PROBING OF SECRETS

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21513, 30 August 1941, Page 8

PROBING OF SECRETS

ROYAL AIR FORCE WORK CONSTANT WATCH ON ENEMY Though little is said in the official reports of work they do, the patrols of the Royal Air Force, carried on day after day in every kind of weather, supply the striking units of sea, land and air with the information to make their successes possible. Every move of the Germans is noted; troop concentrations, naval distributions, the shift of industries to so-called safe areas, fluctuations of traffic—all are observed, frequently photographed and speedily reported. The Royal Air Force patrols probe Germany’s secrets and many carefully guarded by the enemy have been revealed by expertly examined photographs. A pin-point may indicate the presence of new defences; a shadow may give a vital clue. When the Tirpitz, sister battleship to the Bismarck, was under construction, its whereabouts were disclosed by a photograph in which nothing of the ship appeared except the reflection in the water of her superstructure. The rest was hidden by dark shadow, but it was known that the reflected detail could belong to no other ship.

Scharnhorst Camouflage German efforts to hide the movement of the battered Scharnhorst from Brest were elaborate. Camouflage netting was spread over the i vessel’s berth, and to provide convincing shadows of the proper length two merchant ships were put in her place. But the patrols uncovered the , secret—the shadows were not quite right—and the Scharnhorst was PMlptty discovered at sea. After she had 6aM at La Palaice, 250 V miles down the the Germans M were glad to sneak her back to the W more heavily-protected docks of Brest. The eyes of the Royal Air Force found the Altmarck; they found the Bismarck before she left Norwegian waters on her last cruise; they spotted a pocket-battleship off the coast of Norway trying to sneak into the North Sea, and Beaufort torpedo bombers scored at least one hit, and perhaps two, before she shambled* back to shelter. AU Changes Noted Ne waerodromes along the occupied coast are visited regularly ad every indication of change in the scene is carefully examined. Only trained observers can detect the minute changes which have taken place between reconnaissance flights. Thus a photograph which shows a few small white rings on the ground may mean that posts have recently been erected to carry cables for telephones or electricity. These cables may indicate the presence of large bodies of troops. A certain loop in a railway line may mean that a battery of the heaviest guns, which run on railway lines, has been installed. Entire industrial areas have been mapped by aerial photographs, and it is possible to estimate the output from these places by means of further pictures. Measuring Damage Air-raid damage is measured through the work of the Royal Air Force patrols. From ? pin-point on a photograph, represen > mg’ a hole in a roof, the extent of the damage within an industrial building can be estimated and later confirmed by what subsequent patrol cameras discover.

It is through the accumulation of evidence from day-to-day patrols, examined by expert eyes, that vital information is gained and enemy secaets are uncovered. In other theatres of the war similar patrols are working and their harvest flows through appropriate channels to the central points to be sifted, co-ordin-ated and “ referred for action.”