Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.
Description

A fascinating World War 2 pictorial map of the West Coast of the United States and Canada, issued only 4 weeks after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

This intruiging Canadian propaganda map was issued on January 3, 1942, as a special insert into the Toronto Star, one of the continent's leading newspapers (which once employed Ernest Hemingway). Until the month previous, the war in Europe had hitherto commanded the attention of Canadians and Americans. However, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese mounted a devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day, Japanese forces attacked the British colonial possessions of Hong Kong and Malaya (Malaysia). The United States, Great Britain and Canada promptly declared war on Japan. From that point onwards, the Japanese forces moved like a juggernaut against Allied postions in the Pacific. Hong Kong fell to Japanese forces on Christmas Day, 1941 and captured thousands of Allied troops (including many Canadians). Other targets were not far behind. The Allied leadership was, at first, caught off guard and moved with allacrity to prepare to face the Japanese onslaught., as shown on the map.

The map embraces the west coast from just south of San Francisco all the way up to the northern tip of Alaska. Major and strategially important towns are labelled, along with naval ports and airports (plus the trans-continental route of Trans-Canada Airlines, (the precursor to Air Canada). Also shown are major highways, both existing and under construction. Highways (or the lack thereof) were an expecially great cause for concern, as north of Vancouver, B.C., the road system was poor. In fact, there was yet no road connecting Alaska and the Yukon to the rest of the continent. As Alaska lay nearest to Japan, the Allies feared that it was a prime target for attack (which the Japanese could then use as a base to bomb major west coast cities). With no road connection, the Allies' ablity to move troops and heavy ordinance to Alaske was greatly impaired. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers thus commenced a mission of Herculean difficulty and lightning speed to build the Alaska Highway, running over 1,700 miles, from Fort St. John, B.C., to Fairbanks, Alaska. Amazingly, the highway would be completed within the year.

Additionally, the American-Canadian forces stepped up air and naval patrols all down the coast and nightime blackouts were enforced in cities, such as Vancouver, to foil any possible Japanese stealth air raids. Thousands of young men living on the west coast enlisted to fight the Japanese, while citizens collected vast quantities of consumer items which could be refashioned into war material. Generally, the American and Canadian public was engergized to supprt the war effort. While all this was commendable, the war atmosphere also led to elements of hysteria, which produced ignoble behavior such as the Internment of Japanese Americans and Canadians.

The present map was one of a series of war propaganda maps commissioned by the Toronto Star and drafted by the artist Harris Parlane. The map was intended to both inform readers about the war preparations being undertaken on the west coast and to drum up patriotic sentiment to encourage active support for these endeavors.

While the Allies would eventually triumph, the year 1942 would not be kind to the Allies. Within months the Japanese would conquer all of Malaya and Singapore (from the British) and the Philippines and Guam (from the Americans). While the Americans would defeat the Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway, Hawaii (June 4-7, 1942), the Japanese captured Attu Island, Alaska (labelled on the map) on June 7, 1941 - 6 months to the day after Pearl Harbor. This confirmed the necessity of the Alaska Highway and the real Japanese threat to the west coast in general. While the Americans would recapture Attu in May 1943, in the months that followed, the war would turn in the Allies' favor. This map appeared in an effort to give the Allies succour during especially dark days.

This map is a fascinating and authentic artifact of ephemera supporting the Allied war effort during a critical period. The map, like others of its genre, is today quite rare, as almost all examples were disposed of, in the manner of the newspapers in which they appeared.

Condition Description
Pencil markings from an earlier owner.