The observer follows each successive, round with keen
interest, and when the shells appear to be bursting at
uncomfortably close quarters naturally he intimates to his
colleagues below that he desires his position to be changed,
either by ascending to a higher point or descending. In fact, he
may be content to come to the ground. Nor must the fact be
overlooked that while the enemy is trying to place the observer
hors de combat, he is revealing the position of his artillery,
and the observer is equally industrious in picking up the range
of the hostile guns for the benefit of his friends below.
When the captive balloon is aloft in a wind the chances of the
enemy picking up the range thereof are extremely slender, as it
is continually swinging to and fro. While there is always the
possibility of a shell bursting at such a lucky moment as to
demolish the aerial target, it is generally conceded to be
impossible to induce a shell to burst within 100 yards of a
balloon, no matter how skilfully the hostile battery may be
operated.
The value of the captive balloon has been demonstrated very
strikingly throughout the attack upon the entrenched German
positions in Flanders.
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