[Secret Maps for the Allied Invasion of Sicily.]

[OPERATION HUSKY], 512 FIELD SURVEY COMPANY, ROYAL ENGINEERS & & GEOGRAPHICAL SECTION, GENERAL STAFF, WAR OFFICE.

Publication Date: 1943

About this Item

Fifteen lithograph maps, monochrome (brown) template with main roads overprinted in red with additional overprinting of military intelligence (depending on specific sheet) in green blue and black. Measuring 915 by 650mm and 620 by 455mm. Some sheets featuring contemporary manuscript annotations, plus wear and soiling from use in the field. [Cairo,] [Middle East Drawing and Reproduction] and 13 C.Fd. Survey Coy., R.E., May and June, Rare and important: this substantial, annotated group of maps provide a vital record of a key turning point of the War in Europe.   Classified as ?Secret? or "Not to Be Published" the maps were issued in only a very limited print run for the exclusive use of the most senior commanders of Operation Husky. These maps were evidently heavily used during the mission itself, as 6 of the works feature manuscript additions, generally in indigo pen, with most marking the locations of British troop landings and positions, being top secret real-time information that could only have been added in situ by British commanders. Moreover, the maps feature the type of wear and staining consistent with military field use.   After the success of the North African Campaign, Churchill and Roosevelt turned their attention to Europe. Sicily appeared the obvious gateway, with the added advantages of destabilising Mussolini and diverting Axis resources from the Balkans and the Eastern Front. As such, Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, launched from bases in Malta and North Africa. Under the ultimate command of General Dwight David Eisenhower, the plan called for two massive separate but coordinated amphibious landings on Sicily. The Allied armies during Operation Husky had a combined strength of 467,000 men, while the Axis powers in Sicily could muster only 300,000 troops (250,000 Italians and 50,000 Germans).   Operation Husky was launched on July 9, 1943, with a series of attacks along the Sicilian coast. American and British corps were assigned targets to seize, notably key cities and airfields, etc., while severing Italo-German communication and transport lines.   In preparation, the 512 Field Survey Company of the Royal Engineers of the British Army, based in Cairo, published a series of interconnecting maps of southeastern Sicily. The maps were largely predicated upon high-quality aerial photography undertaken by numerous Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force low-altitude reconnaissance missions. Most of the required intelligence was gathered through these, especially Axis defenses and infrastructure, as well as southeastern Sicily?s natural topography, and vegetation, so troops were guided reliably. While the original complete set was comprised of 29 maps, forming a complete view of South and Eastern Sicily, the maps would've been distributed to officers as partial sets on a need-to-know basis.   Using a standard but accurate brown-scale topographic template, with major roads overlayed in red, elevations are expressed as contour lines at 10 metre-intervals. The symbols note details such as different types or roads/paths and railways/cable ways, as well as electricity infrastructure, canals, factories, wells, etc. The maps have varying levels of coloured overprinting of information of ?life or death? importance. All have green overprinting, including of their ?SECRET? classification, and descriptive terms (Jagged Hill Country, Walls / Rocky, etc.) and the locations of ravines, manmade obstacles (ex. canals, walls) and rough terrain that might affect the movement of tanks and armoured vehicles. Also noted, in green, is the vegetation/agrarian land use ("Cultivation and Orchards", "Scattered Trees").   Furthermore, the maps feature overprinting in blue, as marked, in the upper margin, as "Defenses Overprint dated 17.6.43," conveying vital recent intelligence on the locations of Axis military infrastructure: pill boxes, anti-personal and anti-tank barricades, artillery positions, camouflaged facilities, oil tank.

Seller Inventory # 255452

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Secret Maps for the Allied Invasion of Sicily.]
• Publication Date: 1943
• Edition: 1st Edition