Daily Kentuckian., 1918-07-30
Allies Find Powerful and Fare
Reaching Illumination an In :
portant Factor
useful, IN spoIIlNo TANKS
Pick Up Hun soMsIns Planes ct Q
Distance and Keep Them Con-
stsnsly In vIsw--eavlpped
with Sound oetsctsss- sn

fortres-es. the defeated army had one
weapon which n constantly used 10
harass and impede the foe. This was
the electric searchIsht. Q newcomer
on the field ~ battle.
Powerful lights we're trained every
night upon the advancing Austrians
whenever they came 20 q river cross
ing or whenever they were obiisef 70
halt for another reason. This ham,
pered and irritated the enemy ex-
ceedlngiy. II was not only that Sc
rious danger attended any dscisrure'
Of their operations. They suffered I
also from nerves when the long feet
ers ~ light brushed over their frees
and hands and revealed every detail
Of the work upon which they were
engaged.
The use of searchiights by our
own expeditionary forces n becoming
an important branch Of the engineer.
Ing service. Not Ions ago congress
voted an appropriation NJ tiOMeo0'
for searchligh,s of both the neId type
and the anti-sircraft type. The iixhss
commonly used are 36inch iirhts hav-'
ing a candlepower of 1000. .O00. .00o snd
maximum range Of approximately
10000 yards. or nearly SIX miles.
First Use In warfsrs.
When searchlIghts were first intro
duced IN warfare 70 was expected that
they would he primarily service
.t.l. a, h.,.l.A.la agll....l...s<.- The
scheme was 10 throw light upon the
opposing hattie line and show ad-
vsncins companies OF infantry the
Kind ~ ground over which they had
10 70. Another plan was 10 have
rows of sesrchiishtsa parallel with the
trenches and sweep the terrain he
fore them. lighting up the harbed-
wire entanglements laid ny the foe
and exposing parties ~ enemy sol-
oilers at work repairing them. How
ever, neither of these uses turned out
to he especially sgnlfesnt. The dif-
hcuIty was that. as soon as the lights
were In operation. they were easily
picked OF by the euemy's guns. In
the same manner. they could not be
placed along the line ~ trenches
More recent experiments have dem
onststed that there II a real useful
ness for field searchlights They are
now beIng employed 10 spot the en-
emy's tank advances. Instead OF he
ing hauled ny horses, like the nrst f1eid
searchlights. the newer ones ere
mounted ON motor trucks fhey are
flashed for only minute or two st q
time. and are Instantly shifted to an
other vantage point. This anords
th"m greater MEASURE o' se"-pro
lection.
Inc ahtlaircraft searcnhKht IN tne
most valuable type OF hght now usen
by our so'diers. w IN our MOST ef-
fective defense against the 'ow'nyins
night-bombins plane of the 9ermans.
Antiaircrau ynns nave proved almost
hopeiessly inadequate IN coping WIN
night AIR raids. ana VI " were nor fof
the long pointing fingers of the search.
Hight the Zoe would ne sbie '" emect
some very deadly work In night at
tacks upon supply depots ana ammuni-
tion dumps
The method II TO pick M a hostile
bombing plane when ~ II ahonti ave
miles away from It's objective. For
this purpose the searehlishts are To-
Gated nj points likely 10 he attHcked.
They ARE sunk 10 holes In the ground
and are heavily sandbagged. Both the
light aud the men working itare given
considerable protection.
Fitted With Sound Receivers. -
To detect the approach of sirplspes'
the searchliKht apparatus is furnished
with sound receivers without these
receivers the OUTFIT II pssetscsily use
less. The receiver can be swung
around to catch the sound vibrations,
and they are remarkably sccurnts In
discovering the position of the piapes
Usually n can he located within-s- few
degrees. The light 10 not turned On st
all until the alrplane n practically 10
~ "a asA.. A.. a ....a.t...l.. n. - .a.....