The 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion

Whipping the Jerries (literally) across the E.T.O. with the 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

This uncommon unit history map tracks the WWII campaign of the 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion across Europe – over 2,500 miles traveled in total. Seven illustrated scenes at the top of the page describe the action from activation at Camp Carson, Colorado to debarkation aboard the U.S.S. Sea Porpoise. The efforts of the 821st continue on the main image, which follows the unit across the English Channel, across France, and into Germany.

Numerous captioned vignettes highlight particularly memorable sites, locations, and engagements. Descriptive text in the lower right provides brief highlights from the WWII campaign of the 821st T.D. Bn., including insightful commentary on the publication of unit history maps in general. A poignant excerpt reads,

“No one has ever been able to put down in black and white or on celluloid just what war, on the whole or in any particular, is like. Even Ernie Pyle’s “GI Joe” failed to portray anything but a few highlights and details of the life of the doughboy. But then perhaps the men of the 821st don’t want any such reminder. God knows they know what war is like, and most of them have enough remembrances and souvenirs of their war to make unnecessary anything else than a summary of places and happenings.”

The map was drawn by T/5 Kenneth D. Haak and reproduced by the 62nd Engineer Topographic Company. Haak would go on to have a successful career as a fashion photographer, author, and commercial artist in the postwar world. His designs for the New York Times are part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art. The map is scarce on the market (this is the first example I’ve handled) and unlisted in WorldCat as of June 2024.