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-. 



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