Description:

GEN. FRANZ HALDER'S MAP OF THE APPROACHES TO MOSCOW
Historically important hand-drawn map from the personal files of German Gen. FRANZ HALDER (1884–1972), titled: 'Skizze 2 Ubersichts-Skizze' (Sketch 2 Overview Sketch', 13.5 x 24 in. drawn on a scale of 1: 2,000,000 scale, undated but ca. late winter 1941. The map covers the area from East Prussia and the Baltic coast in the west to Moscow in the east, from the Valdai Hills and Lake Seliger in the north to the Pripet Marshes in the south. Prominent cities include Konigsberg, Tilsit, Riga, Wilna (Vilnius), Minsk, Brest-Litowsk, Warsaw, Smolensk, Kalinin, Rzhew, and Moscow. The legend at bottom right reveals the Breitspur (broad gauge railway) captured and converted by the Germans, the Normalspur (standard gauge railway) in use by the Germans, Russian railways and their end points at the start of the Soviet winter offensive on 5 December 1941, the Russian 'autobahn', and German army and corps roads. This map captures the transportation and logistics network available to German Army Group Centre during the critical phase of the 1941–42 Moscow campaign. It shows railway lines in meticulous detail—vital for supply operations, especially after gauge conversion from Soviet broad gauge to German standard gauge. The railway end points mark where German rail engineers had advanced before the Soviet
counteroffensive halted and pushed them back in December 1941. The Panzerstrassen routes marked here are specially prepared supply and movement roads for armored units, bypassing normal infrastructure bottlenecks. This was clearly a restricted operational planning tool—not for general distribution. It allowed Halder and his staff to track supply line limits during the advance on Moscow, assess vulnerabilities in the German logistics chain, and plan defensive moves in the wake of the Soviet winter counteroffensive. The inclusion of the Pripet Marshes and forested areas highlights indicates terrain that would prove of great difficulty for troop movement. At this crucial point, the front had reached the limit of German logistical capacity thus maps of this type were secret as they revealed not just positions, but the exact logistical backbone of the army—information that, if captured, could have been decisive for the enemy. Also present is a pencil note on a small sheet in Halder's hand: 'The sketch is intended as a template'. Executed in black ink on heavy stock, waterways and rivers highlighted in blue ink, the map key originally drawn on another sheet and affixed to the bottom of the map. Folds, Halder's note bearing a small tear, else very good. This was no doubt created by Halder's personal on site staff map draftsman for his immediate use.

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April 21, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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