Tarawa Talk
Tarawa Talk => Tarawa Talk => Topic started by: TRGodwin on August 29, 2020, 10:56:27 am
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Here is another question for you Gunny. I'm confused about the back of a map used by Thomas Green who was spotting for Ryan. Time and again, I've understood the lettered prefixes to be used for a 'particular map'. However, on the back of this map, there are many different letter prefixes JH, KH, KL, KG etc and just four digits used by Green. Additionally, off to the left, there is a single, hand-drawn square with others squares within it. Can't make out all of them but there are individual letters in the inner squares. Any thoughts on how to translate this data?
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Sorry, can't help you. They may be Green's own target designators independent of the Target Areas and assigned numbers by Corps prior to the attack. I would think that he would have incorporated those Corps numbers into his somehow but the Green Beach Corps numbers from south to north were 228, 229 and 230 so it looks like he did not. I wonder if he used an acetate overlay on a different map that had his alpha numeric symbols on it. Maybe even a map specifically for the Navy Fire Control Party. Still a mystery I suppose. What does the flip side of the map you posted look like?
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Confusing for sure. I thought about the overlay as well with maybe 100 yd sections. Looks like he drew in the primary 'basic' grid lines on the map below and went from there. I've seen a Betio target map with letters on the vertical and numbers on the horizontal but that doesn't help here. He does have circles with target numbers and letters in them but I could not decipher that either in regard to what he wrote on the back. Appreciate the input as always...