CAMOUFLAGE
The system of _camouflage_ which the French have worked out in this war,
is something new also. The word has come to mean in America "dodging,"
"deception," "bunk," or anything that is not out in the open and above
board; and that is just what _camouflage_ means in the war in France. It
is a method by which things are made to appear to be what they are not,
for the purpose of fooling the enemy. It makes an artificial thing seem
to be a natural thing so that it will not excite suspicion and draw his
fire. When the French place a battery of guns which naturally they do
not want put out of commission by the enemy's guns, they have the
_camouflage_ artist get busy with his paint and canvas and create a
whole lot of little trees or bushes just like the ones which grow in the
ground and then under cover of darkness when the enemy can't see them,
or when his attention is distracted, they plant the trees, place the
guns behind them, and they have a concealed battery.
Snipers are also often hidden in this same kind of a manner. The
_camoufleur_ with his magic art of scenery makes a dead horse. He has
his head stretched way out on the ground and his legs pointing up in the
air, stiff and stark. A great hole or chunk has been torn out of his
body, but as it happens, it is never right through the middle part of
him because this would not leave protection for the sniper. The horse
"conveniently" had the shell strike him on the side. He is placed
wherever he will do the most good in the night time and Mr.
Sharpshooter, with his noiseless rifle and plenty of ammunition and one
day's food, crawls in behind him. There he stays till daybreak. Yes, and
a long while after. He must stay there all day long until darkness again
draws down a curtain of safety about him, for if he attempted to move
out in daylight some sniper or machine-gun artist would instantly pick
him off. If he lays low till dark he may fool them and get away all
right.
But the camera sometimes discovers things which the human eye would not
detect, and the camera is always busy. The air flier might soar above a
spot in the enemy's lines and not notice anything wrong or see that
there was any object in addition to what was there the day before, but
when he snapped the shutter of his camera and the photograph was
developed, by comparing it with yesterday's photograph of the same
place, he might see that there was an extra horse's carcass lying there.
Now he knows there was no cavalry charge through the night, and so he
becomes suspicious. Consequently the horse is watched. Perhaps in time,
some one sees the man's arm protruding a little, or perhaps a man is
picked off without any apparent cause.
Just for luck the enemy takes a shot at the old dead horse and suddenly
a man rises and tries to run back. But he stumbles and falls. He is
killed. Perhaps he has accounted for a half a dozen Boches during the
day and the Frenchman dies happy. That's what he's there for, to
sacrifice his life for France in weakening Germany's cruel hold upon his
country.
If it was certain that they could account for such a proportion of
Germans, ten thousand Frenchmen would willingly step out tomorrow and go
into sure death for _La Belle France_ and Liberty! Very often they
_camouflage_ roads with evergreen trees so as to hide the view of the
motor lorries and _camions_ which are so essential in taking supplies
and ammunition up to the front. An old forlorn and battered gun may
_camouflage_ a fine new field piece, and sometimes a weather-beaten,
broken-down piece of farm machinery may be counterfeited in order to
hide an observer, a listener, or a sniper. Such a man must be of a stout
heart and not afraid to go over the Great Divide for it is full of
hazard. If he is discovered it's all over for him.