Hide Article Text (OCR)
business hinges on a truly remarkable demonstration of self-control.1 Must Keep StillI've seen it, and I marvel at the stoical attitude of these men. In some instances they are cramped in positions that must be sheer agony to them In this particular manoeuvre some officers and I had a good ob-‘ servation post, and knew where the concealed men were. So did the officer | in charge of the enemy, which I i| thought a bit unfair. The men knew nothing. They were told numbers of snipers were hiding in the dense scrub ahead of them, and asked could they locate them? The troops were some hundreds of yards away. They deployed and advanced some 60 paces, and were asked if they could ^discover any sign of the camouflaged snipers.Some claimed the lot, or thought so. They advanced another 50 or 60 yards, and the same questionnaire was gone through.They couldn’t pick ’em out. I couldn't, and I knew where they were. The officer did, though, and calledlush green of the jungle, the green of moss, mould, unhealthy slime which savours of dankness and semi-darkness. It serves its purpose this uniform, and Is based on the protective colouring of most jungle creatures, reptiles, animals, insects, and birds.Some exceptions are birds of gay plumage and fluttering butterflies, but they usually seek the high spots and nod to the sun. Yet, curiously enough, blue orchids” and such bloom in extraordinarily unpleasant places.I am intrigued with this subject, and have become sidetracked a bit. but never mind. Nature is the super camoufleur — a black snake among dead branches under a gum tree, a frog in a pool despite his croak, nearly all insects. Their protective colours and textures are splendid defensive precautions against all their marauders. Mr P. Crosbie Morrison, in a current edition of a nature magasine, illustrates by photographs some remarkable pictures of Nature’s camouflage methods. Those who know bush lore are conversant with Nature's wily means of frustration as far as the enemy is concerned.It's the same game with our soldiers.Artists in charge? If so they needed a kick in the pants. Military officers? If so they needed a harder kick. Here's a case. I had orders to have the truck I used properly painted according to the scheduled pattern and colour scheme. The colonel in charge was amazed when I refused to have it done, and told him it was perfect as it was. The matter was settled out of court! The truck was old, dirty, and decrepit. It was painted grey and pale buff. It had a weather-beaten khaki hood over the tray, one new mudguard grey, the others dull green. The whole outfit was the colour of the Syrian countryside. As the old slogan goes, AH’s fair in love and war.The Nipponese know our tactics. Through bitter experience our troops have learnt theirs. Every man. woman, and child in the Commonwealth could do no harm by learning some sort of disguise — just in case. I saw the exercises and was thoroughly impressed.Blended ColoursI would like to mention that service camps in these forward areas are magnificently toned In with general surroundings. The colours and positions of most of the tents and other buildings are admirable, indiscernible from the air I imagine. I often wonder who was the stupid camoufleur who turned out Army transport trucks all of one type but badly designed—all similar in pattern and colour, and so thoroughly conspicuous in their glossy war paint of buff and chocolate, which scintillated in daylight like beacons. I tried to make contact with these officers, artists, or gentlemen, who were responsible for this wretched state of things, without success. Like the old T” model Ford, these trucks were turned out. sprayed with paint, and ducoed true to the original pattern It didn't matter a damn whether the terrain was that of the desert sands or the heather-clad hilis of Syria.Their object Is to make themselves invisible. and in doing so they take a leaf from Nature’s book, and adopt her devices. A story (it’s got whiskers on it) describes the sad fate of the chameleon. This curious reptile was made to go through its paces, and was placed on materials of various colours—red. green, blue, yellow. It did its tricks true to reputation and form, and changed colour accordingly. The Cameron tartan sealed its fate. The shock paralysed it. It simply pegged out. murmuring. Wallace bleeds. Skidoorth£m by number to disclose their whereabouts. A few of the men were heaJd to mumble. ’Struth. what eye-sigmrIt all ended happily and some of the newcomers were shown how to take advantage of every bit of cover and use whatever was handy for realistic camouflage — leaves, bracken, grass, bark, charcoal, or mud. And the really important instructions to observe silence and remain motionlessIntroduced by commandos and guerilla war units were green clothes to patch in unobtrusively with theTHE AUSTRALASIAN, July 24, 1943 II
Newspaper Details
Melbourne Australasian
Melbourne, Victoria, AU
Sat, Jul 24, 1943
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Gary Y.
CO, USA 02 Dec 2019
Other Publications Near Melbourne, Victoria
Melbourne Record
Melbourne Punch Thu
Melbourne Public Opinion
Melbourne Norden
Melbourne Herald
