Rare WWII 1944 Railways Map Of France & SW Germany - from the front For Sale

Rare WWII 1944 Railways Map Of France & SW Germany - from the front
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Rare WWII 1944 Railways Map Of France & SW Germany - from the front:
$399.99

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RARE!  WWII Rail Map — 1944 Standard Gauge Railways of France and Southwest Germany - from the Second Military Railway Service. With paper shortages widespread towards the end of the war, it was not unusual to see maps printed on the reverse of other existing maps. This map is no exception and printed on the a repurposed 1943 U.S. Army map of Chatelleraute, France.

Measures approximately 20” x 17” inches.

Unique historical document of operations in the European Theater of Operatons during WWII


Running military railroads in Europe was the job of the Second Military Railway Service, commanded by Brig. Gen. Clarence L. Burpee. The Second Military Railway Service was the unit created to operate the Western European railway network behind battle lines towards ferrying supplies from ports to depots. The first elements of the service departed England on June 16, 1944 (just ten days following D-Day) and by the first week of July, the entire unit was in France and operational. What Allied bombers hadn't smashed leading up to D-Day, the Germans had wrecked before they fled and it would be the Second Military Railway Service’s job to repair the track, yards, trains, telephone lines, and more. The services first task was to establish rail traffic from Cherbourg to Lemans. Tracks and railway-yard demolitions represented only the first problem facing military railroaders. In addition, engines and rolling stock needed to be placed in operating condition after the Germans had wrecked most of their railway assets. Everything from toilet paper to tin cans was used to patch up the cars. Captured roiling stock included French, Belgian, German, Austrian, and Czech cars and streamlined passenger cars from the Cherbourg-Paris run were a particular prize. Some of the engines that fell to the Allies had been manufactured in 1865, while the newest ones were marked 1944. In Cherbourg, twelve captured locomotives had been sent to France by the American Army during WWI. The first trains arrived in Lemans on August 15, 1944 and trains started arriving in Paris by the end of the same month. As the Second Military Railway Service expanded across Europe, so did their tasks. Between February, 1945 and V-E Day on May 8, 1945 the Second Military Railway Network moved 20,000 trains and transported over 9 million tons of supplies.


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