Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-10-13
AMERICANS ARE GREAT DfCI|VERS
 IN THE FIGHTING
Nothing Is Real In Their Camouflage Station Be
 hind Battle Lines.

Behind American Lines ill France, Oct ?. Correspondence of The As k sociated Press. )-Nothing is real in the great American camOuflage sta tion here. All is deception.
 Huge willow trees like those in Flanders, with trunks 2 feet in diam eter and mass of sprouting branch es at the top are steel tubes de- signed to hide an observer. Even on close inspection they looked like real trees to The Associated Press Correspondent who visited the sta tion and, with the commandent, ex- plored their mysterious underground recesses.
 They were of plaster cloth wound about the central steel tube and with pieces of real bark fitted around the trunk. A small blaze ori- flee, painted to match the bark, was not noticed until pointed out by the officer. This was for the observer standing within the steel core of the tree.
 Ten feet away the turf opened, dis closing a passage with steps leading to tunnel and thence to the base of the tree. With light we groped through the tunnel and up into the tree It was tight fit in this tree trunk, but from the gauge orifice ont, had a sweep of the whole near by country.
 A huge boulder. such as one sees along country roads, was noticed among the trees. The big stone, five feet high and seven across, looked very real. and yet this, too. was camouflage-a make-believe boulder in which an observer and machine gun could turk. Examinln" the stone, it felt rath- CT like big cardboard box, and gave slightly to the pressure of the hand The frame was woDd the covering burlap, painted a gray brown, with patches of moss. And buried amid the moss the canvas flap raised to let through the nozzle Of the machine gun.
 You have your own telegraph l system" was remarked on observ- 1 ing the line of telegraph poles stretching across the plain. 1 The commandant smiled. They 1 arc periscope telegraph poles" he explained. The poles were ve,'itable telegraph 1 poles, with wires strung from the 1 tops, just as they are seen along l country roads. But each pole was hollow, to permit a periscope to be
 raised to high observing point, while covered pit at the base of the pole accommodated the observ- CT taking the readings of the peri scope.
 i Besides the periscope poles, there
 were perisdope trees, with hollow
 stumps from which the observers s l instrument was manipulated and the l readings made in pits below the roots.
 A camouflage stone wall was another curious device standing among the camouflage trees and poles, This wall, looking like the ruin of an old mill, was of light | plaster construction painted ana
 weather-worn to resemble real miii
 "A wrecked house often serves us | as very good camouflage," said the l commander. "We had one with the windows all gone so the enemy could look straight through to the walls ln- | side. By painting false canvas walls Just DdCk OI tAe WlHuo"o, eho oAoi.'' still thought he. Was looking at the
 walls opposite. But back Of the canvas our observers and snlpers
 were at work and the device was very effective"
 | A pile of gravel stood near the wall-or what appeared to be pile of gravel. for this, too. was camou- i flage. The pebbles were heaped
 around a hollow frame with It's gauge opening for the observers and the flap through which the machine gun parked. Further along was a pile of brick-camouflaged; and over i in the field was a stack Of nay camouflage. Each one of them was a small fortress as well as post l of observation