"
The above instance is by no means isolated. It has happened time
after time. The slightest sign of activity in a trench when a
"Taube" is overhead suffices to cause the trench to be blown to
fragments, and time after time the British soldiers have had to
lie prone in their trenches and suffer partial burial as an
alternative to being riddled by shrapnel.
The method of ascertaining the range of the target from the
indications given by the aeroplane are of the simplest character.
The German method is for the aerial craft to fly over the
position, and when in vertical line therewith to discharge a
handful of tinsel, which, in falling, glitters in the sunlight,
or to launch a smoking missile which answers the same purpose as
a projectile provided with a tracer. This smoke-ball being
dropped over the position leaves a trail of black or whitish
smoke according to the climatic conditions which prevail, the
object being to enable the signal to be picked up with the
greatest facility. The height at which the aerial craft is
flying being known, a little triangulation upon the part of the
observer at the firing point enables him to calculate the range
and to have the guns laid accordingly.
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