Battle Route of the 90th Inf Div in the European Theater of Operations

WWII cartographic combat chronicle of the 90th Infantry Division – “The Tough ‘Ombres.”

This colorful map of western Europe does little convey the harsh experience endured by the 90th Infantry Division during its 16 month deployment overseas.

Simple red lines chart the route from training in Scotland to Utah Beach, through the French countryside and on to link up with the Red Army in Czechoslovakia. Near there is a text box calling out the heroic actions of the 359th Infantry Regiment, who made the first penetration of the Siegfried Line. Locations visited by the division and major defensive lines are also labeled in red.

The right side of the sheet features a detailed chronology of significant events from February 1944 to May 1945. The information presented is an interesting mix of heroism and inevitability. Taken with the map, it provides a specific (and simplified) narrative of a unit comprised of over 10,000 men, often operating hundreds of miles apart in wildly different capacities.

Printed in June of 1945 by the 673rd Engineer Topographical Company.