WWII-ERA SILK MAP MARKING PATTON’S U.S. THIRD ARMY’S ROUTES IN FRANCE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF COLONEL RUFUS BRATTON, WITH OTHER PERIOD MAPS, CITATIONS OF MERIT AND PHOTOGRAPHS

(UNITED STATES THIRD ARMY) (PATTON, George) BRATTON, Rufus. Original Third Army Campaign Maps and Personal Souvenirs of Colonel Rufus Bratton. INCLUDING: Silk map, “Zones of France, 2nd Edition”; French Michelin map, “Carte Michelin Les Grandes Routes”; Souvenir Third Army map; War-date copies of Bratton’s Bronze Star and Legion of Merit citations; Two photographs of Bratton. No place: no publisher, 1943-45. Together, three large folding maps, two citations, two photographs. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

Superb collection of war-era maps and relics from George Patton’s Third Army campaigns in France, from the personal collection of the Third Army’s Headquarters Commandant, Colonel Rufus Bratton, winner of the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit—with embossed official copies of his citations for those honors.

Colonel Bratton was an Army infantry and intelligence officer whose work and actions during the Pearl Harbor attack were fictionalized in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! In 1943 the Army transferred Bratton to the position of Headquarters Commandant for General Patton’s Third Army—keeping Bratton in close contact with Patton during the Third Army’s rapid expedition through France to their post-war occupation of Berlin. Bratton organized operations from the shores of France to the bombed-out buildings of Berlin, and was awarded a Bronze Star and a Legion of Merit citation for his contributions. The Bronze Star citation reads, in part, “For meritorious service… This officer, serving as Headquarters Commandant, Headquarters Third United States Army, had the difficult task of planning and executing the frequent movements of the Army Headquarters during its rapid progress across France… This outstanding performance of duty merits the highest praise.” The color photograph depicts Bratton and another officer in the Headquarters’ Tactical Operations Center; the black-and-white photograph is of Bratton conducting a maneuvers briefing.

Michelin map and silk map folded imprecisely. A fine collection of Third Army memorabilia.