1944 NavWar Map No. 4 – The North Pacific Area
DESCRIPTION
NavWar Map no. 4 presents the northern reaches of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from the American Pacific coast and Alaska across to Japan. It illustrates the northern route to Tokyo, emphasizing how geography and naval strength shaped the Pacific war. Issued in 1944, it explained to servicemen that even the cold and remote Aleutian Islands, often overlooked, played a direct role in the overall campaign against Japan.
The map combines broad swaths of blue arrows with inset battle diagrams, most notably the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Attu in the Aleutians. The arrows trace Japanese advances beginning with Pearl Harbor and extending through the Aleutians, while counter-arrows show the American responses and eventual offensives westward. A chronological panel on the right details Japanese aggression from 1895 through 1941, emphasizing how long Japan had sought territorial expansion and regional dominance. The map also labels major seas, islands, and naval bases, providing a sense of how control of key points determined the ability to project power across the vast North Pacific.
This map underscores that the Aleutians campaign of 1942–43 was far from peripheral. Japan’s occupation of Attu and Kiska marked the only foreign invasion of American soil during the war, and their eventual recapture secured the northern flank of the Pacific. Meanwhile, the Battle of Midway, diagrammed prominently, was the turning point of the Pacific war, crippling Japan’s carrier strength and shifting the balance of naval power. By illustrating the “Road to Tokyo” from the north, the Navy reminded servicemen that every theater—from the icy Aleutians to the central Pacific—was interconnected in the larger strategy to defeat Japan.
About the NavWar Map Series
The NavWar Map series, produced in 1944 by the U.S. Bureau of Naval Personnel and printed by the Government Printing Office, represents one of the most ambitious visual educational projects of World War II. Issued as a set of six large-format pictorial wall charts, each measuring approximately 41 x 59 inches, the maps were designed to orient American servicemen to the global nature of the conflict, the geography of key theaters, and the Navy’s essential role in achieving victory. Distributed through the Educational Services Section in Washington, D.C., these maps blended dramatic graphics with accessible text, statistics, and timelines, turning complex military campaigns into striking visual narratives.
CONDITION
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