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| Tank on display in Detroit (1918). Restored / colorized. |
Austin C. Lescarboura, SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF THE CAMOUFLAGE ART: Expert Writes of the Real Reasons for the Weird Things Being Done on Land and Sea in These Days with the Intent to Deceive—Why a Steamship Is Queerly Striped and Why She Is Difficult to Locate When Thus Painted, in The Tampa Sunday Tribune Magazine Section (Tampa FL), September 15, 1918, p. 1—
The practice of deception, concealment, make-up or whatever you please to call it, gained rapidly with both sides in the present conflict. It was at about the same time of the battle of the Somme, during the summer of 1916, that this art assumed gigantic proportions and the term "camouflage," borrowed from the French, became a universal expression. The British and French armies, and most likely the German, Austrian and other enemy armies, set aside a certain number of men for the practice of camouflage. Artists, scene painters, carpenters and mechanics were impressed into the camouflage service and in short order became expert "camoufleurs." Since then wonders have been accomplished in this direction; but, as in the case of so many other phases of this war, must remain a deep secret until the struggle comes to be written in its entirety—and without the censor.
Nothing has been of greater assistance to the all-powerful artillery than the airplane. Queer combination this. to be sure; the steel monster, belching fire and hurling thousands of pounds of steel and high explosive, works hand in hand with the frail wood and Iinen airplane which goes about its work in the most graceful of manners. Yet, carrying the observer over enemy territory, the airplane enables the aiming of long-range artillery with a remarkable degree of accuracy. By means of wireless telegraphy, the aerial observer can signal back to his artillery chief the exact position of the target; and as the shells come over and strike he can signal back whether they are falling too long or too short, and how far to either side, until after a number of rounds the shells register on the target.
It is the eagle-eyed air scout against whom lofty perch everything is open to him, just as to a visitor at an exposition every detail of a model landscape is sharply delineated. The landscape below appears in the form of a relief map, with variegated patches indicating different kinds of terrain such as marshes, fields, woods, lakes and hills. Trenches plainly show as dark or light, while roads appear as ribbons of gray or yellow.
But camouflage foils the airman. Batteries are covered with branches and with reed screens until they take on the appearance of the surrounding fields or woods. Ammunition dumps are covered with canvas painted to simulate brown soil or the green of the field. Tents when used are painted with a patchwork design which breaks up the outlines so that they blend with the surrounding landscape. Trenches are provided with light screens so as to eliminate sharp shadows, and in some cases are covered over with reeds and foliage. Roads are spanned by reed or canvas screens which prevent the airman from observing traffic. All these things and a thousand more are done to fool the airman, until he has at last accepted the creed of the multitude. "You never can tell!"
In order to make trenches less conspicuous particular attention is paid to shadows. What makes aerial observation so effective is the oblique lighting of sunrise or sunset, for then the sun's rays cast long and sharp shadows which accentuate all objects which, with overhead lighting, would hardly show. Oblique lighting makes for high relief, and consequently more effective observation. To this end it is now common practice to make use of screens for eliminating shadows. These screens generally consist of narrow strips of cheesecloth supported on wooden stakes in front of the trenches, so that the direct rays of the sun cannot fall on the trenches and throw a sharp shadow. Instead. only a diffused, shadowless light strikes the earthwork. The cheesecloth screen, in turn, is of such color and size as to be unnoticeable.
Buildings may have to be guarded against shadows. What would be excellent camouflage at sunrise is totally ineffective at noon and at sunset, so that camouflage is a sunrise to sunset proposition. Generally, unless the camouflaged object is of paramount importance and is receiving undue attention on the part of the enemy, a happy medium is decided upon and the camouflage is an average one for the entire day. Such steps as lightening dark sides of buildings and darkening light sides, in order to average up or distribute more or less evenly the light on all sides [called countershading], is a common feature of camouflage.
The use of reeds and foliage is perhaps the most common form of battlefield make-up. Almost everything can be protected by a layer of well arranged reeds or foliage or sod, and the majority of guns are protected in this manner so that they can fire from their retreats without betraying their location. Thousands of shells are left in the open behind the lines. A bomb dropped by an airman would cause them to blow up in one terrific explosion; but a suitable covering of reeds or foliage or painted canvas prevents the airman from discovering the ammunition dump.
Spotted camouflage is quite effective in breaking up the outlines of any object. For instance, in the case of large guns mounted on railroad carriages, the usual camouflage consists of a leopard-like coat of paint. Variegated splotches of paint break up the stern lines of the gun so that at a distance it melts into the surrounding landscape, or at least appears as a mystifying, shapeless mass. The spotted form of camouflage is mostly employed where other means are unavailable, and simple as it may seem it is quite effective, according to reports.
If it were not for the aerial camera, camouflage would be a simple matter in so far as the airman is concerned. But by degrees the airman has perfected his photographic apparatus to a point where it tells him many things which would escape his notice if he depended solely on his eyes.
Aerial cameras now make perfect photographs of the ground below them even when flying at altitudes of 5,000 feet and more. The photographs, when developed and printed, are carefully studied by "photographic readers" at headquarters, and there is very little, indeed, that escapes the notice of these highly trained specialists. A little spot which would pass unnoticed through the hands of the average man is detected by the "reader" and made out as a new pill-box or small blockhouse. A slight shadow in front of a section of trench indicates a cylinder of gas for a contemplated poison-cloud attack, no doubt. A dark splotch to one side of the picture indicates that the enemy has been digging, for freshly turned soil is of a different shade from other soil; and note is made of this fact so that the "heavies," or large guns, can send a few shells in that direction.
Now camouflage is, or rather was, generally made in natural colors, so as to deceive the eye of the airman. But the camera has a totally different "eye" and responds to a different range of colors. So natural colors camouflage does not deceive the camera to any great extent. Furthermore, both sides today make use of panchromatic plates and yellow filters, which permit the camera still further to differentiate between camouflage greens and natural greens, or between false and genuine verdure, since the color screens and color plates can pick out shades with great precision. Again, certain cameras, particularly those of the enemy, are of the stereoscopic variety: that is to say. they have two lenses and operate on the same principle as the human eyes. The reason why we see everything in lifelike form as compared to the flat appearance of ordinary photographs is that we see everything through two eyes. Each eye, obviously, sees the common object from a slightly different angle, and the two in combination give the stereoscopic or relief effect. By means of such cameras the airmen are obtaining pictures in high relief. Fake trenches, only a foot or two in depth, plainly show as forgeries on the stereoscopic plates, and guns, pillboxes, listening posts and other works stand out clearly.
It is the camera which represents the main obstacle of the camoufleurs. But by clever grouping of photographic and visual camouflage a happy medium is struck. It will ever be a contest between the skill of the camoufleur on the one hand and the wits of the "picture reader" on the other. Fortunately for the former, anti-aircraft gunners prevent the airman from approaching closer than several thousand feet from the camouflaged objects. And this distance is the salvation of the art.
It is by no means to be assumed that the airman is the only one for whom camouflage is intended. The enemy on the ground and in observation balloons must also be deceived, bewildered and prevented from seeing all he wants to see. For that reason camouflage is also applied in the horizontal plane to foil the eyes of those in the trenches across the way. Listening posts are disguised in a thousand and one ways, and snipers' stations are effectively masked so as not to reveal their occupants engaged In shooting human game. Trench periscopes are made in the form of sandbags, and there are thousands of ways in which the enemy is fooled. Tanks, when going up to the attack, are bedecked in a coat of war paint, which would have brought hilarious joy to the most taciturn Indian warrior—reds, greens, blues, yellows, pinks. All these hues appear as in a mist on the steel sides of the tanks for camouflage purposes. Gaudy as the camouflage is, at a distance it blends into an indistinct neutral gray, and the outlines of the ugly monster are such that one cannot tell where they begin and where they leave off. How, then, can the German gunners spot their guns?
Camouflage is the very salvation of the machine gun. This weapon is the most deadly of all the terrible machinery of modern warfare; it is the lurking rattlesnake with leaden venom; it exacts a tremendous toll among the soldiers, so great, in fact, that it is the most dreaded of all. Soldiers who nonchalantly face the roar of heavy artillery and the drone of murderous airplanes pale at the rat-tat-tat of a solitary machine gun pound's somewhere in the dim distance.
It has therefore come to pass that an army will only attack after all the machine guns in front of it have been accounted for. It a single machine gun is known to be in working order, every cannon within range is turned in its direction in order to destroy it. In truth, a commander today does not hesitate to turn his twelve-inch guns on a solitary machine gun post in order to blast it from the face of the earth. So the machine gun, which forms the backbone of any defense, must be protected, and since steel and concrete are of little avail, its only protection lies in camouflage. Some of the cleverest camouflage is to be found in the concealment of machine guns.
Camouflage has a two-fold function: first. and as already discussed, to protect certain military works through concealment; second, to fool the enemy and draw his fire to take targets. In the latter case the enemy is made to waste his ammunition and at the same time the real targets near by are untouched. The most spectacular feats of camouflage have been those in the fake target class. Every army, at some time or another, has dug fake trenches and has constructed entire batteries of fake guns so as to draw enemy fire. At a height of 5,000 or more feet the air scout can be readily deceived; a barrel, a pair of discarded wagon wheels, a few pieces of wood and a few charges of black powder will make the most realistic howitzer; and a trench two feet in depth, manned with dummies, will convince the airmen above that an attack is forming. Thousands of shells are rained on such targets by enemy gunners—thousands of wasted rounds—while the real targets are untouched. It would be very interesting to know just how much ammunition has been wasted in this manner since the beginning of the war, but that is another fact which must forever remain behind the self-pride of all belligerents. At any rate, the aerial camera and the clever "picture reader" are making this form of camouflage increasingly difficult.
Camouflage is not a land war art exclusively; it has its application to marine warfare. As in the case of military camouflage, the naval branch has two broad objects: first, to decrease visibility; second, to confuse or fool the enemy.
By way of decreasing the visibility of vessels numerous schemes have been tried, but as yet the art is in its infancy. Indeed, in American ports there are to be seen large numbers of transatlantic steamships no two of which have the same kind of camouflage.
One system Intended to lower the visibility contemplates the use of the primary colors in varied proportions, areas and shapes of areas. This arrangement makes for a gray at a distance; a gray, it is said, that is far more effective than the flat war gray formerly employed on battleships. Another system contemplates the reduction or elimination of lights and shadows so that the darkest parts of the ship are lightened and the lightest parts are darkened, so as to produce a better blend with the sky and water. Still another system calls for a wave like painting of green, blue and white. so that the outlines of the hull will be lost in those of the surrounding water.
All of these systems have been tried, and since they continue to be employed it is safe to say they all have merit. But since, through the use of proper color screens or ray filters, the U-boat observers might hit upon a plan that would make the camouflaged ships stand out more prominently than if they were not so decorated, playing right into their hands, as it were. It is obvious that any specific details given out at this time are only apt to furnish the desired information to the ingenious Hun and in this way increase the toll which he is exacting.
There is no doubt that much can be done to lower the visibility of any ship by limiting its superstructure, particularly the masts and funnels. It would seem that the ideal ship, at present would one without masts and funnels, and making use of anthracite coal and forced draught while in the danger zone. Such a vessel would be invisible to the lurking U-boat even a few miles away, and it is quite conceivable that the U-boat would have to come across the inconspicuous steamers more or less through accident.
The submarine freighter idea has repeatedly come up in considering ways and means of combating the U-boat, and beyond doubt, despite some mechanical obstacles, this type of transport would prove most efficacious. In truth, the British are employing submerged barges which are towed by small oceangoing tugs, with excellent results, and, after all, these are nothing more than the submarine freighter idea.
Fooling the U-boat commander is accomplished by all manner of weird designs. One scheme is to confuse the U-boat's range finder by scrolls and curves in bright colors. A range finder functions best when trained on an object presenting a solid mass, and the disconcerting effect of a nightmare of color and shapes can be imagined by even the lay mind. Certain color schemes tend to give the ship a shortened appearance, while others cause a funnel to disappear so that the identity of the vessel is hidden. In still other instances, a vessel is painted so that a destroyer or U-boat appears to be alongside.
Then there is the matter of determining a vessel's speed. In order to aim a torpedo the U-boat commander must know the approximate speed of his victim and its direction of travel, so that he can aim his torpedo some distance ahead and cause it to arrive at a predetermined point at the same time as the target. Fake bow waves give the slow moving freighter the earmarks of an ocean greyhound.
Captain Fritz of the U-368, through the "eye" of his slippery craft, estimates the speed of [unnamed ship] to be about eighteen knots because of the high bow wave; whereas the tub is ploughing along at twelve knots. The result is that his torpedo misses.
Marine camouflage depends entirely keeping the U-boats beneath the waves. Just as long as the allied submarine chasers and torpedo boat destroyers roam the sea in large numbers and as long as the merchantmen are armed the U-boat must needs seek the shelter of the waves and shoot at its intended victim by the aim of its periscope. And it is far easier to fool the periscope than it is the human eye at the present stage of the campaign.
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RELATED LINKS
Dazzle Camouflage: What is it and how did it work? / Nature, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Women's Rights, and Camouflage / Embedded Figures, Art, and Camouflage / Art, Gestalt, and Camouflage / Optical science meets visual art / Disruption versus dazzle / Chicanery and conspicuousness /
