The Dijon factory made a thousand or so silhouettes, as well as a large number of dummy heads, these latter devices to draw the fire of snipers. These simulacra, however, had their principal use at the training schools in France, since they were peculiarly adapted to trench warfare, and by the time the American forces reached the front in strength the war of movement was in progress.
Several thousand sniper suits were turned out at Dijon. These suits were made of burlap, resembling in appearance the teddy-bear pajamas which little children wear. They were colored to match the terrain, either painted to resemble rocks or fitted with a grasslike covering. An adjunct to this suit was the cloth cover for the sniper's rifle.
Sniper suits were so deceptive that they would protect a man from observation even at short distances, and if exceptional care were used in the making of one, a man could conceal himself so effectually that an observer might step on him before seeing him. An American camouflage officer upon his return from France brought a sniper's suit with him and found a novel but practical use for it when he was invited to go duck hunting with a party of sportsmen. The other hunters stayed in their blinds, but the officer in the sniper suit went out in the open and shot more ducks than all the other gunners together were able to bring down.
The Dijon camouflage factory also turned out a large number of covers for the so-called Bessenaux hangars for airplanes. These hangars were large tents set up at aviation fields near the front. It was soon found to be impracticable to attempt to camouflage such tents by day, as they gave plenty of indication of their position in spite of the best efforts at concealment on the American and allied sides. However, the great danger at aviation fields came at night when the German bombing planes were abroad. Even on a dark night a white tent proved to be a good mark for the hostile airmen. Consequently the attempt was made to camouflage Bessenaux hangars at night only. It was found impracticable to paint the tents themselves, since the waterproof canvas would not take the paint readily. The solution was a large cover of burlap. This was painted in broken patches of color, much as artillery was painted in camouflage. At the factory such covers were spread out on the ground and painted with floor brushes dipped into water color.
All machinery at Dijon, with the exception of two lathes, two drill presses, and a shearing machine, was designed and built at the plant itself. The work of providing camouflage cover required enormous quantities of burlap to be cut up into strips. The English camouflage shops used stationary knives and a machine operated by a crank. American Engineers at Dijon designed a power-driven cutting machine with a large number of circular, whirling knife blades. The invention of this machine increases the production of burlap strips 900 per cent with the same force. The engineers at the plant also designed paint tanks and special machinery that would mix 4,000 gallons of color in a day.
There were about 1,000 French women employed in this plant. The executives paid great attention to their welfare. A special nursery, the "Creche," was built for their children. American Red Cross nurses cared for the babies during the time their mothers were at work. Many of the women employed were refugees driven from once comfortable homes. Their children fattened up with the good food provided by the army mess, and the mothers were correspondingly happy. Entertainments were frequently provided for the operators of the factories. The artists at the shop worked during their leisure moments and eventually produced the scenery and equipment for a genuine Yankee circus, animals and all, the menagerie, however, being made principally of papier-mâché with human operatives inside the beasts. The first performance of the circus was given on Thanksgiving Day, 1918, and the audience was so delighted that it demanded a repetition. After three encores of this sort it was suggested that performances be given in Dijon, a city of upward of 50,000 population, with admittance charged. This advice was followed, and the circus made such a hit that the Engineers were able to turn over to the French orphan fund a considerable sum of money.
CONCLUSION.
The foregoing account gives in a broad way an idea of the scope of activities and the achievements of the Engineers during the 19 months of actual warfare in France. To furnish the organization of technical troops and specialists which made all this possible, the original Engineer Arm of the United States Army was increased to 131.5 times its prewar strength, and the proportion of Engineer troops relative to the total forces was increased from 1.6 per cent to 10.8 per cent. To accomplish this, a heavy demand was made upon the technical professions and upon the industries of this country. In filling this demand most necessary assistance was given by the engineer societies and the engineering journals, whose patriotic work demands the highest praise.
In situations requiring special knowledge almost always there could be found some specialist capable of adapting himself and his work to the military needs. Engineer officers for the combatant regiments were younger members of the technical professions, who were sent to the training camps provided for the purpose and there given the essentials of strictly military knowledge. This training was later supplemented by courses in Engineer and line schools located in France. The training officers of the regiments were supplied from the Corps of Engineers, these men having both the military and technical knowledge fitting them for the command. The diversity of education and experience necessary in all branches of the Engineer service may be understood by a consideration of the duties of the different units sent to France during the war—specialist units, in addition to the strictly combatant divisional regiments, who also numbered among their commissioned and enlisted personnel many technical specialists of high attainment.
We had, for instance, seven railway construction regiments, two railway construction battalions, one regiment and five battalions for railway maintenance of way, two battalions for maintenance of railway equipment, four regiments and one battalion to operate our main military railways in France, three regiments to operate the light railways in France and their repair shops, two regiments for operating the regular railway shops, two regiments and six battalions for constructing buildings and other general construction work, two regiments for storing and transporting Engineer supplies, a forestry regiment, a light railway construction regiment, a regiment for building roads, a water supply regiment, a mining regiment, a quarrying regiment, a technical regiment for handling surveying, sound ranging, and location of enemy positions by means of special apparatus, three survey and printing battalions, two railway transportation battalions, an electrical and mechanical regiment, several companies to operate cranes, a camouflage service, five inland waterway companies, five ponton trains, a ponton park, a railway transportation and stores battalion, and a searchlight regiment.