THE ANCIENT ART OF CAMOUFLAGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 27, 1 February 1941, Page 18

THE ANCIENT ART OF CAMOUFLAGE

THE camouflage of wartime has dulled the dress of the great liner; what she wears now is a coat of "admiralty grey," a muddy, flat colour that blends with the water lapping at her sides. Countless ships at sea or about to set forth have decked them s selves in the submarine-inspired disguise, says a writer in the "New York Times."

In the World War nearly 4000 merchantmen and over 400 war vessels wore "dazzle painting," a crazy zigzag of violently contrasting colours gen erally in a black and white motii The idea behind "dazzle painting," like that behind admiralty grey, was to distort a ship's appearance in such fashion that a CJ-boat commander, peering 'hrough his periscope, would think she was going west while she was actually proceeding in an easterly direction The painting bill on cazzle-dazzling World War vessels came to about £ 2,500.000.

Before 1914 the French word "camou iage" was rarely used in France, ex •ept in connection with theatrical nake-up. Literally, the verb foru means "to dust away." The term in its nresent wider usage is also Gallic ii> irigin; a group of French artists at the front late in the campaign of 1914 nit on the idea of using their art tv blend the appearances of troops and •quipment with their natural surround 'ngs. ' " Camouflage is older than the hills. The beetles and butterflies shaped like ; ieaves, the spiders with the form ann •olour of buds and lichens, the chame eon. the twiglike praying mantis, the 1 iger in his jungle of yellowish grass md black shadows—all started prar ising camouflage long before army md navy men got around '"o it. Thus with all his pryings into the mechani •al, man still seeks his safety in simple biding Nature. Wild African warriors aren't the only ildiers who wear war paint. Snipers m trees sometimes camouflage them selves by smearing green paim or their faces and donning grass-greet' uniforms. Nor is burnt cork restricted to AI Jolson and showboat minstrels Members of night raiding parties whose white faces might otherwise be discernible under the brilliant light ot beacons or star shells, sometimes crawl into no man's land completely made up in blackface.

Shadows are one of the chief enemies of successful camouflaging. A "doughboy" in olive drab may perfectly match the colour of the earth, but if he is giving off a shadow he becomes an easy mark for enemy sharpshooters. Footprints and tyre tracks, amazingly visible from the air, make up another giveaway. So do flashes from camouflaged artillery guns Movement, always an attracting ele ment, must be kept down to a minimum lest a carefully-constructed effect of protective coloration should be spoiled. The skyline is another threat. All the blueness of the sky is only so much light and any object silhouetting itself against the horizon-becomes dangerously visible.

The United States Army is constantly testing new methods of outwitting enemy eyes at its. camouflage labora tory at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. One result of its experimenting has been to bring about a change in the material used for draping motor transports md big guns. Instead of the usual bur' lap and wire netting hitherto em ployed, army experts have called into play a light but durable paper compound known as "visinet." Much of he laboratory's work is concerned with analysing how to thwart the pene irating vision of stereopticou, infrared, and colour photography that .night be employed by enemy aviators In connection with this phase of the work, it has been decided that army trucks, artillery guns, and tar.ks will sport solid green drapes in the sum mertime and solid brown drapes during the autumn months.

Camouflage is. used not only to con ceal but also to attract. In the zone of operations, for example, where there are frequently many buildings, lecoy edifices are sometimes interspersed among the actual structures. For example, on the ground is placed a convincing imitation of a roof and learby a few large domestic utensils tre scattered. Although the aim is to iraw the airman's attention, some atempt at camouflaging the worthless roof is made, lest the attacking pilot see too quickly through the ruse. And whenever the decoy is hit it is immediately repaired, so that if the aviator should return he would conclude that it was essential to the life of the camp and waste his ammunition • second tim«.