Before the introduction of radar technology into the military stage, large machines just like the one above were created. These machines were used to amplify sounds made by enemy aircraft, one of the ways in which allied forces could predict future attacks. This was known as passive acoustic location and was named so because of the ability it gave to soldiers to pinpoint almost exactly how far away an aircraft was in the sky.
The First Tanks
Tanks were first introduced into combat during World War 1 on September 16th, 1916 during the Battle of Somme between the British and the Germans. These tanks, which numbered around 40 at the time, were much too large and cumbersome to inflict a large amount of damage and were also prone to mechanical breakdowns. This picture shows the advance of allied forces in France in 1917, one year after the first appearance of the tank in battle.
The Fake Trees of No Man's Land
Under the darkness of night, both allied and enemy forces built fake trees as a way to disguise sniper and lookout towers. Some of these structures were created from actual dead, hollowed out trees that would be equipped with a scaffold on the inside for a sniper to stand on and hide within the middle of the tree.
Other trees would be made entirely from scratch. Soldiers would create sketches of the trees in their surrounding area and send these pictures to a workshop where an artificial tree would be constructed out of steel material.
Leon Underwood was one of the first soldiers to use these trees as camouflage, and his drawings down below were often used as templates for their recreation.
Sources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2274260/The-Armys-special-branch-How-bizarre-fake-spy-trees-appeared-mans-land-WWI.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tanks-introduced-into-warfare-at-the-somme
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/04/world-war-i-in-photos-technology/507305/
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