Guide to Footnotes

See also the HyperWar Combined Glossary of abbreviations and code words.

There exists no generally accepted practice for citing Army and Navy documents. The method adopted in this and other Pacific volumes is designed to furnish to the reader necessary information on the source, character, date, subject matter, and present location of the documents, and to make each citation as brief as possible. The security classifications of the documents have been omitted.

The citations are for the most part self-explanatory, but a brief exposition may assist the reader in finding the entries in the South Pacific War Diary. They are listed in the Diary, by month, according to their date-time groups in Greenwich Civil Time, and show the originator and the addressee of each message. The first two figures in a date-time group give the day of the month; the last four indicate the time of day. Thus, in a group of entries for July 1942, a date-time group of 021226 means that the date of the message was 2 July, and 1226 was the time.

In general, abbreviations conform to the usages in TM 20-205, the Dictionary of United States Army Terms, published in 1944. To assist the civilian reader, unfamiliar official and unofficial military and naval abbreviations, short titles, and code words which are used in the footnotes are explained below.

AAA

Antiaircraft artillery

ACofS

Assistant Chief of Staff

Adj

Adjutant

Amph

Amphibious

Arty

Artillery

ASP

Army Service Forces

ATIS

Allied Translator and Interpreter Section

Avn

Aviation

Bn

Battalion

Bn-l, Bn-2, etc.

See under G.

CA

Coast Artillery

CACTUS

Guadalcanal

CINC SWPA

Supreme Commander [Commander in Chief], Southwest Pacific Area

CINCPAC

Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet

CINCPOA

Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Area

CG

Commanding General

CM-IN

Cable Message In

CM-OUT

Cable Message Out

CNO

Chief of Naval Operations

CO

Commanding Officer

CofS

Chief of Staff

COMAIRSOPAC

Commander, [land-based] Aircraft, South Pacific Force

COMAIRWING I

Commanding General, 1st Marine Air Wing

COMAMPHIBFORSOPAC

Commander, Amphibious Force, South Pacific Force

Comdr

Commander

Comdt

Commandant

COMGENSOPAC

Commanding General, U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area

COMINCH

Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet

COMNAVBAS

Commander, Naval Base[s]

COMNAVEU

Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in Europe

COMSERONSOPAC

Commander, Service Squadron, South Pacific Force

COMSOPAC

Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force 

COMSOWESPACFOR

Commander, Southwest Pacific Force (the U.S. Naval commander under MacArthur)

CTF

Commander, Task Force

CTG

Commander, Task Group 

D-1, D-2, etc.

See under G.

ExO

Executive Officer

FA

Field Artillery

FM

Field Manual

FO

Field Order

G

A generic label for the staff sections of large Army units. G-1, for example, indicates either the personnel section of a headquarters or the assistant chief of staff for personnel; G-2, intelligence; G-3, operations; G-4, supply and evacuation. In units smaller than divisions, the staff sections are labeled S-1, S-2, etc. In 1942 Marine units employed the same staff organization as the Army, but D indicated a divisional staff section, R that of a regiment, and Bn that of a battalion.

GHQ

General Headquarters

GO

General Order

Gp

Group

GSUSA

General Staff, U.S. Army (used after the reorganization of the armed forces in 1947)

HD

Harbor Defense

HRS DRB AGO

Historical Records Section, Departmental Records Branch, Administrative Services Division, Office of The Adjutant General

Int

Intelligence

Interrog

Interrogation

JCS

Joint Chiefs of Staff

JPS

Joint Staff Planners

MAC

Marine Amphibious Corps

MIS

Military Intelligence Service

Mob

Mobile

Msg

Message

NR

Number (relating to a radiogram)

Ntg

No time group

OB

Order of Battle

Obs

Observer

O-in-C

Officer in Charge

ONI

Office of Naval Intelligence

OPD

Operations Division, War Department General Staff (now the Plans and Operations Division, General Staff, U.S. Army)

Opn

Operation

Ord

Order

Org Rec Br, AGO

Organization Records Branch, Records Administration Center, Administrative Services Division, Office of The Adjutant General

Pac

Pacific

POA

Pacific Ocean Area

PTO

Pacific Theater of Operations

Rad

Radiogram

Recon

Reconnaissance

R-1, R-2, etc.

See under G.

RINGBOLT

Tulagi

SCAP

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

SEC NAV

The Secretary of the Navy

SGO

Office of The Surgeon General

S-1, S-2, etc.

See under G.

SOPAC

South Pacific Area, South Pacific Force

SOWESPAC

Southwest Pacific Area

SSUSA

Special Staff, U.S. Army

Stf

Staff

SWPA

Southwest Pacific Area

TF

Task Force

TG

Task Group

Trans

Translation

USA

U.S. Army

USAFISPA

U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area

USSBS

U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey

WD

War Department (now the Department of the Army)

WDCSA

Chief of Staff, U.S. Army (prior to the reorganization in 1947)

WDGS

War Department General Staff (now the General Staff, U. S. Army)

WIA

Wounded in Action

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