Edwin Carty Ranck, SERVICE OF SUPPLY IN FRANCE AND WHAT IT MEANS TO SAMMY WHO IS BATTLING “OVER THERE” in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (New York), June 30, 1918, p. 2—
WWI US government photograph (AI colorized)
At the camouflage camp, which is, by the way, one of the most interesting spots in France, I was shown around by one of the youngest majors in the American Army… One could easily spend a week there, so fascinating is this work.…
I saw many camouflage mounds and hills that would deceive the naked eye at a distance of even twenty-five feet. And there was a weirdly camouflaged automobile that excited the laughter of the men who had camouflaged it, because it was so outrageously absurd. They were trying it as an experiment to see if it wouldn’t be a good vehicle for use at the front.
“Doesn’t it look like it might serve as a crazy wagon for Fred Stone to ride during a performance of The Wizard of Oz or some other fantastic show?” asked my guide.
“Yes, it makes me think of Alice in Wonderland,” I replied. And everything around me made me think of Alice in Wonderland. It was a bizarre, artificial world that lay around me…
Illustration that accompanied article (1918)