Map of the Pacific War Area

An early American attempt to quantify the Pacific Theater during World War II.

This sparsely detailed map of the Pacific War Arena (between east Asia and the Hawaiian Islands) gives tremendous detail to the dozens of remote islands scattered throughout the region. While it is dated February of 1942, the image shows many bases still in U.S. hands, despite their capture by the Japanese shortly after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the December prior.

The myriad of islands, of which many are still omitted, is an ominous sign of the uphill struggle the Allies faced to regain control in the Pacific. A table in the lower right shows distances between various important points across the theater. Published in Honolulu by the Hawaiian Printing Company, Ltd in 1942.