Cloth Maps, Charts and Blood Chits of World War 2

By John G. Doll

Merriam Press World War 2 History No. 22. First eBook Edition, 2015. The first history of this highly unusual but fascinating and very collectible area of militaria, by a premier collector/historian of these items. Much detailed provides background, coverage of the cloth maps and charts of Great Britain, Germany, the U.S., plus U.S. handkerchief charts, rubber life raft charts, production techniques, and blood chits. The appendix provides data in tabular form of known U.S. fabric maps, charts, and blood chits of World War II. 108 photos and illustrations, 13 charts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Merriam Press
• Release date: Oct 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781576384510

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Cloth Maps, Charts and Blood Chits of World War 2

Cloth Maps, Charts and Blood Chits of World War 2

John G. Doll

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World War 2 History No. 22

Bennington, Vermont

2015

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First eBook Edition

Copyright © 1988 by John G. Doll

First published in 1988 by the Merriam Press

Additional material copyright of named contributors.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The views expressed are solely those of the author.

ISBN 9781576384510

This work was designed, produced, and published in the United States of America by the Merriam Press, 133 Elm Street, Suite 3R, Bennington VT 05201.

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Notice

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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Introduction

Welcome to the strange

but colorful world of military fabric, especially fabric used for the production of military maps. It is amazing but true, beautifully dyed cloth has, does, and probably always will, play an important role in the military—and not just for fancy dress uniforms.

The practice of using maps printed on cloth, especially for use in the field by the military, goes back many hundreds of years because cloth is certainly much longer lasting than is paper. World War II saw this technique brought to its highest degree of perfection with unbelievable accuracy in the registration of multiple colors on both sides of a single piece of material.

Do not expect to become too overly educated by the contents of this work because it has been prepared on the basis of my own personal collection. And, since that collection was, has and is still being accumulated, arranged and catalogued simply for my own personal pleasure rather than for any purposes of education, the degree of formality to this entire text is truly minimal.

However, wherever and whenever possible, I have certainly tried to point out whatever might be considered as the very specific historical significance of the area covered by each map or chart mentioned.

This book and the collection that actually started it, had its start in the early 1940s, at the height of World War II, when I received many of the things described from my father, an Army officer then serving in the Pacific. Over the years since then, my collection has certainly grown, adding things such as additional maps, charts, flags, banners and other cloth and paper devices from the war years. Unfortunately, as with so many other things that Dad and I tried to have in common, I never really appreciated those first few maps until after he had passed away.

Because of that and with the hope that someday, others may enjoy such a collection as much as I now do, I dedicate both this work and my collection to the memory of the person who actually started it, my father, John M. Doll.

— John G. Doll

Chapter 1: Background

Maps are amazing things

for they allow not only the intrepid person standing on the ground but also the cautious soul sitting in his own study, thousands of miles away, to answer the same question, What’s over the next hill or around the next bend? This is because the basic purpose of any map is to permit whoever uses it to visualize