This map was drawn by Howard Burke and published by the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper in 1943, in the context of the Second World War.

The map is part of Burke's propaganda campaign during the Second World War to influence US military strategy, as shown in this other map on possible ways to attack Japan.

On this occasion, the proposal is that liberating Burma from the Japanese Empire may be the solution to the situation in Asia. Before the war between China and Japan began, the Burmese route provided most of the war material, some 30,000 tonnes per month according to Burke. The hypothesis is that if the United States focused on liberating Burma and China could recover that route, the United States could stop supplying support to China and those resources could be allocated to other fronts.

The map outlines a strategy for recapturing Burma, in the lower right-hand corner, and the main map delves into how China could defeat Japan on its own if the initial plan were successful. In addition to this strategy, both maps also show the various military bases of Japan, the United States, Russia and China, with the aim of giving the reader a more comprehensive view of the war situation in Asia.

Sources

• Burma, lifeline to China, may be key to Japanese defeat – David Rumsey