The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-04


 steadily for hours at time With the | German lines spread out before him, ana in direct telephone communication With l the ground, with his batteries, and with
 other balloons amasses a maze ot de'aus and accurate knowledge which his more | vicarious and longer-winged air brother cannot hope to secure.
 1 The first use of balloons in warfare dates way back to the Napoleonic wars, when France employed them against Austria. So revolutionary was the pro- cedure however, that all captured ob- servers were treated as spies by the en-
 ragged Austrans. During the civil war l in this country northern observers looked out across the Potomac from near l Washington at the Confederates, and l gained very valuable information, though under very precarious circumstances.
 France further developed the art in the l war of 1870 against Germany, who later l took it up on much more ambitious | scale in her Zeppelins. The science fell upon slack times, however, as did that Of | airplanes, and the war department re- ports of few years back are full of l brief statements that no work was done | in balooning for lack of funds.
 COME INTO THEIR OWN
 The balloon services abroad, how.
 ever, had been carefully, if modestl5. l developed for military purposes, and I l the trenches came into their own again.
 It was at once discovered that work | could be done with them which could be done in no other way. Balloon ob- | servation began to assume vital i'm portance until now hardly a mile or | the front lines is without it's big, clumsy envelope. A constant ceaseless vigil is maintained over every move of the enemy, over every shell fired | hIr of Gi friends below may be saved from surprise and enc
 mics across the lines may feel the | weight of every shell hurled a [ them. The United States is building up l such a force literally from nothing. Last November the old field out west was overgrown with weeds. the gas 1 reservoir out of repair, the whole place stagnant. In the last few months, | however, the field has been cleared and brought back to activity the air once again is filled with big, friendly bal looms, and keen-faced men are being
 framed for immediate service abroad. | Already the first American detach-
 ments are in France as shown in the
 vanguard Of a large American balloon force which ultimately will be as com
 plete as any other branch of the
 army.
 The work that this force will do will
 be invaluable. With the airplane spot ters and photographers, it will com plete the vast air service which 1t Is expected will blind the German army and prepare the way for the artillery and infantry to break up the Ger man military resistance. Its minute by-minute observations will head off all enemy surprises and will at the
 same time make it possible for Ameri- can men and American munitions to secure the maximum of destruction on ! o,1'c
 ! Few of us realize here that the big envelopes commonly ascend as high as
 4500 feet and that they stay for hours | poised in midair to perform the re- sponsible duties assigned them. Usu- ally the ascent is made anywhere from
 two and a half to four and half miles from the enemy's front line trenches, depending on the power O. his artillery, the direction of the win7 and the activity of the salient. Tn any | case the observer has 6 circle of visior of about eight miles and is able tc
 pierce far back into the enemy's lines The most detailed and up to -the-min- ute maps the finest kind of fielc
 glasses and instant communication
 with the ground make the ba1loonist .
 master of everything spread out be- l fore his gaze.
 BALLOONS CONCENTRATE When the American troops are pre-
 pairing to go lover the top an unusu ally large number of balloons will bt concentrated as secretly as possible Il masked camps in order not to betral
 what is about to take place. At th'
 appointed moment they will take th'
 air and divide up every detail of tn battle among them. Sofne will recort
 the heavy artillery fire, shot by shot
 others will see to it that the work o
 demolition behind the enemy's lines i
 effective; others will guard agains
 any endorsements or traps
 As the troops go over they vii r check closely the German batteries : the shifting of their infantry and tn s assembling of supplies. As the Amer II , ican forces advance the balloons wil ' move forward also In unison witt f them along routes previously pre-
 pared Observations for the barras y will be sent down repeatedly. so tha U it may move back and forth with tn s men and details sent so that the enc e my's guns setting up the destructtiv e counter barrage may be silenced. ,s To do this the American balloonis n must know every detail of the enemy II land opposite him, for mistake ol l. his part may cost the lives of score h. of men below No new battery shoul y. open up across the lines without it ., location being spotted the detai V map, the number and size of the piece
 and their objective noted and counte = fire preparations made against it. N n new troops should move into the enem
 trenches without being full knowr numbers as well as routes-difficul p work all of it--for the German ha toD many willy devices for stimulating gun GO fire and camouflaeing movements. ed And the work also will not be with ie- out danger and difficulties. though tn rec chances of fatal outcome are nc o- large. If it is not a sweeping airma to bent on setting the big gas bag on fir fly it may be rain of shrapnel seekin m n. the same object or of percussion shell :" endeavoring to blow up the wind co lass below and set the big bag adri1 I. in a wind blowing across the Germa F. lines Naturally. every precaution a' the way of protecting airmen an if, antiaircraft guns are on hand. but eve
 at that constant vigilance is essentia