WW2 Coordinates in Unit Journals

Excellent suggestions. A road junction would probably be the better of the two, but both would be adequate. Those Greeks were rather bright for not having the benefit of "modern" education.

I was aware that the 6-digits represented east-west & north-south, but didn't think of the obvious point you made. Well done!

 

I will look for a road junction in the unit journal and let you all know about my findings!

 

No, there isn't really a viable alternative, that's why I always try to get as much original maps as possible of my area of interest, which is the Battle of the Bulge.

 

HEY....Just stop....just freaking stop.

Look,if you have an even number grid coordinate the first half refers to the longitude (East West, Righty Lefty) The second half will refer to the North/ South ( Uppy /Downy).

So: If you have a six digit grid coordinate the first two digits, of each set with give you the grid as indicated in the lower left hand corner of the grid square. The rest of the numbers in the coordinate will give you the location within the grid square if you divide the grid square in 10ths or 100ths depending on the number of digits in the coordinate.

A 6 digit grid will represent a target within 100 yards/ meters and an 8 digit grid will get you within 10 meters of the coordinate, an 10 digit grid will put you in the lower left cargo pocket of the guy who is giving you directions. Of course all of this depends on the scale of the map.

 

First of all, no one in this conversation has said anything to deserve that attitude. Either calm down or take it to the Stump.

Second, your detailed explanation of the accuracy of the 6-digit grid coordinate system is helpful. But, how does that address the point SLD made about the online Coordinate Translator not always being accurate when compared to using the original maps? Or have I completely missed your point?

 

Check your PMs

You have absolutely missed the point....If you would like I could explain it in more detail or I can address your concerns individually

 

This is not what this thread is about!

 

that's what it sounded like to me....sorry if I misread

 

Whatever the thread is about, I'd like to hear a little more about the coordinate system.

Regarding the first two digits of a six digit grid coordinate being located in the llh corner of the grid square, are you referring to info on WWII maps or is there an online source?

How does the "two letter" prefix fit into the picture?

I usually have a small village/town which has been mentioned in correlation with some coordinates I'm interested in and, assuming it's not near a major town, I'll look it up on Google Earth to get a feel for the general area, try to match the area with the grids on the Nord de Guerre map, and try various two letter prefixes until I get the correct one. Not very fast or scientific but it works.

I was badly mistaken in my first post in this thread. I've looked at the NdG grid many times and the country borders, along with the black squares representing major cities, never registered?? Once that light bulb came on, I found the original L Company coordinate.

 

The echodelta.net website has a decent overview of the Modified British System, including the letter codes. The first letter indicates refers to a 500km square area. That area is divided into twenty-five 100km squares. The second letter refers to the 100km square and is assigned in alpha order (excluding the letter "I") from left to right. What's interesting is that it seems to start with "A" thru "E" in the bottom row, then jump to the top row and continue in alpha order until it ends with "Z" at the end of the fourth row.

 

It all depends upon the map and whether or not the coordinates were encrypted. wx8791 on one map does not equal the same point on a different map. Even the scale of the map comes into play. So, you would need to know the value of "wx" and which map version it corresponded to on that particular day.