FIREWORKS IN WAR.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 70, 21 February 1918, Page 3

FIREWORKS IN WAR.

They do not celebrate Guy Fawkes 1 Day in the. Army, but it is probable that the next big war will provide a , pyrotechnic display second to none. Star shells, which are made to burst in the air and shed a strong-, whitish-blue flame over an enemy's position at night, are an old form of military firework; and the Germans have now been experimenting with "fire-balloons," the chief object of which is to set fire to an enemy's airshipsFor signalling purpose.-* powerful searchlights and lamps are not the only means in wai: for where these are not available rockets are used, the message being conveyed by the different colouring? of the stars set free. Then there is the "light rocket"— which is Bft. long, and weighs 2st., by the way—used to convey a preconcerted signal to widely-scattered detachments. It carries in its cap, instead of the orthodox charge, a brilliant magnesium star —and for purposes of code signalling these stars may be r--variously coloured. I There is also a sort of pyrotechnic wire entanglement, the purpose of which is to give warning., to a garrison of an enemy's approach; for anybody stumbling against it in the dark would at once cause numbers of stari to shoot skywards.