare. The OCLC identifies only a single example, in the University of California, Los Angeles.