Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 182, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1918 — LEARNING ART of DECEPTION [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

LEARNING ART of DECEPTION

v Women 3 as Well as Men Are Now Trained as Camoufleursfof Service With the United States K Army J

ECENT orders of the government to the engineering department of the United States army to stop enlisting men as camoufleurs in a special camouflage di-vision-ends a chapter in military camouflage in America. ’ A little more than a year ago it was doubtful whether or not The army would have any great use for camoufleurs in the forces abroad. By the recent decree military camouflage is made an essential in every regiment, like engineering, I trench digging, map making, rpad building, and There are now, according to military camoufleurs in New York city, about 500 expert camoufleurs abroad with the Pershing forces. The new order makes it necessary for each regiment in every training camp on this side to have at leastTO camoufleurs to train other men in the new art of camouflage. Whence will these new camoufleurs come? Who is to make them proficient, when even the best-trained “old” \nilitary' and naval men admit ignorance? Until the airplane cams in the cavalry was the scouting arm of the army, says a writer in New York Times. Now a large part of the cavalry of the United States army has been dismounted and put to machine guns. The airman is the scout. This was the chief factor in raising camouflage to its present rank of importance. A mounted scout could scarcely be deceived by artificial camouflage. Now the scout passing at heights of about 1,500 feet cannot tell whether the camouflage, if clever, is artificial. His kodak, however, is not so easy to fool. It will record many things which escape the eye. Tor that reason lights and shades, depresslops and knolls in the terrain, and shadows have to be carefully studied by the military camoufleur., That makes it necessary for him to know shade and tone value* ds they register on the eye of the birdman and dn the camera lens. Under the instruction of Lieut. H. Ledyard Towle of the Seventy-first InZ fantry is the New York division of military camouflage, in which the men belong to the new National army and wear the uniform and insignia of the engineers, and on the sleeve the letters “M. C.” —Military Camoufleur. They Include landscape gardeners, artists, miniature painters, portrait pajnters, photographers, woodworkers, mural decorators, draftsmen, and engineers. It is probable that these men will be used to instruct the various regiments in military camouflage. Methods of Teaching. An observer need only follow these 'cajuoufleurs to the 60-acre tract which the city of Yonkers donated to Lieutenant Towle for camouflage work, or into their great classroom In New York city, to get an idea of the chief methods of teaching the value of depressions, color values, lights and shades, and locations. There are adjustable wires that tilt the miniature terrain boards to just the desired slant, so that the soldier can view them from the angle of a sharpshooter, as if from an airplane, from the rear or from in front. Gauzy curtains create an illusion of various lights at different hours. Thus light blue curtains make the twilight just before dawn. Light rose and blue and yellow make dawn, noonday, and dusk curtains the evening. From 1,500 feet telephone poles, camouflaged, disappear. Dugouts with a path croksing over the roof are like the side of the hilt Even the gray, blue and red caisson wagon moving along the road is a blur of color. Canvases in triangular shape tied to

the foot of the telephone poles, outward and on both the road. To an observer on foot or in the air at a thousand feet the hill looks deserted —an almost treeless plain with no distinguishing feature save a neglected old path. Yet that hillside harbors six dugouts, several observation and listening posts, men, cannon, machine guns, and a network of telephone wires. Beyond Yonkers there are trench sections with “No Man's Land” and Its barbed wire entanglements and dugouts. The trenches are dug so deep that the heads of the men do not show above the surface, and the sod re-, moved to dig them is replaced. The openings of the dugouts of the trenches are not, as Is sometimes supposed, far behind the trenches. They are In the trenches with the entrance on the enemy side. Bombs may fall in the mouth of the dugout, but seldom Inside. “The obvious is sometimes as good as the invisible,” Lieutenant Towle said recently. “For instance, the famous dummy fleet' the British used. Another camouflage to which the Germans were dupes was a red cannon, scantily camouflaged, placed by the British at the summit of a hill. The cannon was visible to every German scout flying over it, but It seemed sd obviously a fake that. not a single enemy bomb was dropped on It. Yet It held Its position for a long time, and at night poured Its stream of fire Into the enemy. “The same idea Is out by the American camoufleurs, who model . dummy men and guns for decoys. The enemy air scout sees a partly camouflaged cannon or machine gun with its men bending over It at work and the smoke pouring from its nozzle intermittently. He completely hidden from view, a real cannon whose men are firing a deadly volley from under cover, and whose ammunition comes to them through tunnels. “Such experiments are being made by the military camoufleurs at Yonkers. There are other tricks to be learned, for they also do their own painting of army equipment before using It. Although an ambulance or army truck may not be entirely invislMe on account of the various backgrounds it must pass, it can be mottled into a very poor target. In motion it will appear as a blur caused by heat rays, for It Is mottled In the colors whose values constitute colors which the sun’s rays ..would make.” Natural Camouflage Discarded. At first natural camouflage was used almost entirely. A clump of trees and brush hid a whole machine gun company, a group of rocks harbored a listening post, and a deserted mill might hold a regiment. But the enemy has learned that even the “trees and stones hear,” and a natural camouflaged refuge Is never safe wholly from air attack now. The most Innocent seeming object is nev heless an “object,” and therefore a target for the scout, whereas a perfectly smooth hillside, with no distinguishing marks, may be almost entirely undermined, and yet not arouse suspicion. Lieutenant Towle’s men learn cam- * ■

outrage from the defensive and often* slve points of view—how to advance under cover and how to defend themselves under cover. They have invented scouting and camoufleurs* sharpshooters’ suits which, when worn by the soldier, make him appear like a bit of the landscape, as a boulder, a log, a stump, or a part of the foliage of a tree.

Women Being .Trained. American women camoufleurs are being trained according to the same method as the men, under the Women’s League for National Service and under Lieutenant Towle. Discussing their work, he safd: “There isn't any reason why the women shouldn’t do as well as the men as camoufleurs —that is, In making the materials behind the lines. It Isn’t heavy work, but It demands ingenious jvorkers, skilled In details." Tryon Hall, the old C. K. G. Billings ' place on Washington Heights, bought by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to bo given, ultimately, to the city for a park, Is the spot chosen for the practical experimental work by the worn-' en. Hither they go with Lieutenant Towle to try out thefr camouflage suits and be photographed, wearing them. In different positions, to see that they blend with different colors of the landscape and would be invisible to the enemy not only on the firing line but on the plates of the enemy photographer. M This is the most serious work that has been undertaken under the auspices of the National League for Woman’s Service. The members of the camouflage corps, of whom there are about 40, confidently expect to cross the water to assist In the camouflage work at which English and French -women are already busy. They will not be accepted by the government as regular workers and enlisted for the service until they have completed their training and shown that they have made good, but the fact that .Lieutenant Towle is on -leave in order to Instruct them Is sufficient proof that their work will be considered.

No Age Limit for Women. There is no age limit, up or down, for women joining the corps, but each member must have had some practical technical training before she joins. This keeps from the corps very young girls. The members are young women who are self-supporting. They are artists, architects',, metal workers, wood carvers, photographers, etc. It Is an exceptionally versatile and responsible group. They take a three months’ course under Lieutenant Towle. Each member of the class mak<% and develops her own camouflage suit, according to her own ideas, with the foundation of Instruction that she has received. Sults as tfiey have been constructed by the girls so far are in one piece, like a diver’s suit, with a hood covering the head. A human face shows white In the distance and tin corps is experimenting with veils ai face coverings. 2 Earth brown Is the usual foundation color, and upon this go yellows, greens, grays, and splashes of black.