Commemorative World War II Posters from the NGA and GPO

Normandy…Anzio…Luzon…Iwo Jima…Just a few of the great battlegrounds of World War II commemorated in a new series of posters from the U.S. Government. Combining rare combat maps with striking images of war, and ranging in subject from the Army Air Force raid on the Ploesti oil fields to the final struggle on Okinawa, each poster is a snapshot of history and a unique pictorial tribute to the men and women who waged and won the war against the Axis.

Created by the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), these 16 x 24 in. full-color posters were made for display at the dedication of the National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day, 2004. These keepsakes are now available for purchase from the Government Printing Office. You can order them through this web page or using the U.S. Government Online Bookstore main page.

The Aleutians Japan invaded the western Aleutians, off the Alaska Peninsula, in July 1942. The United States only succeeded in reclaiming those areas after 15 months of arduous operations that were hampered by shortages afloat, ashore, and in the air, as well as by almost insuperable obstacles of weather and terrain. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00937-6 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Battle of the Bulge On December 16, 1944, the German Army launched its last great counter - offensive of World War II. The struggle between the Allies and Germany ended in January, after the Allies' original line in Ardennes was restored. It turned out to be the largest land battle of WW II. Of the American soldiers, there were 81,000 casualties, 23,554 captured, and 19,000 killed. Germany's losses included 100,000 men who were either killed, wounded, or captured. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00938-4 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Bombing of Berlin Berlin, as the capital of German and a major industrial center, was a major target of the allied bombing campaign. American and British air forces attacked that city repeatedly in a costly campaign from November 1943 that continued until the last thirty days of the war with the final air attack on April 21, 1945. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00939-2 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
D-Day On June 6 1944, American, British, and Canadian armies landed at Normandy on the northwestern coast of France beginning the liberation of Europe. This was the largest amphibious assault in history involving over 5,000 ships, 11,000 sorties by allied aircraft, and approximately 154,000 soldiers. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00940-6 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
France Following the D-Day landings, the liberation of France took place during the last six months of 1944 as Allied military forces advanced inland and French Resistance forces rose up to free French land occupied by the German army. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00941-4 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
French-German Border German armies regrouped and their resistance to the Allied advance increased as both sides approached the pre-war border between France and Germany. The Allies found themselves fighting a more traditional war of mass, maneuver, and firepower. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00942-2 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Italy-Anzio Anzio is a small port on the West Coast of Italy where Anglo-American troops came ashore in an amphibious landing January 1944. Their goal was to shorten the Italian Campaign by going around stubborn German defenders to directly threaten the German hold on Rome about twenty miles away. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00944-9 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Iwo Jima The Japanese heavily fortified Iwo Jima, a small island in the Volcano Islands 700 miles from Tokyo. The United States seized this island for use as an air base and to eliminate Japanese radar stations there. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00943-1 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Japan Depicting the occupation of Japan at the end of the war, this poster shows the disposition of occupation forces. The larger map shows the locations of American forces as they moved closer to Japan. The smaller map is an intelligence map. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00945-7 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Luzon Luzon is the largest and northernmost island in the Philippine Archipelago, the site of two of the largest campaigns of the Pacific war. This poster complements the Philippines poster. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00946-5 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
New Guinea New Guinea is one of the world's largest islands. Combat there lasted from March 1942 to the end of the War. It illustrates the intensive nature of the Pacific's land and sea battles. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00948-1 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Normandy Air Campaign The Normandy Air Campaign was part of the larger air war over Europe. Its goal was to assist the D-Day landings by attaining air superiority that would prevent the German Air Force from interfering with the landings, and the German Army from reinforcing their defenses. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00949-0 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Okinawa Okinawa is the largest island of the Ryukyu Archipelago and scene of the one of the bloodiest battles in the war. Okinawa is only 350 miles south of Kyushu, one of the main Japanese islands. Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Ocean Area (POA), the other great theater of operations in the Pacific War Zone, considered this to be the last critical amphibious landing before the assault on Japan proper. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00950-3 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Philippines This map shows the air and naval operations during the recapture of the Philippine Archipelago starting in October 1944 and continuing to the end of the war in August 1945. The companion Luzon poster shows the land warfare that took place on the largest island in this Archipelago. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00952-0 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Southwest Pacific The Southwest Pacific Area, known as SWPA or SoWesPac, was the part of the Pacific War Zone the Joint Chiefs of Staff assigned to General Douglas MacArthur in March 1942 when they divided the Zone into two theater commands. This poster shows its status in 1944 including images of two of the kinds of terrain its soldiers faced. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00951-1 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)
Raid on Ploesti Ploesti, Romania was the largest oil producing area in Axis Europe. Heavily defended by the Germans with fighters, anti-aircraft and smoke installations, the Air Force lost more than 350 bombers attempting to stop its production. Under regular heavy air attack, its refineries did not stop production until August 1944 as the Soviet Army approached. Poster. 16 x 24 in. S/N 008-000-00953-8 Price: $7.50	d (Click to enlarge)