Soldiers from the 28th Infantry Division patrol in the Hürtgen Forest, Germany Nov. 2, 1944. The dense, hilly terrain made recovery difficult during the battle and after the end of World War II. (Photo courtesy of National Archives and Record Administration)

The dense hilly terrain of Hürtgen Forest, Germany is peaceful now. 

But 80 years ago, during the last months of World War II, the remote wood was a 50-square mile battlefield where an estimated 5,000 American service members were killed. 

More than 100 are still missing. 

As the nation pauses Sept. 20 for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, the search remains ongoing for these fallen service members and thousands of others from WWII and conflicts throughout the world. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s support to those missions remains ongoing as well in an effort to fulfill the nation’s promise to never leave a fallen comrade behind.

The mission is by nature multifaceted — relying on numerous agencies and sources, all orchestrated by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA. Other expert help includes historians, scientists, foreign area liaisons and partner organizations.

NGA’s support comes from scientists from the Office of Geomatics who have provided key geospatial products to help DPAA investigators and analysts.

“The most important question, or consideration, DPAA analysts face while studying cases of missing American service members is ‘where,’” said Ian Spurgeon, Ph.D., a DPAA historian working on the Hürtgen Forest Project. “That word is central to nearly all of our efforts, whether it is talking to a family of a missing soldier, reviewing archival military documents, developing a field investigation, planning the logistics of mission or conducting an excavation to recover remains.”

NGA’s model shop created two 3D physical models using elevation data produced by the Office of Geomatics to support the Hürtgen Forest Project. Imagery draped over the model terrain helped analysts visualize the countryside around Kommerscheidt, Germany in the Hürtgen Forest. The DPAA has recovered 59 American service members since the project began in 2016. 

Finding out “where” includes answering the following questions:

Where was the soldier last seen? Where could the remains be now?  Where do field teams travel and stage equipment to conduct a field mission?  Where do investigators put a shovel in the ground to find remains?

“While many other considerations also play a role in our case development, ultimately, accounting for a missing American comes down to physically recovering remains at a geographical location, and that requires analyzing past and present events from within geo-spatial settings,” Spurgeon said. “NGA has provided key geospatial products to help DPAA analysts tackle these ‘where’ questions to bring home American service members.”
 
Using coordinates from WWII maps, NGA experts converted the data so that it can be georeferenced in the World Geodetic System 1984, or WGS 84, the backbone of the modern GPS constellation. This allows the data to be viewed and analyzed in GIS software, making DPAA’s products more accurate.

“Georeferencing requires us to research the geodetic information upon which the map was produced,” said Lawrence Nault, a geodetic earth scientist in NGA’s Office of Geomatics who was the lead scientist supporting the Hürtgen Forest Project. “This gives us the ability to accurately transform the map to WGS 84 parameters.”

During the course of the project, the DPAA requested assistance in converting several coordinates on the Nord de Guerre system to WGS 84 coordinates.

“Nord de Guerre is an antiquated system that was in use on military maps during WWII in Europe,” said Nault. “Understanding the grid and projection parameters of the Nord de Guerre system allowed us to transform them to the WGS 84 system.” 

NGA’s support for the latest iteration included georeferencing the WWII map and aerial reconnaissance photographs, creating a grid overlay, georeferencing to modern-day imagery and creating a digital package.

"NGA's latest support provided a useful tool in narrowing the search areas and seeing where modern infrastructure is compared to 1944," said Nault. "It's a really good visualization tool allowing the field surveyor to flip between old and new imagery as well as the World War II map and grid for referencing."

NGA has provided support to DPAA for many missions including projects in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, New Guinea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea and elsewhere in Europe. Support has involved locating features of interest to explore further for remains as well as excluding areas that likely did not contain remains thus improving DPAA search areas and efficiency in the field.

According to the DPAA there are approximately 72,000 U.S. personnel unaccounted for from WWII and approximately 80,000 missing in total from all conflicts. When the DPAA began the Hürtgen Forest project in 2015 there were 193 service members identified as missing. The agency has identified 62 American soldiers from the initial list and 131 still remain missing. The mission is ongoing.

By NGA Office of Corporate Communications