Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/619

 Popular Science MoutJdy

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���Crete foundations for them to stand upon before they can be fired. But the Ger- mans foresaw this long before the war, and laid theirplans accordingly.

They examined all the country over which they were likely to fight, both in Bel- gi u m and in France, and wher- ever they saw good positions for guns they built founda- tions and emplace- ments for them. This was done in time of peace, and therefore had to be done secretly. In order to divert suspicion, a Ger- man would buy or rent a farm on which it was desired to build an emplacement. Then he would put down foundations for a new barn or farm building, or — if near a town — for a factory, and when these were complete, he would erect some lightly con- structed building upon it. There was nothing to attract attention or suspicion about this, and numbers of these emplace- ments are said to have been made before war began. When war broke out and the t roops arri\ed on the ground, the buildings were hastily pulled down and there were the emplacements all ready for the guns.

Officer Aiienfs It is generally difficult to find ordinary spies who are also sufficiently imbued with technical knowledge to be of use in

��^ SAovi "itad erouHd." ^ Slutrs wime •a wiai Oac i. tlulU, Jl M; c»is ft ^ from fin. ^^ metmud 1/ fi

v*ot points ta o o Shew! utaehint gutit. ' Ijum.

A smart piece of spy work. Veins on an ivy leaf show the outline of the fort. The tip of the leaf indicates north

���A sketch of a triangular fort was trans- formed into a stained glass window design, with certain of the decorations signifying the location and sizes of guns

gaining na\al or militar\' details. Conse- quenth- officers are often employed to

��obtain such information in peace time as well as in the theater of action in war. But with them, and especially with those of Germany, it is not easy to find men who are sufficiently good actors, or who can disguise their appearance so well as to evade suspicion. Very many of these have visited England's shores during the past few years, but the\' ha\e generally been noticed, watched, and followed, and from the line taken by them in their reconnaissance it has been easy to de- duce the kind of operations contemplated in their plans.

Catching a Spy

Spy-catching was once one of my duties, and is perhaps the best form of education towards successful spying. I had been lucky enough to nail three and was complimented by one of the senior officers on the Commander-in-Chief's stafi". We were riding home together from a big review at the time that he was talking about it, and he remarked, "How

���The sketch on the left was made, giving all the particulars wanted. To bury it in such a way that it could not be recog- nized as a fortress plan if the spy were caught by the military authorities, it was turned into a sketch of a moth's head. Underneath in the note-book was written: "Head of Dula moth as seen through a magnifying glass. Caught 19.5.12. Mag- nified about six times size of life." (Meaning scale of six inches to the mile.)

do you set eibout catching a spy?" I told him of our methods and added that also luck \"ery often came in and helped one. Just in front of us, in the crowd of vehicles returning from the review- ground, was an open, hired Victoria in which sat a foreign-looking gentleman. 1 remarked that as an instance this was the sort of man I should keep an eye upon, and I should quietly follow him till I found where he lodged and then put a detective on to report his moves.

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