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Description

Issued just five days after the Americans started the campaign to recapture the Philippines.

Rare 1944 (Showa 19) Japanese large format map of the Philippines, issued just five days after the American campaign to recapture the Philippines (October 20, 1944 - September 2, 1945) began. The map is enlarged from a similar, and much more common, Japanese map of 1942-43 from the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" series. The present map resembles maps from that series but is four times the size of the Philippines Co-Prosperity map.

The map includes a large inset of Manilla at the upper right, and, as some of the toponyms are in English, it was likely derived, at least in part, from British or American sources.

The Philippine Campaign

Launched on October 20, 1944, the Philippine Campaign was a joint operation of American and Filipino forces to liberate the Philippine Islands from the Imperial Japanese forces who had occupied them since 1941-42.

General Douglas MacArthur began the campaign by announcing on Philippine radio "This is the Voice of Freedom, General MacArthur speaking. People of the Philippines: I have returned." The campaign progressed rapidly, driving the Japanese out of one island after another. Although by this the Japanese were clearly losing the war, they gave no sign of capitulation. During the course of the campaign, Japan suffered nearly 500,000 casualties compared to only about 50,000 Americans. The campaign continued until Japanese forces in the Philippines were ordered to surrender by Tokyo on August 15, 1945, after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by Teruya Kawamata for the South East Secretariat of Greater East Asia Province. It was printed in Tokyo on October 25, Showa 19 or 1944, and released five days later, October 30, 1944. We have located a single institutional copy, in the National Diet Library, Tokyo.

Condition Description
Good to very good. The map has some light staining and discoloration. Minor wear at original folds. Some archival reinforcement on verso.
Reference
OCLC 935459611