US general’s D-Day maps sell for £35k
Battle charts from Allied invasion
MAPS given to a US general telling him the location of Allied and German forces after the D-Day landings have sold for almost £35,000.
General Omar Bradley was given the maps each night during Operation Overlord – the Allied invasion of Europe – to give him an up-to-date picture of the offensive.
Don Ackerman, of US firm Heritage Auctions, which sold the maps in Dallas, said: “These are probably the most important maps of the 20th century.”
General Bradley commanded Three Corps on Utah and Omaha beaches on D-Day – June 6, 1944 – and later planned Operation Cobra, the breakout from the Normandy beachhead.
Bradley used the maps, dated June 6, 7, and 8, to help formulate a daily plan of action as the Allies tried to gain a foothold in northern France. Different symbols are used to pinpoint the locations of US, British and enemy forces. The maps reveal a huge influx of Allied forces into France in the 48 hours following D-Day. In response, the German forces, which were scattered on the June 6 map, converged on the northern coast in a bid to establish an impenetrable line the Allies could not breach. The maps belonged to one of Bradley’s senior staff officers. After the war, he was given permission to take them back to the US. In 2011, the maps were obtained by a military historian and have sold for £34,330. Mr Ackerman said: “These are very historic maps which have never before been offered for sale.” A COPY of Mein Kampf which Adolf Hitler signed for a BBC journalist visiting Munich in 1936 is tipped to sell for £1,500 at auction in Clitheroe, Lancs.