More questions about map coordinates

[siege1863]

I have a small notebook containing various map coordinates and references to laying wire/lines, battery, battalion, OP, etc. The notebook comes from the estate of Samuel A. Lopinto, who served in two different field artillery battalions. However, the estate also contained a few belongings of his brother (including a nice copy of "Mein Kampf" picked up on the Siegfried Line in November 1944!). This brother, Matthew J. Lopinto, was a forward observer with the 29th Infantry Division. The notebook could have belonged to either man. Below are a few pages. I suspect that without the actual maps being used, there is no way of knowing where these positions are. Some of what is written may also be code. I am interested to hear any thoughts from the members.

 

 

[pmshindy]

siege,

 

I wish I could help but I know nothing....

Really cool items and story. I hope someone can help you.

 

pmshindy

[BEAST]

OK. So who has maps in their collection brought home by US vets? "51.4-68.8" are grid coordinates, but we would need the WWII era maps made for the US forces to know where these are located.

 

Do you have any copies of letters home from either of the brothers? You might be able to compare handwritting to determine which brother used this notebook.

[siege1863]

I have Samuel's handwritten combat diary and the book inscribed by Matthew. Although the writing of the two brothers have common characteristics (same schooling), there are certain letters found in the notebook that clearly were not in the hand of Samuel. Also, according to Samuel's diary, there was only one very brief period in which he was sent forward, as a driver, to assist an observer. It is most likely the notebook with the coordinates belonged to the brother in the 29th Infantry Division. By the way, he was wounded on Omaha Beach on June 6.

[SGM (ret.)]

Just a few guesses:

 

The digits (ex. 51.6-68.3) might be coordinates expressed to the nearest 100 meters (i.e. 516 683) without the associated alphabetical 100,000 meter square identifiers. If you read the replies (especially Rich's excellent link) to patchtrader you'll see what I mean. If you knew the dates of the note book entries and were able to determine where the 29th ID was on those dates, you might be able to reason out which 100,000 meter square they were most likely in (100,000 meter square is about 60 x 60 miles, so the odds are actually pretty good). Then with that info added to the grid coordinates, you could make a pretty good guess as to the exact locations.

 

In military usage, especially at the lowest echelons (company, platoon, or squad), it is very common to omit the 100,000 meter square identifier since everyone you're talking to is literally "on the same map."

 

As for the numerous two-letter notations (ex. "EE- out of last" out of last what: water, food, ammunition, gasoline, batteries?), my guess is that they are brevity codes from someone's Signals Operating Instructions (SOI). They probably replace certain words or phrases when used in written or radio communications to provide security against enemy message interception. They were probably published and changed every 7 days or so, and so might be impossible to figure out after all these years.

 

All very interesting, though.

 

Mike