Wartime Michelin road maps used by both sides

Yesterday I sorted out a crate with Michelin road maps and reallised I had a few "treasures hidden in my garage".

Among many pre WWII issues I also found three genuine wartime maps. These are slightly diffrent than the pre war versions so I'll tell you how to recognize them .


1)Road maps should be orange and blue . the number which mentions the reference should be in blue circle. (square models are from the 1920s and 1930s) . The circle was introduced in 1935 and used until 1953, but on page two all M-1935 models are dated, so it's impossible to get a wrong model.

2) Tourists maps should be yellow and blue. If you have a wartime tourist map of Paris then it's bingo (Hint "excusez moi schöne mademoiselle, Folies Bergères s'il vous plait?)

3) 1945 maps are also very demanded because they have the minefields mentionned! The following maps are from y personnal collection:

Number 52 (1945 Le Havre Amiens with mine fields) number 69 ( 1938 Bourges Maçon )

















Rare 1942 dated Paris sorties map.


The following maps are also pictured in Saiz' Deutsche Soldaten (Casemate) .

As you can see they were used by all belligerants , especially Germans and Americans.


for more details: Les cartes Michelin pendant la seconde guerre mondiale.

 

Great stuff Skipper!

 

Thanks Sky, I got about a dozen of these, going from the 1920s models until 1945 .They look great in WW2 map cases for kradmelders for instance. The Parisian map shows sites like the Villacoublay base and the infamous Fresnes prison along .... campsites for tourists. I doubt the campsite mention was updated since 1940 .

 

I forgot to add the 1942 date from the Paris Map. Now you can visit the Moulin Rouge!

 

I have a 1944 Michelin map of Allemagne-Ouest that was printed on the back of a German map of Schottland (Scotland). The Schottland map is a mix of German and English; possibly the Germans copied an English map. By 1944 they may have realized that they weren’t going to Scotland anytime soon and decided to recycle the paper.

 

Allemagne-ouest maps have not been printed by the Germans but by Michelin in France with recovered paper in the reconquest of Germany. It was maps printed a few years earlier by the Germans for the invasion of England. Maps of France have also used this paper (paper and ink were rare at that time..)
On some of these maps the small text below was printed in the margin:
View attachment 18409
"They had planned the invasion of England and printed the map on back. But they did not anticipate that we would use the other side to print the map of invasion of their country"