In the 100 kilometre cycle race judges and public were kept informed about the state of the race from 12 speaking points. Sections of Signal Division 23 constructed a telephone system for the Olympic pentathlon and the tree-day-event, and this too provided a quick news service for judges and spectators. Furthermore, a section 20 men strong was responsible for erecting the loudspeaker installation at the Lustgarten and Unter den Linden. If in addition we consider the telephone installations in the various Olympic dwellings (Olympic Village, Dцberitz, Elsgrund, International Youth Encampment at Rupenhorn, and the International Physical Education Students Encampment at Eichkamp), which were also manned, served and partially installed by the Signal Division, this contribution of the Army to the Olympic Games deserves full recognition. Pioneers were available for the Olympic rowing regatta at Grьnau. Under the direction of Major Henke (Pioneer School II) a section of pioneers built a pontoon bridge 884 feet long for the pedestrian traffic between Grьnau and Kцpenick. In addition, the Division erected stands for judges and signalling groups, as well as pontoon ferries.
The carrying out of the flag ceremonies was entrusted to a naval section specially trained for this work. It was under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Grupe from the battleship "Deutsch-
land," and consisted of 3 officers, 16 petty officers and 135 men. All ships and flotillas, and also marine detachments, took part with their trained signalling staffs.
The Air Force contributed 2 searchlight batteries for the Festival Play. On the opening day the Army Carrier-Pigeon Institute at Spandau liberated 25,000 German and foreign carrier-pigeons. If we add the services rendered by the Navy for the events at Kiel, it will be seen that Army, Navy, and Air Force played a splendid part in the preparation for and the carrying out of the Olympic Games of 1936.
Timing
The improvement and perfecting of timing apparatuses was one of the most important tasks of the Organizing Committee. First of all, the stop watch service was arranged, which handed out every day to the managements of the different kinds of sports the loan watches which had been tested by the "Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt." The stop watches, which had been bought in Switzerland (Ratrappantezahler) were of the same Omega quality that had been used at the Games of 1928 and 1932, and which cost between 180 and 450 marks per watch. They were used in all the contests in which timing by the hand is prescribed. The watches were controlled daily by a watchmaker from the factory and the "Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt" tested their accuracy every day.
Taking as a basis the experience obtained with the Kirby Camera at Los Angeles, the Organizing Committee, in collaboration with the "Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt" as well as the Zeiss Ikon and Agfa firms, developed an Olympic timing camera capable of recording the events at the finishing line with a stereo-cinematographic camera taking a hundred photographs a second. In order to take photographs covering the whole breadth of the course at the finish, the camera was placed on a 40 foot tower. It was to be expected that, with the short and medium distance races, the contestants would, in certain cases, cross the line with only very short distances between one another. The slow-motion film of the finishes, which is also recognized by the International Amateur Athletic Association as a documentary basis in case of protest, was used for facilitating the work and control of the judges and the time-keepers. The procedure is as follows: A sensitive contact is attached to the pistol and through the starting shot an impulse of current is released, setting the time-recording mechanism in action. This mechanism is coupled with the slow-motion camera at the finishing line. The camera taking the photos remains out of action until the runners are approaching the finish. The camera then takes the photographs at the finish and records the time which has elapsed from the beginning of the contest. In order to deliver the photos in the shortest possible time to enable the judges to arrive at a decision, a special quickdevelopment film was manufactured permitting cinematographic photographs to be thrown on the screen in the judges' lodge ten to twelve minutes after the runners had passed the finishing-line. The tape at the finish does not play any part in the work of the time-film apparatus. This apparatus continues working until all the runners have passed the finishing line. The time released by the starting pistol for all runners in common is photographically recorded for every single runner. In throwing the image on the screen for the judges, it was possible, by a simple device, to adjust the position and the time of every single runner at the finish, this quite independent of the well-known unreliability of the human eye. During the games, this mechanism rendered excellent service. In addition to the timing camera, the Organizing Committee used the time printer developed by the firm of Lobner, Berlin, not only for flat races, but also for riding, rowing and canoeing competitions.