The Persian Gulf Command.

Description

This rare vintage poster map from World War II presents a hybrid of geographic information, pictorial vignettes, and overt symbolic messaging. It is a polychromatic print, with the dominant background color being the warm yellow associated with Iran’s arid landscapes. Throughout, the map is endowed with iconic place names and detailed pictorial vignettes that relay not only Allied propaganda notions but also depict critical wartime infrastructure and Allied activities in the region, as well as stunning natural landmarks and an unrelenting sun. The vivacious composition is framed by a highly decorative paisley border rendered in red, blue, and black.

The border itself signals that the sheet was conceived as a poster for display rather than as a topographic product. The title, set in a framed block at lower right, reads THE PERSIAN GULF COMMAND and is accompanied by a shield-like emblem and short logistical notes (mileage and route names). The map’s visual language combines well-known cartographic elements, such as the stylized coastline, convoy routes (represented by a red route line), and named towns, with cartoon-like vignettes that underscore the map’s primary purpose: to explain and dramatize the transshipment of war materials through Iran to the Soviet Union.

Geographically, the map emphasizes the line of transit from the Persian Gulf north through southwestern and central Iran toward the Soviet frontier. Major place-names shown along the marked route include Khorramshahr, Abadan, Ahvaz, Bandar Shahpur, Andimeshk, Dizful, Khorramabad, Borujerd, Arak, Qom, Tehran, and Qazvin/Kazvin. The map also highlights distinctive topographic markers, including a prominent, cartooned Mount Damavand (elevated and labeled), and an explicit depiction of the Trans-Iranian Railway and its numerous mountain tunnels. Along the route, small labels and pictograms identify industrial and logistical nodes, such as the truck assembly plants at Andimeshk and the port of Khorramshahr, a plane assembly plant at Abadan, as well as local repair shops and Persian rug production facilities. Many of these notations have been included to illustrate the processes by which material arriving by sea was processed, reconditioned, and reassembled in Iran before being moved north to support the Soviet war effort against Germany.

Being a characteristic product of WWII propaganda, the symbolic imagery is rather explicit and unambiguous. At the top left, a uniformed figure bearing Soviet insignia is handed a large wooden crate stamped MADE IN U.S.A. Glancing backwards over his shoulder, the soldier looks anxiously towards an area labeled U.S.S.R., above which a dark swastika-bearing storm cloud casts bolts of lightning. The storm cloud clearly represents Axis threat and danger, while the American crate constitutes a mitigation of that threat. At the bottom, a soldier with enlarged, stylized hands holds a tank or a placard reading “DESTINATION RUSSIA!”, underscoring that the map’s narrative is more about transshipment and multi-pronged war efforts than geography.

Two concrete routes are shown running through the country: the Iranian State Railroad running from the Persian Gulf ports of Khorramshahr and Bandar Shahpur to Tehran; and the “M.T.S. convoy route”, which was a road network stretching from Khorramshahr to Kazvin (Qazvin) in the north. The enormous distance of this route is noted in the title cartouche as 640 miles. Vignettes of trains entering tunnels, flashes or explosions, convoys of trucks, and an illustrated dock and port infrastructure on the Persian Gulf all serve as visual elaborations of these key routes.

Although slightly more subtle than the logistical features, the poster-map also includes a range of cultural markers and local topography that highlight the Iranian backdrop of this mission. A small vignette of a domed shrine is identified as Fatima’s (Fathuma’s) tomb, an important place of pilgrimage for Shia muslims. In the plains northeast of Ahwaz, a frightening depiction of scorching heat is annotated “hottest sun in the world”. Another fascinating inclusion is the depiction of Iran’s qanat (Kanats), an ancient tunnel system designed for large-scale underground irrigation. And along the right border, we see the desolate wasteland of Dasht-e Kavir (the Great Salt Desert), simply labeled “SALT WASTE.” A conspicuously elaborate vignette around the capital of Tehran (top right) includes a banner reading P.G.C. HQs, indicating the location of the Persian Gulf Command’s administrative center.

In unison, these details serve two functions: they localize the route within a recognizable Persian landscape, and they highlight the challenging environmental conditions affecting supply operations (e.g., heat, terrain, distance, and infrastructure). The overall composition thus combines practical route information with theatrical imagery designed to communicate purpose and urgency—a kind of visual shorthand for the grandeur and complexity of the Allied response.

Census

This rare poster-map is an Allied wartime production intended for a public or semi-public audience. It was designed by Frank Agar and published by the National Bank of Iran (Bank Melli) in 1945.

Both the paper’s quality and the content of the map confirm that it was intended as a product of circulation rather than archival print —a working poster designed for walls, briefings, or public display. Consequently, very few of these have survived.

We have noted only one other example that came to market in recent decades, which saw the hammer price dramatically exceeding the auction estimate.

The OCLC lists no known institutional examples. We have also reviewed the Andre Kostelanetz collection of wartime cartography held by the Library of Congress, and this, too, does not appear to include our map.

Context is Everything

The present map was produced in the context of the grand logistical mission known as the Persian Corridor. During World War II, this overland route carried Allied and U.S. lend-lease material from Persian Gulf ports northward into the Soviet Union. Following Axis operations in 1941 and the opening of the Eastern Front, the Allies needed to establish reliable, year-round supply routes into the USSR. The Persian Corridor became one of the principal and comparatively most secure lines of supply. US Army histories record roughly 4.16 million tons of cargo moved by this corridor, while broader tallies of U.S. lend-lease shipments put the total at an even larger figure. The practical outcome was that a significant fraction of the Soviet Union’s Allied materiel arrived via the Persian Gulf and Iran.

To organize, secure, and operate the American part of that enterprise, the U.S. Army established a dedicated service command. The Persian Gulf Command (PGC) was created in December 1943, evolving from the earlier Iran-Iraq Service Command and Persian Gulf Service Command formations. It was primarily responsible for port operations, repair and assembly activities, rail and road movement, and the protection of lines of communication that linked Persian Gulf ports to the interior and to Soviet transshipment points. The PGC acted as both a logistical operator and liaison to British, Soviet, and Iranian authorities, managing the docks, organizing long-distance truck convoys, improving and operating railways, and overseeing reconditioning and assembly facilities at Iranian industrial sites.

Donald P. Booth (Donald Prentice Booth), as noted by name in the map’s title, was a U.S. Army officer serving in senior posts within these organizations. During the period in question, Booth served as Director of Ports for the Persian Gulf Command, and was later promoted to brigadier general in May 1944, Chief of Staff in 1944–45, and finally took command of the entire Persian Gulf Command in early 1945.

The poster’s production in Iran and its pictorial form reveal its intended purpose. This is not a technical Army map; it is a public-oriented poster that visually explains an unusual but effective collaboration between the United States, Iran, and the Soviet Union. It is both a documentary sketch of a wartime route and a piece of persuasive wartime communication.