Aeronautics, Military; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations
I have already told you that our main work in umpty squadron is long
reconnaissance for G.H.Q. and offensive patrol. Special photographic
stunts such as happened to-day are rare, thank the Lord. But our cameras
often prepare the way for a bombing expedition. An observer returns from
a reconnaissance flight with snapshots of a railhead, a busy factory, or
an army headquarters. Prints are sent to the "I" people, who, at their
leisure, map out in detail the point of interest. No fear of doubtful
reports from the glossed surface of geometrical reproduction, for the
camera, our most trusted spy, cannot distort the truth. Next a complete
plan of the chosen objective, with its surroundings, is given to a
bombing squadron; and finally, the pilots concerned, well primed with
knowledge of exactly where to align their bomb-sights, fly off to
destroy.
For the corps and army squadrons of the R.F.C. photography has a
prominent place in the daily round. To them falls the duty of providing
survey-maps of the complete system of enemy defences. Their all-seeing
lenses penetrate through camouflage to new trenches and emplacements,
while exposing fake fortifications. The broken or unbroken German line
is fully revealed, even to such details as the barbed wire in front and
the approaches in rear.
For clues to battery positions and the like, the gun country behind the
frontier of the trenches is likewise searched by camera. One day a
certain square on the artillery map seems lifeless. The following
afternoon an overhead snapshot reveals a new clump of trees or a curious
mark not to be found on earlier photographs. On the third day the mark
has disappeared, or the trees are clustered in a slightly different
shape. But meanwhile an exact position has been pin-pointed, so that
certain heavy guns busy themselves with concentrated fire. By the fourth
day the new gun-pits, or whatever it was that the Hun tried to smuggle
into place unnoticed, have been demolished and is replaced by a wide
rash of shell-holes.
Wonderful indeed is the record of war as preserved by prints in the
archives of our photographic section. For example, we were shown last
week a pair of striking snapshots taken above Martinpuich, before and
after bombardment. The Before one pictured a neat little village in
compact perspective of squares, rectangles, and triangles. The Aftermath
pictured a tangled heap of sprawling chaos, as little like a village as
is the usual popular novel like literature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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