Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1918 — CAMOUFLAGE WAS PUZZLE TO HUNS [ARTICLE]

CAMOUFLAGE WAS PUZZLE TO HUNS

Originated by French Painter in 1914, Serving as Ordinary Artilleryman. . NOW ONE DEWAR’S SCIENCES That Section of French Army Now Has Over 2,000 Men, Artists, Scene Painters, Engineers, Etc.— Many Tricks Employed. Paris. —“Camouflage” that has come to be one of the sciences of modern warfarp, was originated at Toul, France, during the early days of August, 1914. A painter, Guidand de Scevola. attached to a battery near the Lorraine city as an artilleryman, soon found his battery was a landmark and open target for the German gunners. One night, with a comrade, he constructed some papier inache rocks and painted them with a dash of green, representing herbs and foliage, and they were installed over the battery. The peppering of their battery ceased from that day. The painter’s ruse was reported to General Castelnau, in command of the sector, who passed the word along to M. Rene Vivlani, _then minister of war. The war minister immediately ordered the creation of a special section of the army whose entire duties were to be those of “camoufleurs,” or concealers. De Scevola was placed In charge of the work and called to his aid other painters who had been mobilised in the army in some cases as ordinary privates In the infantry or in the service corps. Many Now In the Work. “Camouflage” spread until today the section has over 2,000 men, artists, scene painters, engineers, etc. The official figures show that camouflaged batteries have operated in comparative safety, only four per cent of their number having been put out of action by direct fire as opposed to 50 per cent of batteries where the guns had not been painted or otherwise concealed. * One of the most notable works of the “camoufleurs” was the erection of a hollow, armor-plated wooden structure 800 feet from the German lines,

painted to represent a tree that stood between the French and German front lines in the Champagne region. The French had been operating at a decided disadvantage, as the Germans held the high ground from which they could carry out their observations at ease.. The commandant noticed the tree that had been swept clean of Its branches and foliage through shell and machine gun fire. At night he called in his camouflage squpd and confided a plan to them.

A week later a squad of sappers crept out on a dark night and dug a ditch on the French side of. the tree. The trunk was attacked from beneath the ground by saws that had been liberally dosed with oil and cut away. Long, steel-tipped peevies such as the Main lumbermen carry, eased it to the ground, where it fell into the ditch. The artnor-plated shell was set up in its place and two French observers climbed up inside of it. The next morning the only thing the Germans could see was the old familiar landscape with the battle-scarred tree. Puzzled the Huns. Pieces of shrapnel might whistle by. Machine gun bullets might rain on the trunk as before. Only a direct hit from a shell’ of larger caliber could demolish it and there was no reason for changing the range of the guns to demolish a trunk that stood in No Man’s Land and 300 feet from the French lines. Chance alone would destroy the post. From their telephoned In the observatory the French scouts reported all going on behind the German lines, regulated the fire of their big guns and told what effect the shells had. The puzzled Huns suddenly found sixinchers exploding in their depots. Their communicating trenches were peppered with an accuracy that could only come from directed fire, but the innocent-appearing trunk was not suspected until one night a patrol investigated it. Next day shells burst all around it until one finally toppled it over, but the trunk had served its purpose, and camouflage had turned a valuable trick for its originators.