RARE WWII 1943 Operation Matterhorn Japan Operations Special Strategic Strike Planning Map
RARE WWII 1943 Operation Matterhorn Japan Operations Special Strategic Strike Planning Map
Comes with C.O.A.
Printed in 1943 this incredible WWII Pacific Theater operations map titled “JAPAN (SOUTH)” is a ‘SPECIAL STRATEGIC MAP’ with a very rare print count. This operations planning map was used for planning strategic aerial raid attacks and heavy bombardment missions against the towns of first, second, third, and fourth importance on the Japanese mainland. This map shows an incredible view of Kyushu, Honshu, and the surrounding Japan Sea and the North Pacific.
Allied forces conducted many air raids on Japan during World War II, causing extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people. During the first years of the Pacific War, these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April 1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands from mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. Allied naval and land-based tactical air units also attacked Japan during 1945.
Considering that it might also be necessary for them to invade Japan proper, the Allies drew up new plans in mid-1943. The main offensive, it was decided, should be from the south and from the southeast, through the Philippines and through Micronesia (rather than from the Aleutians in the North Pacific or from the Asian mainland). While occupation of the Philippines would disrupt Japanese communications with the East Indian isles west of New Guinea and with Malaya, the conquest of Micronesia, from the Gilberts by way of the Marshalls and Carolines to the Marianas, would not only offer the possibility of drawing the Japanese into a naval showdown but also win bases for heavy air raids on the Japanese mainland prior to invasion.