LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Artillery Observation
built 220 days ago
The detection of German artillery positions by enemy observation was sometimes made more difficult by camouflaging the firing report with the help of an improvised device that simulated detonations. At the beginning of the war most observation battalions were equipped with such simulating devices, but later on only few of them were available and those few were inadequate for actual deception because of the great variety of guns used in counterbattery fire and for infantry support. Actual deception of the enemy artillery observation could only be achieved if the deceptive firing report sounded like the detonation of a real gun both to the enemy ear and to his sound-ranging equipment. A close similarity between the actual and the deceptive report was achieved with the assistance of engineer specialists who built a makeshift detonation device which was thoroughly tested behind the front. The amount of explosives used in this device was regulated in accordance with data provided by the sound-ranging check points. These experiments were continued until the instruments finally showed that the detonations could have originated from 150-mm.
Source:
The Westland Lysander was a rugged, short-take-off-and-landing designed for low-level reconnaissance and artillery observation. Although it first flew in 1936, its design was largely obsolete when war broke out. Canadian license-built production of the Lysander II began in 1938 at Malton (today the site of Toronto's Pearson International Airport). The first Royal Canadian Air Force squadron sent to Britain in early 1940 was equipped with Lysander II's. Later production Lysander IIIa aircraft - such as the one seen in this photograph of a surviving aircraft in the collection of the Canadian Aviation Museum - were used mainly as target tugs for anti-aircraft artillery practice.
Source:
The GHQ reserve artillery includes artillery firing units of various classes and artillery observation units. These units are habitually allotted to armies for employment under the army commander or for reallotment to lower units.
Source:
To protect Division Artillery observation planes, the Battalion set a "cub trap" in the forward areas. Pilots under duress were instructed to swoop low over an area in which there were four camouflaged half-tracks.
Source:
Geiger had been part of the 34th's forward artillery observation team. With his loss, the commander decided quickly that the unit needed FAO teams more than gun mechanics. Fritts got the assignment. "He said, 'Fritts, you're not doing anything. Come on up here.'" With the guns' long range, the 34th needed a team to spot targets and report corrections to the firing solution. "We took observations of distance and movement.
Source:
The use of aircraft for artillery observation was a feature of the western front at this time, and the envelope illustrates RE8 2-seater aircraft in this role. The observer/gunner signalled to the ground controller by wireless telegraphy, using a spark transmitter, operating in the 170-190 metre band. The aircraft trailed a wire aerial. Some fine examples of this equipment are on display in the Royal Signals Museum at Blandford, Dorset.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Artillery Observation