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MEXICAN CAMOUFLAGE in The Nenana Daily News (Nenana, Yukon, Alaska) November 16, 1918, p. 2—
Camouflage as war art was known in Mexico long before it was used in Europe, although not by that name. Mexican soldiers since the days of [President Porfirio] Dias have practiced concealment for military advantage. They have been known to place their high crowned straw hats on poles stuck in sand hills in such a way as to make the enemy force believe they were defending the hill, then flank the enemy from another direction. [Victoriano] Huerta's federal soldiers used camouflage to conceal the port holes in the sides of armored railroad cars. A checkerboard pattern was painted on the sides of these cars and black and white squares concealed the rifle ports.
The Mexican fighting men have also used the trick of covering their high hats and bodies with brush to advance on the enemy positions through thickets. Villa originated the plan of driving a herd of cattle into a beseiged town at night in order to draw the fire of the defenders and to explode any mines in the streets.
The most primitive, though effective application of camouflage in Mexico was the practice of the Tarahuamara [Rarámuri] Indian scouts with [Francisco] Madero’s revolutionary army. These half naked scouts would precede the army, and, by doing a kind of pattern dance, raised a cloud of dust which concealed them from the view of the enemy and permitted them to approach the enemy positions without being detected in their envelope of dust which resembled a dust whirl common on Mexican deserts.
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 / Under the big top at Sims' circus
