full-sized battleground dummies of browsing cows

Above News photograph from the New York Times on September 23, 1917, the year that the US entered the war. The caption reads: “A Pastoral Scene Through Which Runs an Important Railway Link Between the French Firing Line and a Base of Supplies. Only the Browsing Cow Happens to be Papier-Maché.” 

In earlier posts, we have featured comparable photographs of full-sized dummies of browsing cows (made of papier-maché), horse carcasses made of plaster, or human figures for the purpose of deceiving enemy observers.

the role of taxidermy in World War I field camouflage

Above The headline for this photograph was WITH AID OF TAXIDERMIST, FRENCH HID BATTERY IN PASTORAL SCENE BY CAMOUFLAGE. It appeared in the Bourbon News (October 2, 1917) with the following caption—

How artfully have the French concealed a battery in this bucolic spot on the Western Front by placing there a crudely fashioned cow, the product of a field taxidermist. It is in this country that the German airmen have made some of their most effective attacks of late. In order to hide from piercing enemy eyes that look from the skies, the French have contrived this form of camouflage. The battery is entirely hidden by a green cloth, draping over which is tattered leaves and boughs. The artificial cow (its tail wags and its head moves) has been set up on stilts from below. During an attack the drapery is withdrawn and the guns brought into action.  

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