The Washington times., 1901-08-08
BALLOONS In TIME OF WAR.

In a publication issued by the Bureau
| oi Military Information of the War De-
! partment. the subject Of the use of bal
looms in warfare is treated at some length.
anu Is especially interesting In view of
the success of the experiments now
pelnS conducted in Paris by French
aeronauts. The publication tells of
me remarkable progress made in some
foreign countries, especially In France
ana Germany. in perfecting a balloon
which may be made available in time
of war and depended upon as a reliable
means of obtaining Information concern
| ing the movements of an enemy. The good
results obtained by the dirigibie balloon
tests which have been made in Paris dur
Ing the past few weeks is of deep in
terest to military men in this country.
and is also being closely studied by the
French and German war strategists.
All the foreign Governments which
maintain large military organizations are
devoting considerable attention to the
subject, and such progress has been made
that with the most of them the balloon
is now regarded as almost a necessary
part of the equipment of an army in time
of war. Captive balloons have been used
for years with some degree of success,
but the most recently developed balloon
is the one which sails high in the air.
and thus gets beyond the possible reach
of fire from the enemy. Thus situated
the operator is able, with the assistance
Of strong glasses. to watch and study the
movements in the camp of the enemy.
The early history of the balloon and
the steps taken in its development are in
terestingly treated in the publication
which the War Department has recently
prepared and had published. 1t tells Of
the balloon corps taken to Egypt by Ma
poleon and of its capture. Some of the
balloons were destroyed, but others were
used to anuse the soldiers and native
Egyptians. NapoleoDs attempt to use
this means of discovering the secrets of
his enemy thus failed, and he was forced
to regard the balloon as of no strategi-
cal Importance. The use OF balloons dur
ing the civil war is also treated in the
same publication. They We're made, for
the most part, from silk patriotically do
mated by brave and loyal women. and.
while they did not always operate with
success, upon several occasions they were
found to have accomplished much good.
Much attention is devoted to balloon
ing at the military school in Aidershot.
where the soldiers OF the British army
study the methods and means of war
fare. Every balloon used in the
English service is made and test
ed there. The French Government
CONSTRUCTS ana operates n large number
of balloons in the annual maneuvres, and
never loses sight of the improvements
that are being made by the Paris aero
nauts. The German Government uses
the captive balloon in both field and for
tress warfare. They also employ the free
and dfrtgible balloons, which are used
principally for reconnaissance, for sig
mailing. ard the transmission of messages
Although balloons are recognized gener-
ally as good medium for reconnaissance,
many military men are opposed to their
use. on the ground that their presence
betrays the position Of the force making
use of them.
The opinion prevails among foreign
military men. and to large extent
among the officers of our army, that great
er development of the balloon is required
before 1t can be regarded as satisfactory
for use in time of war. However our |
authorities are carefully watching the
progress which is being made in the con-
struction and management of balloons,
and stand ready to adopt baIloouing as |
soon as 1t is made practicable