NavWarMap No. 2 The South China Sea Area

The second (of six) NavWarMaps published to educate American troops during World War II.

Created by the Educational Service Section of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, the NavWarMaps was a series of six maps designed for distribution to armed services personnel. Each provided a high-level overview of various arenas of conflict of WWII and contained detailed strategic information intended to educate soldiers, boost their morale, and increase their resolve to win the war. These pseudo-propaganda posters provide a fascinating insight into the perspective of an American soldier as the war progressed.

This NavWarMap is focused on Southeast Asia and the South China Sea. The shaded relief map covers a large territory including Burma, southern China, Thailand, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and eastern New Guinea. Vibrantly illustrated vignettes and bold blocks of text highlight major events across the region up to early 1942; including MacArthur’s retreat from Corregidor, the Battle of the Java Sea, and the destruction of HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. Lines of Japanese advance are shaded in yellow, while the flow of vital resources is represented in white. Five scenes in the lower left highlight how ‘the wealth of the South China Sea area is produced by human energy’ – one justification for the deliberate and widespread destruction of residential districts.

Published in 1944 by the U.S. Government Printing Office. Distributed by the Educational Service Section, Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C.