WWI US Forces Map of Koblenz Bridgehead Zone Used by Pershing's Staff

WWI US Forces Map of Koblenz Bridgehead Zone Used by Pershing's Staff

World War I

Doc 45.5" x 35" 1p. 1918-1919

A war fought from 1914 to 1918, in which Great Britain, France, Russia, Belgium, Italy, Japan, the United States, and other allies defeated Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914 in a bid to reassert its authority as a Balkan power. Its determination was buoyed by the knowledge that it enjoyed the backing of its ally, Germany. But Serbia was supported by Russia, and Germany therefore confronted the danger of a war on two fronts, as Russia was allied to France.

An official, period map used by U.S. forces in occupied Germany only a month after the close of the First World War, depicting the Koblenz bridgehead zone, owned by a member of Pershing's staff Description:

Printed map in nine sheets, with ink and watercolor annotations, 45.5" x 35", [Trier], December 17, 1918, stamped at center left: "SECRET SCALE 1/200,000 MAP-ROOM G-E ADI. G.H.O." A map of the Rhine River in the vicinity of Koblenz with a typed legend which has been titled, "OPERATIONS MAP NO. 3 - 3 AM. ARMY AMERICAN SECTION COBLENZ BRIDGEHEAD" on a 4.75" × 2.75" slip affixed immediately above the "SECRET" stamp. Folds, minor creases and a few marginal tears, some paper reinforcement on verso, light soiling, else very good

The map, produced only days after American forces had completed their march from Luxembourg to Koblenz, where they would establish their headquarters, shows the outline of the semicircle of one of the three Allied bridgeheads over the Rhine which guaranteed their control over this important waterway. Together with similar zones at Mainz (Mayence) and Köln (Cologne), the Koblenz zone radiated approximately twenty miles in a semi-circle which abutted a neutral zone which ran the length of the river from the Dutch border to Switzerland. The map indicates the limits of the bridgehead zone as well as the "MAIN POSITIONS OF RESISTANCE, " "THIRD POSITION, " "SWITCH POTISION, " and

"FOURTH POSITION."

The present map was part of a collection kept by General Robert C. Richardson (1882-1954). By the time the United States entered the First World War, Richardson, a captain, assisted in the rapid buildup of training of the American Expeditionary Force (A.E.F.) bound for France.

Fluent in French, Richardson served as an aide and observer with foreign armies before being assigned to the Operations Division, General Staff, A.E. F. as a liaison officer in June 1918. In that capacity he was involved in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. Following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, Richardson served on the Reparations Board of the Peace Commission in Paris and then as part of U.S. Army occupation forces in Germany stationed at Coblenz and later at Mainz. Richardson, a career Army officer was a member of the West Point Class of 1904, serving in the Philippines and as an instructor of modern languages at the United States Military Academy. During the Second World War, Richardson served as Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department, and was instrumental in training American troops in the fundamentals of jungle warfare and amphibious