The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-09-05
ECENT orders of the Gov
ernment to the engineer
ing department of the
limited States Armv to


HAS9IgH ing department of the
l2gB United States Army to
stop enlisting men as camOufeurs
in special camoufage division
ends chapter in military camou-
fiage in America. A little more
than a year ago it was doubtful
whether or not the army would
have any great use for camoufeurs
in the forces abroad. By the re-
cent decree military camoufage is
made an essential in every regi-
ment, like engineering, trench Dig
ging, map making, road building,
and sharpshooting. There are now,
according to military camoufeurs
in New York city, about 500 ex-
pert camoufleurs abroad with the
Pershing forces. The new order
makes it necessary for each regi-
ment in every training camp on
this side to have at least 16 camou-
f1eurs to train other men in the
new art of camoufage. Whence
will these new camoufeurs come?
Who is TO make them proficient,
when even the best-trained "old"
military and naval men admit
ignorance?
Until the airplane came in the
cavalry was the scouting arm of
the army, says a writer in New
York Times. Now large part of
the cavalry of the United States
Army has been dismounted and
put to machine guns. The airman
is the scout. This was the chief
factor in raising camouf1age to it's
present rank of importance. A
mounted scout could scarcely be
deceived by artificial camoufage.
Now the scout passing at heights
of about 1.5OO feet cannot tell
whether the camoufage, if clever,
is artificial. His kodak, however,
is not so easy to fool. It will re-
cord many things which will escape
the eye.
For that reason lights and shades,
depressions and knolls in the ter
rain, and shadows have to be care
fully studied by the military cam
oufeur. That makes it necessary
for him to know shade and tone
value as they register on the eye of
the birdman and on the camera lens.
Under the instruction of Lieut..
H. Ledyard Towle of the Seventy
first infantry is the New York
division of military camou1age, in
which the men belong to the new
National Army and wear the uni
form and insignia of the engineers,
and on the sleeve the letters, m.
C."-Military Camoufieur. They
include landscape gardeners, art
lists, miniature painters, portrait
painters, photographers, wood
workers, mural decorators, drafts
men, and engineers. 1t is probable
that these men will be used to in
struct the various regiments in
military camoufage.
An observer need only follow
these camoufeurs to the 6O-acre
tract which the city of Yonkers
donated to Lieutenant Towle for
camoufage work, or into their
great classroom in New York city,
to get an idea of the chief methods
of teaching the value of depres-
sions, color values, lights and
shades, and locations. There are
adjustable wires that tilt the minia-
ture terrain boards to just the
desired slant, so that the soldier
can view them from the angle of a
sharpshooter, as if from an air.
plane, from the rear or from in
front. Gauzy curtains create an
illusion of various lights at differ
ent hours. Thus light blue curtains
make the twilight just before
dawn. Light rose and blue and
yellow make dawn, MONDAY, and
dusk curtains the evening.