LAND AND WATER 
January 30, 1015. 
of it I Expressed in tern;s of money only, every day by which 
the duration of the war can be shortened means a saving of 
several tens of million i^onuda. 
The writer, for obvious reasons, cannot, in an article 
meant for publication, express himself otherwise than in 
gonej-al terms. So he will, to-day, contenii himself by asking 
his readei-3 to coasider t!:e effect it would have on the duration 
of the war if an aeria' attack by the Allies succeeded in cut-" 
ting, for twenty-four hours' only,-all means of communication' 
totwoen the Germans in tlieir trenches and their base. An<J 
from his information as well as his technical knowledge and 
calculations, tho writer knows that, in seriously suggo".(ing 
a strong, comprehensive and sustained aeria] offensive, he ia 
not a victim of wild dreams. 
THE QUESTION OF INVISIBLE 
UNIFORMS. 
By COL. F. N. MAUDE, C.B. (late R.E.). 
IN my last article I quoted the opinion of the Duke of 
Wellington, lixat in hia day the colour of uuifornia 
was of small importance as compared with the 
desirability of an easily distinguishable silhouette 
against tho sky-line, and it must be apparent to any- 
one- who thinks the matter out that it must be of even 
less import-ance nowadays, when men begin to fire on one 
another at range.s measured by the mile. There were riflemen 
in the Duke's daya in all armies who could shoot as straight up 
to about 400 yards as we can shoot at 1,200, and the sport of 
picking off of&cers, shcofjng down gun teams, etc., was as 
popular then as now, and concealment to the stalker must 
have been quite as important, and far more difficult to obtain, 
jusD as it is quite easy to get within a mil© of a black buck, 
but to creep up unobserved within the last two hundred yards 
is much harder. Tho truth is, as I said before, that the 
whole question never received any scientific tactical con- 
sideration at all, and that we were rushed into the change 
from red to khaki by an utterly uninstructed public opinion 
which will cost us far m<3re lives in the near future than the 
reformers ever expected to save. 
Cnt this picture ont, VMm it sfiainst different bickgrounils at a distance 
«w»y from the eyca untU the ftgiire looks as larRo as a man apnean at 
600 yards, i.e., about half an inch higli. 
I do not question that there are times when conc«alment' 
19 desirable, but I do maintain that in the big battles which 
he aihead of us it is far more Trnportant for the success of 
the whole army that the Commander, and his Staff generally, 
should bo able to see how the several units under their 
command are combining their operations, than that here 
or there a few skirmishers should retain a whole skin. Tho 
trouble is that a little more consideration of the matter would 
have shown us how to combine both requirements at the <ar.-o 
time. ' " 
I found the key to this problem some years ago at a cold- 
weather camp in India, by the following curious experience. 
Hiding with the StafF for a big Divisional inspection en 
a great open plain, vi-ifhout a scrap of cover for mUes, when 
approaching tho ground we found that we could see one single 
scarlet battalion drawn up, and, away on its left, the glint 
and movement of horses betrayed a battery. Apparently two 
battalions were still missing, and, as the General did not wish 
to catch the line unprepared, we pulled up and waited. 
Ihere were the usual caustic comments on the and 
Regiments. " Late again, as usual 1 " kind of thing But 
presently a slight movement in the interval caught my eye 
I produced my field glasses — an unusually good pair, with' 
a big field for picking up colours in tilie dark or in a half- 
light — and there, to my astonishment, I saw the two missing 
battalions drawn up in line, quietly waiting in their appointed 
places. I said nothing for a few moments until tho General 
became impatient, and then I passed up my glasses. I was 
the only one present whose uniform allowed him to wear 
field glasses in full dress, and the General's astonishment was 
complete. 
He had had much experience in the Mutiny. As we rode 
Iiome afterwards we discussed the case and similar happen-^ 
ings, and found an explanation simple and scientific enough. 
All the infantry were wearing scarlet alike, and all in 
marching order, but whereas the one battalion we had 
detected at once wore brown belts, the others had the usual 
pipeclay belts of the period. The white pipeclay belts broke 
up the mass of each indivi<lual into rectangles and triangles 
not exceeding 12 inches in size, and at anything over 1,000 
yards these little surfaces dwindled to points too small to b« 
perceived as colour by the optio nerves. 
Then we compared notes, and I carried out chmr- 
Tations for quito a long period under his direction, 
which led to the final conclusion tliat except ag.iinst 
» particular background it was not the colour but the 
size of tho unbroken mass of it that mattered. Even 
" Skinner's Horse," who then wore a most conspicuous canary- 
coloured tunic or kaftan, became invisible at 1,500 yards 
when weai'ing their white belts, whereas liliey, or any other 
regiment, in compJcto khaki, belts and all, could be picked 
up at a couplo of thousand yards or more with ease. Bui 
the essence of llie v.hole matter lay in immobility. Moving 
troops can always bo detected, and the trouble is that it is 
precisely when troops ai-e lying down — i.e., not moving — 
tliat both Staff and artillery want to know exactly where tJicy 
are, and that is just the time when, with the present khakij 
you c.vmot find them. 
Tho if.oral eHeot on the men themselves must also 
not be neglected. In the present war, tho cause for which 
■wo are fighting is eo great that no hardships or die- 
comfort seem able to depress the men, but it will not 
always be so, and I can recall many instances told me by 
men in India, and in tlie Zulu War, of the electric efTee* 
produced on a "fed up" body of men by the order for a, 
general clean-up and an inspection parade. Whom the men 
saw themselves again aa a whole, clean and smart in spita 
of retreats and hardship, the regiment found its own soul, so 
to speak, and became a different body. 
_ Let me cite a single instance told to ma by the SubhadaH 
Major of a n.itive cavalry regiment who had Ix;en through 
tl;e dreary experience of the siege of Kandahar in 1879, 
where depression had reigned supreme and tlie native regi- 
:i-,cnts were more than a littlo doubtful in their minds as to 
the invincibility we had claimed. 
Roberts' column had arrived overnight, after the marcK 
from Kabul, and next morning, the 1st September, my friend's 
regimont marelied out to take up its position for the coming 
battle. On tlio way they were overtaken, first by tho 9th 
Lancers, then by a battery of R.H.A., both of them turned out 
to pcifection as if for a Royal inspection, and he said, " Saliibi 
th6 sight of those men, so splendidly smart and efficient, 
made cur hearts go up with a bound, and we fought that 
day as we had not fought for montihs before; but if they had 
been all rusty and dirty it would have been a very different 
story, for our men were very full of doubts that morning." 
-Iessp.s. SIa'^keltxe a\t) Devant are invitintr convalescent soWJera 
ard ca'.lors lo thtir entcrtninment at St. George's Ilall. Reserved enats 
v^ul be given, free of charge, to any convalescont soMicrs and GniJors 
v.ho ask for thcr.i This invitation hoWs good for any performanco 
cnlil the Easter hoV.ia-.e. 
14* 
