OPTICAL ILLUSIONS TO CONFUSE SENTRIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 171, 10 June 1940, Page 2

OPTICAL ILLUSIONS TO CONFUSE SENTRIES

An extraordinary illusion practiced by Germans on the Western Front to deceive British sentries is described in an air mail letter (to relatives in Perth from a sergeant who has returned to England on leave. "I stood beside a sentry," he said, "And a very strong light appeared in front of us, as large as a man's hand and some eight to ten feet above the ground. "Then it began to grow and we could hardly believe our eyes when the light changed into a» kind of screen, and we saw pictures appearing from the pitch darkness of t : night. "We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and German and French soldiers walking and talking peace- j fully together in the streets of Paris. I "It was like a mirage, and our firip on reality began to do, and then suddenly hand grenades began to explode around us. "But all these German night tricks are really in vain{ as they are all already known, and do not produce the desired effect; and we have our tricks, too." The sergeant adds that every night the Germans show some form of activity to confuse the British sentries and shake their self-con-trol, and to find out their exact positions. Flickering lights and whistles were often used for this purpose.