Looking for WWII battle maps

December 12, 2011 7:59 AM

What are sources of maps to be purchased of World War II battles?

My 17 year old son is very interested in history, particularly WWII. For Christmas he asked for maps, preferably large (11x18), of Peleliu, Okinawa, PTO, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, ETO, France etc. Can you recommend a source for these? Individual maps or contained within an atlas type book would be fine. I am not looking for online maps.

posted by maxg94 to Education (4 answers total)

Best answer: West Point has a series of historical atlases Pacific, and Europe.

(I have always thought about buying these but never have)
posted by shothotbot at 8:23 AM on December 12, 2011

I'd suggest checking out your local bookstores' bargain section. There are usually a bunch of big, full-color war-type books and I've bought various WWII Atlases for friends and family that are into that kind of thing for reasonable prices.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 8:29 AM on December 12, 2011

I own a copy of the "West Point Atlas of American Wars" dated 1959. It has exactly what you are looking for, but alas, it is long out of print. (I bought my copy 25 years ago from the used stack at Powell's.)

The books that SHB links to are modern reprints, and I recommend them wholeheartedly.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:23 AM on December 12, 2011

Response by poster: This was perfect! I ordered the Pacific book that shothotbot recommended. May end up getting the Europe version at a later date if he likes it.

Thanks-
posted by maxg94 at 6:33 AM on December 13, 2011