1944 NavWar Map No. 5 – The Southwest Pacific
DESCRIPTION
NavWar Map no. 5 features the Southwest Pacific, showing much of Australia and the chain of islands from the Philippines and New Guinea to the Solomons, Marshalls and Carolines. Produced in 1944, it was designed to explain the significance of the island-hopping campaign and the diversity of peoples, resources, and cultures in this vast region. By showing the complex geography of the Pacific islands, the chart taught servicemen why control of individual atolls and island chains was crucial to the larger Allied advance toward Japan.
The map brims with detail: sweeping orange and blue arrows show Japanese advances and Allied counterattacks; inset diagrams outline the Solomons campaign; and smaller illustrations highlight local island populations, crops, and cultural traditions. Vivid relief shading emphasizes the terrain and the isolation of each island group, while the placement of warships and aircraft illustrates the amphibious nature of the conflict. A boxed inset in the lower left situates the region within the wider Pacific, and at the bottom right, ethnographic portraits labeled “Peoples of the Pacific” connect the viewer to the human diversity of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.
The Southwest Pacific theater was where U.S. forces, under General Douglas MacArthur, began the long counteroffensive that would eventually lead back to the Philippines. Campaigns in Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and the Solomons were brutal and costly, but they broke Japan’s defensive perimeter and forced the Imperial Navy onto the defensive. By the time this map was printed, the Allies were pushing into the Marianas and preparing for the Philippines, and the chart underscores the strategy of bypassing heavily fortified positions while seizing airfields and naval bases that would steadily close the circle on 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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