80th Division Digital Archives Project
 
Morning Reports - Commonly Used Abbreviations

The following are excerpts from Mitchell Kaidy, who was an assistant company clerk of Co. D, 345th Infantry Regiment.

Every day of World War II, a 3 1/4 by 7-inch Morning Report was issued from each infantry company, artillery battery, and all other basic units, to higher headquarters. Though it was, under exigent circumstances, sometimes handwritten, Army regulations required the morning report to be typed and promptly delivered to Regimental or equivalent headquarters. Ultimately, it reached the highest military authorities, and today collections of the small, information-packed documents are still preserved at the National Archives in College Park, Md.

Characterized by an extreme case of Army-speak, the little document disclosed a lot, and in wartime was highly guarded. During even the most arduous actions, the report listed the unit location, killed-and-wounded in action, brief wound descriptions, evacuations to hospitals as a result of combat or weather-related causes; the captured, as well as missing in action, plus new assignees (known as replacements); promotions and transfers to and from other units with their rank and other information. All this plus the soldier’s Army Serial Number (ASN) and Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) were packed into the report. On such official documents, the Army refused to recognize draftees as such; and both draftees and enlistees were consistently designated as enlisted men (EM). Army officers were separately identified by rank and serial numbers, whose numerals were different, and less revealing, than enlisted men’s numerals.

Compiling the Morning Report was ultimately the responsibility of the First Sergeant, but in practice most of the detail work was done by the Company Clerk, who was usually a corporal or sergeant. During infantry action, the First Sergeant and Company Clerk often derived their information from fellow combatants; from the walking wounded waiting to be evacuated; or, occasionally, by scouting out foxholes. Obstacles to information-gathering near the front were clearly formidable and consistent—and hazardous. During especially bloody combat, the wounded could lie unnoticed in inaccessible battle zones for hours or days until detected. Or, because of the severity of their wounds, the wounded could have been quickly evacuated by jeep or ambulance before company headquarters was notified. The killed in action (KIAs) could lie for weeks on abandoned battlefields, or in woods or foxholes, before being located by Graves Registration Teams.

Reports of the capture of American soldiers by the enemy were even more problematic, because a squad or patrol could have extended beyond reach or stayed out at night while seeking to capture a prisoner or even in response to enemy activity. Captured American soldiers were often listed for weeks as missing in action before they were confirmed to be in enemy hands.

During World War II, infantry operations in Europe, squads or platoons of heavy weapons companies were regularly attached to rifle companies, burdening the First Sergeant and Clerk with the duty of locating the rifle company to which the squad, platoon or section of heavy machineguns or heavy mortars (81 mm) was temporarily attached.

Rifle companies, which suffered the highest percentage of casualties in the infantry, chronically understated casualties as illustrated by a rifle company that was reduced to 17 soldiers, including officers, but consistently reported 70 to 80 members on hand. Clearly, because the line companies often became depleted, usually during the Battle of the Bulge, replacements could not keep up, and underreporting was rife in World War II. Clearly, morning reports, mirroring frontline action in revealing detail, remain a hidden treasure of World War II that has yet to be mined by historians and archivists.

"MCO" - Main Civilian Occupation Code List:

AGF
Allied Ground Forces
APO
Army Post Office
aptd
appointed
ar
arrest
AR
Army Regulation
asgd or assgd
assigned
asgmt
assignment
atchd
attached
AWOL
Absent Without Leave
BC
Battle Casualty
Bn
battalion
Clr Sta
Clearing Station
CM
Court Martial
Conf
Confined
DP
disbursement point
dep
departed
det
detached
disch
discharged
D/D
dishonorable discharge
DOI
Died of Injuries
DOW
Died of Wounds
drpd
dropped
DS
detached service
dy
duty
EH
Evacuation Hospital
EM
enlisted men (both draftees and enlistees were designated as enlisted men)
Evacd
evacuated
FH
Field Hospital
FOD
Finding of Death
fr
from
FR
France
fur
furlough
GH
General Hospital
gr
grade
hosp
hospital
IIA
Injured in action
jd
joined
LD
Line of Duty
LIA
Lightly Injured in Action
Lv
leave
LWA
Lightly Wounded in Action (not believed life-threatening)
MCO
Main Civilian Occupation
MIA
Missing in Action
MOS
Military Occupational Specialty
NBC
Non-battle Casualty
nco
non-commissioned officer
NLD
not in the line of duty
no
number
opns
operations
PAR
paragraph
Pers
personnel
Plat or Plt
platoon
PM
Postmaster
qrs
quarters
R-W
Race-White
Regt
Regiment
reld
relieved
Repl
replacement
reptd
reported
rd
reduced
RTD
Returned to Duty
SFW
Shell Fragment Wound
SIA
Seriously Injured in Action
sk
sick
SSN
Service Specialty Number
Sta
Station
str
strength
SWA
Seriously Wounded in Action (believed life-threatening)
td
temporary duty
trfd
transferred
unasgd
unassigned
Vic or vic
vicinity
W
wound
WIA
Wounded in Action
     

Handwritten codes (right-hand margin)
In addition to the above abbreviations, it was not unusual for company clerks, first sergeants, company commanders, and upper echelon to hand write codes in the right hand column. In my limited research, based on the 80th Division Morning Reports, I believe the below information to be accurate. I did, however, notice a difference starting in January 1945, but the code meanings were essentially the same. I do not know if these handwritten codes were common in other divisions.

Code Meaning
A
Assigned (Returned to Duty; Transferred TO unit)
E Replacement (assigned & joined)
J, K Transferred FROM unit
T Lost to Hospital
M-1
DTY to KIA
M-2, M-3 SWA to DOW
M-4, M-6 DTY to LWA, SWA
M-5, M-7 DTY to LIA, SIA
M-9 DTY to MIA
M-10 AWOL ("6" - DTY to AWOL; "7" AWOL to DTY)
9 MOS Change
11-3
Promotion: SSgt to TSgt
11-4 Promotion: Sgt to SSgt
11-5 Promotion: Cpl to Sgt
11-6 Promotion: Pvt/Pfc to Cpl
11-7 Promotion: Pvt to Pfc
11-8 Demotion: Sgt to Pvt; Pfc to Pvt

"Wounds" usually meant that they were caused by enemy action.

"Injuries" usually meant that they were caused by accidents, premature explosions of our own mortar shells, etc.

"DOW" and "DOI" meant that death occurred on a date later than the date of the wounds or injuries.

MOS ("Military Occupational Specialty") - very extensive WWII MOS explanation list at 380th Bomb Group site - click here

 


Click here for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click to download the
latest Adobe Reader
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in the Morning Reports
Click here for a list of MOS/SSN descriptions (compiled by 380th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Fifth Air Force, United States Air Forces)
Click here to read about the 80th Division Digital Archives Project
Click here to return to the Digital Archives Home Page
Return to the 80th Division Veteran's Association Web site