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1944 Map of France

PaidInFull24

Familiar Face
Messages
96
Location
Oklahoma
Hi all,

As some of you know I like to garage sale on weekends, searching for treasures from World War 2. Today, while out visiting garage sales, I came across the sale of a guy who had had a sale in the spring. He had told me then that he had WW2 memorabilia but that it was in his storage shed and he would have to dig it out. He gave me his phone number and I corresponded with him 2-3 times over the course of the summer regarding WW2 memorabilia. Today at his garage sale, I asked him if he had come across anything and he told me that he had found a photo album that was kept by a WW2 vet and put together after the war. The majority of the pictures were post war and I wasn't interested in the album as it did not have anything WW2 in it, other than the fact that it was compiled by a vet. He then picked up a map and handed it to me and said "as far as I'm concerned, you can just HAVE that map". I thumbed through the map, said thank you and told him I would contact again. It turns out, this is a pretty interesting map. The cover reads:

Europe Road Map Series
1:1,000,000

A.M.S. 6303

First Edition - AMS 1

FRANCE

For use by War and Navy Department Agencies only
Not for sale or distribution

Army map Service
Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army

Army Map Service U.S. Army, Washington D.C. 138286
9/44 ST 1944

The map is in very good condition save for an inch-long portion at the bottom that is torn or has been wet a some point. On the inside, the map is a color map of France, 1944 and all the roads in the country. Interestingly, there is a red wax pen or oil pen tracing along a road from Mourmelon Le Grande to Metz France.

Does anyone know any more about these maps? I was particularly curious as to the 9/44 ST part, whether that meant September 1944 or otherwise. I have seen a couple of these online and they are listed as rare. Any information is great!

Thanks!
Nick
 

Steven180

One of the Regulars
Messages
269
Location
US
No specific technical expertise from that period of time, but I have a lot of experience with today's military topographical maps and I would strongly suspect that your 9/44 ST label means that it has a Sept, 1944 Survey Time, then published in 1944.

A very interesting find and congrats. Items like this are becoming more and more rare for collectors, museums and enthusiasts. Please look to take care of this artifact.

Again, nice find!
M.
 

kinghtalexis

New in Town
Messages
7
Location
USA
You definitely got lucky. Nice find! Unfortunately I’ve never been able to acquire anything like that and my WWII fascination has to make do with books, maps and photographs that I’ve found on websites like Shmoop. I did, however, almost lay my hands on a WWII vet’s diary but someone outbid me.
 

PaidInFull24

Familiar Face
Messages
96
Location
Oklahoma
Its all about the hunt! I enjoy so much going to garage/estate sales and finding things. If I don't know what it is, I really enjoy researching it to find out. I have acquired several nice WW2 uniforms simply by happenstance at garage/estate sales. The other parts of my collection have come mostly from ebay or personal connections. I have found that patience really pays off. If you come across something you like but are unable to get it, chances are there will be another somewhere at another time. There are also those "I have to have this" moments where you know something will not come up again. Stay with it and you'll find that the more time you spend researching and collecting, the more your collection will grow :)
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
Many years ago my grandmother won an Encyclopedia Britannica on a radio program called Information Please. It included an atlas of the world. The year was 1944, so it showed Europe at the height of Nazi power. There is a little flyer in the back saying that you can send this in after the war and get a supplement with final postwar national boundaries. This was never done. But in the 70's my brother fished a 1948 Britannica Atlas out of somebody's trash, which of course had those postwar boundaries. It makes a perfect complement to the other volume.
It's fascinating and chilling to see the vast area dominated by the Germans at that point in history.
 

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