Evening star., 1950-08-27
Cameras Now Among Wars Most LethoI Weapons
Interpretation Of
Photos Becomes
VitoI to Military
By L. Edqor Primo

lEA@SOSGA e&kAAS4os
A former member of the staff
of the joint chiefs and the
founder of the first Photographic
Interpretation school in the
United States. the captain was
convinced early that Gen. Werner
Won Fritsch, onetime chief of the
German general staff, was right
when he said in 1898:
1.-THE nation with the best photo
Interpretation will win the next
war;"
That goes for World War III, If
and when it comes, Capt. Quack-
enbush says.
Americas military chiefs appar-
entity agree. They are preparing
a mass espionage effort to be
ready for M day. And they are
relying upon three tools to do the
job: Aircraft, cameras and a high
| ly specialized corps of photo
graphic interpreters, scientific
spies who extract intelligence
from pictures of enemy holdings
Should war come between this
country and the Soviet Union,
fleets of giant reconnaissance
planes, including intercontinental
B-36s and $50 mile an hour
Bats, would take off from bases
all along the ring that incloses
Russia. Sometimes they would
precede the bombers, sometimes
| follow.
Super Cameras Used
From Alaska over the polar
wastes; from Japan, Great Brit
ain. France. Italy, the Middle East
and Africa they would swarm. Red
coastal cities would come under
the cameras Of jet aircraft from
the decks of the Navy's fast car
rier task forces.
Manned by expert crews. the
planes would be loaded with the
latest Photographic equipment;
cameras that click off pictures at
the rate of 1000 second. tele-
vision gear, facsimile machines
to send pictures developed by the
amazing Polaroid-Land process
back to base in a matter of min
utes. and radarscope recording
cameras to pick out targets from
unprecedented heights on the
blacklist of nights.
Available, too, would be 100
inch-lens cameras to snap targets
as far as Is miles away: triple
unit (tri-metrogen) machines to
capture an image from horizon
to horizon. and new color film to
unmask the cleverest camouflage
Working with the aerial force
would be dozens of snorkel sub
marines popping their periscopes
up through the oceans surface to
get additional pictures of enemy
activity.
Military planners, of course, re-
fuse to discuss target studies, but
with the cold war waxing ever
hotter, it is not difficult to guess
whose cities are getting top at
tention. Obviously, our aerial
warfare experts will want all the
information they can get on the
great industrial Moscow area
railroad hub of the U. S. s. R.,
and on Leningrad. with it's ship
yards, synthetic rubber and diesel
engine plants.
The oil fields, refineries and
tank farms of Baku on the Cas-
plan. greatest petroleum center in
the Soviet Union, may rank high
in priority. as well as the vast
steel plants of Magnitogorsk.
Sverdolovsk's machinery and ma
chine tool factories are other
points of great interest.
Key Role Outlined
There are new cities in the
U. S. S. R.-behind the Urals
and deep in Siberia-that will be-
come familiar overnight in the
event of war. One is Stalinsk, in
the rich Kusnetsk basin. It has
big steel mills and a booming
chemical industry. The others,
Kandalaskska and Zvanska, are
aluminium centers, key factors for
the expanding Red Air Force.
Important, too, are the uranium
mines of the Sayan Mountains
and the Chiatury manganese
mines in Georgia. Irkutsk, with
it's aircraft engine and machine
tool plants, and Saratov, with its
vital ball-bearing factory, are
other cities of increasing import
ance.
Capt. Quackenbush, a solidly
built man of 46, whose f1orid
face is dominated by a slightly
Dashed in nose-a memento of
his days as a member of cham
pionship Annapolis boxing team
elaborated on his warning con-
corning photographs key role In
Wol IA GA 141UCl N1SW dG- OllC IGll~
tagon.
Before our forces can go any
where they will need maps. And
maps must come from pictures
The territory of our potential
= enemy is largely unfamiliar. We
cannot depend upon existing
charts and information" he as
serted.
Vital, too," he continued, sis
bomb-damage assessment. 1t is
the key to successful air opera
tions. The only feasible method
of accomplishing this accurately
and quickly is by pictures. They
will answer the two critical ques-
tions: Did the planes get
through? What damage was in
ficted?"
The Photographic Interpreta-
ton Center at the United States
Naval Receiving Station, Wash
ington. is the somewhat more