The Washington times., 1917-03-01
War Correspondent Describes
Experience With Observer in
Anchored Balloon.
WORKS AMID DIFFICULTIES
Officer Advises Batteries of
Enemy's Positions While Shells
Burst About Envelope.
By WILLIAM PHILIP sINMs.


hostile battery of artillery pick you
up and begin shooting at you while
you hang in basket half a mile
high in an a captive balloon?
Suppose, as you dangled at the top
end of the wire cable no thicker than
a child's little finger, the German
howitzers should suddenly try to
smash the auto-truck carrying the
winch holding the ground end Of the
string.
Suppose, you, up there in the win
ter sky, saw an aeroplane making for
you, and you knew it would do its
best to shoot fire arrows into your
sausage" cause it to explode and
chuck you headlong to the frozen
earth below.
Or, failing TO explode, the balloon
caught fire and you, to save yourself,
had to plunge downward at the tail
end of a parachute, with shrapnel
bursting about you all the time.
Think you could do your work
calmly, accurately? Think you would
be sufficiently cool-headed to call up
on the telephone, whose wires dis
appear under you in a dizzy dip
groundward. and tell somebody in a
little office about it and have him
get your own batteries working?
Common aworIIng Conditions
These are the working conditions
of every day of the soldiers attached
to the balloon sections of the army.
Thanks to the courtesy of a major
commanding one of these sections,
was allowed to go up with an OBJ
servation' officer in one of these fam
Gus "sausages." The officer was a
young lieutenant, in reality an Amer
ican, whose father once lived in Gin
cinnati. High in the air. over a
world covered by four inches of snow,
while the noise of the big war bound
ed up in lumpy explosions and the
conclusions of the larger guns could
be felt distinctly, he explained his
work just as you would explain
yours, in the office, shop or on the
farm. Through the glasses the zig
tagging white lines of the trenches
showed plainly.
'See," he said, looking through his
glasses, there are two distinct net
works OF trenches. with a narrow
space between which is free from
criss-crossing lines. That space is
No-Man's Land. OF course all activ-
ity on the other side of that space
is German activity, and that is part
of the job We are up here to attend
to.
'See that village beyond the Ger
man lines to the left?" he continued
steadying himself without touching
the sides of the basket-one of the
secrets of accurate balloon observa-
tion. THAT is Blank. And, to the
right there, that road where you see
the double row of trees, that is the
part of the line we-this balloon sec
tion-are interested in. Other parts
are under observation from those bal
looms you see to the north and
south of us-though, naturally, We
cooperate very closely one balloon
with another so that the minimum
observable activity gets past us.
Put Batteries "NeIt."
Troops in march, supply columns,
working parties among or behind the
trenches, things like that, we signal
to our artillery and getSa battery
or several Notwithstanding. We
give them the range, then, as they
fire, we give them corrections: So
many degrees to right or left, too
long or too short. The whole thing
is done by telephone, right from this
basket. Here: Put this on YOU
head"
The hoad-harness of a telephone
girl was handed me. ] put il on.
aarrNg. II
am going to call up a battery. Hello.
ABC-48," he called
Hello. Battery 4. r. C.-44," came
the reply, it seemed almost Immediate
ly. As a matter of fact it has taken
ten seconds.
Test" the young officer replied
into the transmitter.
You see" he went on, "the thing is
very rapid. It has to be rapid. Never
theless my call had to pass through
a central"
As the sausage swayed gently to
and fro, frosty haze of blush
purple stole between US and the lines.
Beneath, the snowy earth was plainly
visible, but objects two or three miles
off Were completely hidden from
view. High over the haze, on the
horizon, sailed an aerOplanc. About IL.
like dozen lady's powder puffs.
shrapnel were bursting. Then. with
out warning. like a dozen claps OF
thunder in rapid succession, came the
reports Of shells bursting about the
lieutenant's balloon.
Tip On Jumping Off.
Hello" he said calmly, in the tone
OF a blase man about town who sees
an old acquaintance approaching,
'whats that?
And slowly he turned to size up the
burSs of black smoke drifting away
in the wind.
Yes" he said, speaking into the
telephone, yes. Yes, II was in our
neighborhood. Can't say. Can't see
anything from here. It's too thick"
Believe told you," he casually re-
marked to me. that though there
isn't one chance in hundred OF your
having to do the thing. il you should
have TO go over, remember all you've
got TO do is to balance yourself on
the edge of the basket and then let |
go. The parachute. attached to the |
harness you've got on, will do the
rest"
i looked down. Jimmy, what a fall! |
And the face OF the earth all shapped |
and rough and frozen over with snow.
ErrTTn-