War Diaries Talk

Gridreference

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    Why does the author suddenly uses the gridreferences U.15.1 and U.15.2 whilst till now he always used the "normal" gridreferences?

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    Those references are for specific points within the British trench system in that area. Ploegsteert is at the southern edge of the area held by the British west of Messines, where this type of reference was commonly used. I've seen it particularly for the N section of the map in the diaries of the infantry battalions from the 16th (Irish) Div. and the 36th (Ulster) Div. we had up last fall.

    Instead of naming their strongpoints and redoubts with a person's or place's name, like Smith's Keep or London Redoubt (both made up by me just now), they used those letter and number designations.

    They can't really be tagged either; if you try to fit it into the grid reference tag, it will read as U.15, which refers to an entire square rather than a specific point. In that last line, you can tag the hostile TM as Enemy Activity and St. Yves Avenue as a place.

    Posted