New Britain herald., 1918-04-05
DIRECTING ATTACK
 ON FOES BATTERY
Observation Balloonist Plays Im-
 pOrtant Role in Warfare

Behind British Lines in France, Feb. Is Correspondence of The As sociated Press) Would you care to go up?' asked the polite British off, cer in charge of the big kite balloon, one of the long line of captive sau- sages, the "eyes of the army" which swing as though pendant from the clouds all up and down the fighting ! line from the British Channel to the Swiss border.
 "Certainly.' replied the cores pondent.
 So an extra warm overCoat and muf- fer were brought out and donned, and most important of all, the parachute harness was fitted on.
 By this time the balloon had been connected up to the winch and every thing was ready. The officer hoisted himself into the car with an agility born of long practice, while the vis- itor was assisted to his place by the ear men," who then hooked the par achute harness to the parachute which 1 hung just outside the little wicker car.
 Jutting out from one side of the car was a board on which was pasted a Iarge-sCale trench map of the dis trict. In pockets inside the car were maps, air photographs, and field glasses. On the rigging of the car was a dial to show the altitude anu 1 an indicator registering the force of the wind in miles per hour. Just above, dominating all, was the hugo 1 bag of floating fabric, only kept in 1 place by the crowd of soldiers hold l ing the handling guys. The slender | cable and it's sister telephone wires { stretched 1azily across the grass to the winch on a big motor lorry near by. 1 The observer fixed the telephone re- 1 ceiver to his head. He tested the line l by calling up the winch party. the ex- 1 change and the chart room at the 1 Balloon Section headquarters. Satis- fled that all was ship-shape, he waved i his arm to the flight sergeant on the
 ground, who ordered crisply, Let mp
 hand over hand" and then, "Walll l forward the winch.'
 Goodbye to Earth.
 The ground began to sink away. The 1 first impression was that the bottom
 of the basket was going to fall out. 1 For few moments this impression
 was strong that it was physically , impossible to look over the side. The , view was excellent. but the mood - . appreciate it was absent. The CfG-
 Cer'S enthusiasm, as he pointed out ! different objects of interest in tn" i landscape, seemed somehow overdonc. Gradually this first Impression of . insecurity passed. The altitude dini, comfortably close at hand. now ind-
 rated that the balloon had reached
 2,S00 feet. The thermometer already : showed drop of 20 degrees But tho i balloon was still rising.
 t'There is q light ground mist" cX- , plained the officer, and experience proves that under such circumstances ! better results are obtained from high i CT attitudes" So it was not until the pointer signihed 4,200 feet that he tel ophoned down the order, "Stop the 1 which," and the business of the day i began.
 Artillery observation was the off, 1 cer's appointed task. A British battery ! was going to take on" a German bat ! terY, and the observer made his prep
 aTatons accordingly. He had the positions of the two batteries marked 1 on his map, but be wanted to mako
 sure of the position of the balloon. So ; he leaned out over the sdo of the car. verified his landmarks, and telephoncd the results to the chart-room. Let us know when they are ready" 1 said he. There was pause. Then
 a short monosyllabic conversation,
 ard the balloon officer gave the order,
 Fire" and adjusted his glasses to his
 eyes
 For the next 15 minutes the officer
 was too busy to pay any attentios to | lis passenger. He was engaged in l ranging but from time to time he passed down remark which showed
 that he was not confining his attcn- 1 ton to ranging guns but had also an l alert eye for flashes of enemy guns l anywhere within his range of observa- | tion. Tho range of vision was rough 1 ly 20 miles.
 Getting Correct Range.