Description:

George Patton, Jr.
n.p., n.d.
George S. Patton 2x Signed WWI Map Collection Showing March 1918 German Offensive
SB
A supplement of 13 World War I maps from the personal library of legendary military commander George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945), signed twice by Patton. N.d., n.p. Compiled by Sir James E. Edmonds, with maps by Archibald Frank Becke, "Official History of the Great War / Military Operations / France and Belgium / The German March Offensive and its Preliminaries / Maps" (London: Macmillan and Co., 1935). The red cloth slipcase is twice signed by Patton: the first time on the front cover, as "G S Patton Jr"; and the second time on the spine as "Patton." The slipcase with a hinged opening is gilt-embossed at the spine, and contains a printed Index affixed to the underside of the opening. The 13 maps in the supplement are neatly housed with numbered tabs for easy retrieval. The majority of the maps are tightly folded and crisp. The actual slipcase measures 6.625" x 8.75" x 2.25" and the handsome clamshell case measures 7.625" x 9.625" x 2.625."

The maps are, from 1-13:

1. "German offensive, March 1918, 1/100,000 (layered)"
2. Situation Map, "21st March (S. Sheet)"
3. Situation Map, "21st March (N. Street)"
4. Situation Map, "22nd March (S. Sheet)"
5. Situation Map, "22nd March (N. Sheet)"
6. Situation Map, "23rd March (S. Sheet)"
7. Situation Map, "23rd March (N. Sheet)"
8. Situation Map, "24th March (S. Sheet)"
9. Situation Map, "24th March (N. Sheet)"
10. Situation Map, "25th March (S. Sheet)"
11. Situation Map, "25th March (N. Sheet)"
12. Situation Map, "26th March (S. Sheet)"
13. Situation Map, "26th March (N. Sheet)"

This collection of 13 maps depicting stages of the German Spring Offensive of March 21-16, 1918 was part of the monumental 109-volume series, Edmonds, ed., "The History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence" (London: Macmillan and Co., 1922-1949). The maps accompanied the first volume in a series dedicated to military operations in France and Belgium in 1918, and was published in 1935. The maps show the movements of defensive troops along the front line on each day of the German offensive. The German Spring Offensive was a series of aggressive attacks initiated by Germany to break the stalemate at the Western Front. Despite initial successes, Germany was ultimately not victorious and the exhaustion of manpower and supplies hastened their defeat in the war.

Patton was not personally involved in the 1918 military engagements shown here. Instead, in March 1918, Patton was teaching Allied servicemen how to operate tanks at a tank school in northeastern France. Patton had been dispatched to the Western Front as a personal aide to General John "Black Jack" Pershing in May 1917. Patton's interest in military mounts had transitioned from the cavalry to motor cars, and finally to light armored tanks. In November 1917, Patton established the American Expeditionary Force Light Tank School in northern France. He oversaw the manufacture of tanks, led officer training, and personally deployed the tanks in offensives. Patton was seriously wounded during one such maneuver in September 1918. He was brevetted colonel in October 17, 1918, and demobilized in March 1919.

As a career military officer, Patton was passionately interested about military history and strategy, and would have used the information gleaned from these maps during his later World War II service. The 1944-1945 Battle of the Bulge, for example, an engagement in which Patton participated, covered much of the territory stormed during the 1918 German Spring Offensive.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: clamshell case: 7.625" x 9.625" x 2.625"
  • Medium: SB

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