World War II Map Exhibit at Penn State's Pattee Library, I

Cartography in World War II

     The art and science of cartography, mapmaking, has been with mankind since the beginning of civilization. While the accuracy of maps increased throughout the ages, it wasn't until the twentieth century that mass production of maps of precision became possible. The wide spread use of aerial photography during the World War I revolutionized the science of cartography by allowing man to truly see large portions of the earth's surface from above for the first time. The ability to mass-produce high precision optical equipment expedited the process of traditional ground-based mapping. Nearly every modern nation developed a government sponsored mapping program in the years between the two world wars or revisited their existing programs. These maps became invaluable tools for the fighting officers and men in foreign lands.
     The nature of the World War II was far different from that of any earlier war. Flexibility, precision, and maneuver supplanted general bombardment and brute force on the battlefield. Low ranking officers, even enlisted men, were expected to execute very specific movements and make independent decisions when necessary, especially in the German and American armies. Providing all men with accurate maps and the training to use them was critical to success. It was also the first war where precision bombing and artillery strikes were everyday affairs. Whether a force was comprised of 1000 B-17 bombers hitting an industrial complex or a single artillery piece providing a company with indirect fire support, an accurate map and the ability to interpret it would often make or break a mission.
In the early twentieth century maps and atlases became common items in households and printing efficiencies produced high quality maps in mass publications such as Life and Fortune magazines and newspapers frequently used maps to illustrate articles. Thus the public's general knowledge of geography increased making the use of maps an effective means of conveying information. War maps, detailing the theatres of operations, encouraged the public to track the progress of their nations troops. Maps were effective propaganda tools as ideological slants could be subtly delivered in an otherwise innocuous map. Map perspective, color, and projection could be manipulated to change the physical dimensions of a nation, make a nation appear to be vulnerable or secure, dangerous or feeble, righteous or unjust, and even cause a nation to cease to exist completely.
    The advent of the universal census, a practice started by most nations only in the 1800s, provided information needed to produce highly detailed demographic maps. These maps were useful tools as well as weapons. The Nazis twisted demographic statistics in their quest to lay claim to vast territories of eastern Europe, particularly Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Ukraine, noting the "Germanic" nature of the regions. Ultimately this information was used to identify and locate those who were deemed "unfit" to live in the German Reich and contributed to the efficiency of German genocide. Meanwhile the United States kept track of its' own German, Japanese and Italian citizens, and those that lived in every nation of the western hemisphere. The OSS (predecessor of the CIA) was aware of the location of practically every German or Japanese family in nations as far away as Peru and Argentina, keeping a wary eye on regions that may be open to Fascist infiltration.
The face of the world changed rapidly in the years between 1918 and 1945. The boundaries drawn after World War I were guided by physical geography and political expediency rather than national composition and created many of the problems that led to World War II. The end of World War II brought a whole new set of problems. Fledgling nations such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia lost their independence when the Soviet Union occupied east Europe and set up governments directly under the control of Moscow. The United States, in a rush to contain the spread of Communism, established armies of occupation in Germany and Japan and pumped billions of dollars into the reconstruction of their former enemies. But the main battleground of the next war, the Cold War, was to be fought in the former colonies of Britain, France and Japan. Obscure places in this "Third World" such as Korea, Vietnam and Palestine (Israel) would appear far too frequently in the headlines. World War II may have ended over fifty years ago, but many issues left unresolved in the conflict still plague us today.

The Costs of the War

    World War II was the largest conflict in the history of mankind. The war was fought over millions of square miles on the ground, in the air, on and under the sea, and with the development of the German V-2 missile, at the very fringes of outer space. Men and women fought in the streets of the great cities of Europe, the arctic wastelands of Finland, the unexplored jungles of Southeast Asia, the brutal deserts of Africa, the towering peaks of the Himalayas. Not even the United States, protected by two vast oceans was secure. German U-Boats sunk hundreds of ships within sight of the U.S. and Canadian coasts and the Japanese managed to gain a temporary foothold in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. People from nearly every nation on earth served in some capacity, as soldiers, sailors, relief workers, medics or nurses. For five years, the vast majority of the worlds' industrial capacity was used to make the implements of war.
     The human cost of the war is nearly unfathomable. The combination of insidious ideologues and unprecedented technology resulted in casualty rates no one could have imagined. Civilian deaths were not unfortunate collateral damage, but rather objectives. Families were no longer safe miles behind the lines, but targets of long-range bombers, rockets and artillery. Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union largely ignored any dictates of the Geneva Convention, much less any standard of humanity, slaughtering millions of prisoners and civilians as a matter of policy. The United States and Great Britain engaged in bombing campaigns of the major cities of Germany and Japan that resulted in the deaths of one million civilians. In the end 50,000,000 people lost their lives as a direct result of the war. To put that in perspective, California, the most populous state in the U.S., today has a population of 33,000,000. Pennsylvania, the fifth largest state, has a population of 12,000,000. Hundreds of millions, living through bombings, famine and disease, were left homeless, orphaned, widowed, or maimed.
     World War II has been called "The Good War". The armies of the self-appointed supermen who granted themselves the power to decide who lived and who died were defeated. But humankind cannot produce enough bullets, or sacrifice enough young lives to eradicate fear, bigotry and hatred. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were simply their political manifestations.
    November 11, 2000 marks the fifty-sixth Veterans Day since the end of World War II. As you view the maps and photographs of this exhibit, take a moment to remember those men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their allies who gave the last full measure of devotion fighting the armies of tyranny and oppression. They were sons and daughters, fathers and mothers. They were us sixty years ago. We must never forget them.

The Maps Library, Pattee and Paterno Library

The Maps Library has a paper collection of approximately 375,000 map sheets. The majority of these maps are government publications, from the United States or other nations, and many have been received as gifts over the past five decades. There are several thousand atlases, nearly 1000 CD-ROMs with cartographic information and dozens of interactive mapping software titles.
The Maps Library also provides access to the Internet, where a wealth of digital data can be accessed. The Maps Library Web Page (www.libraries.psu.edu/maps) provides access to the Maps Library, reference maps, and links to many excellent Web sites around the nation and the world. It is also the home of the Digital Chart of the World, a database that provides geographic data to thousands of Geographic Information System (GIS) users a month.
The Staff, three full-time and 7 part-time personnel, provide reference assistance 88 hours a week - open every day including most holidays. Patrons are welcome to come to the collection or call (863-0094) or e-mail questions.
The Maps Library is located on the B-level of Paterno. Access is by elevator or stairwell.

Paterno Library - B Level E-001 Paterno Library, University Park, PA 16802 Phone 814-863-0094, Email: Contact Us!	Website last updated November 14, 2000 Maintained by Maps Library U.Ed.LIB 00-61