I had someone interested in seeing just when, what units of the 83 ID were where, around le Lorey. This seemed like an interesting way to look at things. Once I had it done though, I thought that a day by day visualization would be less busy, easier to follow; but then I thought again, what was wanted, was to see where everything was around a certain point and what I had worked well for that. An operations view could be done later, once I have all the companies mapped out individually.
We are dealing with the 1 Bn, 330 IR here, on the days 28-31 July, around le Lorey. This is the ending of the Normandy campaign for these guys and they are being blessed with rest, hot food and recuperation.
I had trouble only with D Co coordinates for 28 July. The report used the same coordinates as the days before, up to the north-west of Remilly-Sur-Lozon; but it specifically said in the location field for 28 July, that they were “2 mi S Remilly-Sur-Lozon”; and in the Action Report for the 28th it is stated they advanced a good 5 miles; and in the Action Report for the 29th, it is said they remained “in defensive position”, no mention of any movement. So, I have assumed the recorder made the mistake of putting the position at beginning-of-day instead of at end-of-day for the 28th and have placed the 28th where the 29th was reported. I think that’s a pretty good guess.
Position of 1 BN, 330 IR, around le Lorey, France from 28-31 July, 1044
Mapping the Overlays 
Are you writing a book?
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No. Just mapping. Basically, I am just giving these original sources a geographical view; hopefully making them more accessible and compelling.
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You’re doing great. Are you pulling from the NARA archive? By the way, I’ll be in Normandy at the end of this July. Drop me a line if you want to get together to compare notes. (I may have mentioned it in a previous post, but I’ve found that working the supporting artillery battalion logs of your division is a pretty good way of getting a handle on enemy dispositions.)
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I am using what I can get from the 83 ID Docs site. Haven’t worked up the funds to spend any time at NARA yet. Yes, I can imagine how artillery logs could help identify enemy positions. Very clever, i hadn’t thought of that. Right now I’m just repurposing Morning Reports. So not sure I have any “notes” to compare. What I’d love to have is more map overlays for 83 ID.
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It’s good that you’ll have your method worked out before you go to NARA. (I wish I’d figured that out about the artillery battalions; it would have saved me much wasted time.) That way you can be very targeted. Overlays can be difficult to dislodge from NARA. They look at you like you have two heads sometimes. Maybe this has changed, assuming you can photograph them with a cell phone. There is frustratingly little G/S2 documentation for the division I’m studying (90ID). Here’s a 3D visualization of points of interest I visited last June, vic Gourbesville: http://defling.com/3D_Views/GRB_25k_POIs/GRB_Omega.html.
I have yet to drill down to the company morning reports, but the location of the German mortar position (west) comes from an artillery S3 log. Probably aerial observation and only good for one time and one place, but it is the beginning of templating the German battalion facing down 357IR.
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