Lot 372

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Description:

An exceptional and important group of three 'Top Secret' battle maps prepared for the landings at Normandy's Utah Beach on D-Day. The set includes two topographic and geographic charts, labeled respectively as ‘Sector 1007' and 'Sector 1008', and prepared using the latest strategic intelligence obtainable on German defenses. They show two sections of a stretch of land between the French towns of Quineville and Pouppeville, just north of Utah Beach. The complete set would have included map numbers '1006' and '1005' which would have shown the areas of the beach where troops were landed. Although no amphibious assaults took place in the areas of these maps, they still show mine fields, stakes, hedgehogs, tetrahedrons, water depths, shore depressions, forested areas, and also identify vast stretches of 'inundated areas.' In preparation for the invasion, German forces flooded large sections of land along the French coast to hinder any potential landing of paratroopers or movement of tanks. The only roads that traverse the flooded areas are shown as heavily guarded by hedgehogs, artillery and machine gun trenches. Also present is a corresponding profile map of the ocean floor at Sector 1007 depicting its topography, the location of the sea wall, and estimations of tidal curves. Each map bears a key and scales, and each is marked: ‘BIGOT- TOP SECRET.' The maps are each 25.5 x 25 in., printed in color, published by the Intelligence Division of the Chief Engineer, and are numbered in order that their distribution could be tracked. They were printed very late in the planning for D-Day, May 21, 1944, with the landings occurring only two weeks later. Sold with four vintage photographs of the Utah Beach invasion, each 7.5 x 9.5 in., depicting troops landing, on transports, storming the beach, and with one aerial image. All materials in very fine condition. Housed within a pristine 1 x 12 x 15 in. leather bound buckram clamshell case with the contents labeled on the spine. These documents belonged to a Belgian architect named Hugo van Kuyck who was responsible during the war for aerial photographs of the proposed D-Day landing sites. He used special-colored lenses while doing so which revealed the underwater contours of the beaches. The lot is accompanied by a photocopy of a letter sent by General Arthur Trudeau (1902-1991) which documents van Kuyck's crucial role in the invasion. In part: '...He discovered that the data base...for British Hydrographic maps...was different than the French data...it had not been checked before, and when you consider that the beaches we were to land on...had a very flat slope, and the difference between high and low tide sometimes made a difference of about a mile and a half...it could have been very, very embarrassing if this hadn't been found out because there would have been many more ships that would have floundered or gotten hung up...' A great historical set of maps.

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December 7, 2021 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000