Here are a few examples of the use of N.M.S. in a war diary for Burma 1944. "1330 Hours - DOLLUANG O.P. reports enemy bunkers 364853 and 368842 but N.M.S." "0820 Hours - 2/5th Royal Gurkha Rifles road cutting party reached Road at 0100 hours. Laid mines N.M.S. but movement heard between 2130 and 2230 hours on road FORT WHITE-M.S. 22." "1050 Hours - Patrol 1 and 3 from PIMPLE reached road behind MS 22 where remained for one hour. N.M.S." "0845 Hours - Patrol across road behind MS 22 night 27/28 report N.M.S."
Its a guess but "No Movement Sighted/seen" edit: When I google war diary "no movement seen" it seems to get a few hits, so seems to be an accepted report
It is definitely officially defined as 'No Movement Seen' somewhere. I think under the 'Reconnaissance Code' in, I think, the Field Service Pocket Book.
Haven't seen N.M.S. in any Burma diaries, but N.E.S. was used for "No Enemy Seen". Here's 2nd Bn East Lancs Regt using the short form N.E.S.: But in the diary of its parent Brigade HQ (29 Inf Bde) it's always written in full as "No Enemy Seen": Based on that, AB64's suggestion of "No Movement Seen" for N.M.S. sounds like a good call.
I agree. It was probably used regularly in the war diary previous to the year I have been going through.
To confirm what Idler says: Field Service Pocket Book, Part I – Pamphlet No. 5 – Signal Codes’ Source: Field Service Pocket Books - The Vickers Machine Gun NMS = No movement seen.