Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/821

 Wigwagging with Hand Flags

How the army talks over hills and valleys

��ALTHOUGH their AA application is limit- ed on account of their small range, the use (if hanil flags for signaling is authorized by the United States Army. They are chiefly serviceable for inci- dental signaling or for use within organizations or fixed stations. The range is sel- dom more than a mile with the naked eye with flags of usual size, and is dependent upon light and background. But the s\'stem is simple and rapid and should be familiar to all soldiers. It is limited to ^"isual signaling and is not adapted to general work as is the General Service Code, although it has been found \er\- useful for special work when rapid communication at short distances is neces- sary.

The semaphore hand flags for service use are eighteen inches square, divided diag- onally into two parts, one red. the other white. The staft's are twenty-four inches long. For the field and coast artillery there is now issued a semaphore hand flag of orange with a scarlet center and scarlet with an orange center, one of each constitut- ing a kit. The flags are eighteen inches square, the centers nine inches square and the staffs twenty-four inches long.

Hand flags are used in the same manner as the sema- phore machine, except that in making the interval the flags are crossed downward in front of the bod\-, just above the knees. This method of signaling is used to advantage within batter- ies of the field artillery and regiments of infantry

����NUMERALS

��FOLIOW

���INTERVAL

��Care must be taken with hand flags to hold the staffs so as to form a prolong- ation of the arms. With the two-arm semaphore both arms move simultane- ously, and there is a pause at the end of each letter

��and at times is used by

the cavalry. It has been

highly developed in the

Navy. The hand flags of

the Navy are from twelve

to fifteen inches square, of

blue with a white square, or

red and yellow diagonally,

the colors depending upon

the background. The flags

are usually attached to a

light wooden staft" about

two feet long.

Signaling by two-arm sem- aphore in the Navy is very similar to hand-flag wigAvag- ging. The ordinary- machine or stationary semaphore is also authorized for general use by the Army at the present time. With the machine a third arm or indicator is displayed on the right of the sender, which is the left as viewed by the receiver. At night a red light screened to the rear indicates the direc- tion of sending.

The machine is mounted at some axailablc point so situated that it may be seen through the greatest arc of the horizon. By means of electric lights installed on the vanes, the machine is made available for night as v.-ell as for day signaling. This method is the most rapid for sending spclled-out messages. It is, however, very liable to error if the motions are slurred over or run together in an attempt to make speed. Both arms mo\e rapidly and simultane- ously, and there is a percep- tible pause at the end of each letter before making the next letter. When commu- nicating with the Navy nu- merals are always spelled out. In using the machine signal, men are taught that rapidity- is secondary to accuracy-.

��807

�� �