Perhaps not a weapon per se, but thought people would find this neat.
Was this actually used or is this a concept? Seems like artillery would clear it out pretty quick, even if the enemy didn’t know what was inside.
I think it’s not a fake tree, as in, one day you wake up and there’s a new tree stump in that trench over there. More that they hollowed it out and shored it up to act as an observation post
I did some minor googling, turns out they would sketch an existing tree, build a replica, then replace it in the middle of the night. Also from this one source sounds like they didn’t snipe from it, just for observation. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-journey-of-the-camouflage-tree
Well, that’s more innovative than I thought!
You had thousands if tree chunks on a battlefield bruh
An old joke comes to mind.
The sarge orders a private to go and set up an observation post for 24 hours camouflaging himself as a tree stump.
12 hours later the private comes back to report. The sarge asks why the private is back 12 hours earlier than ordered.
“Well, sir,” explains the private, “I set up camouflage as a tree stump and start observing the enemy movements. Then a young couple arrives at my position and starts a picnic. Fine, that I can deal with. Then they sit on me and start making out. I can even endure that, no problem. What I did not endure was the boy cutting their names into my bum with a pocket knife.”
Very cool pic. I’d imaging it must have been a much better observation tower than sniping post.
Yeah not exactly sure how you’d manage to properly aim a long rifle in there.
Id assume you’d stick it out and hope they think it’s a branch.
Seems like a real tree with a slot cut into it.
This one is just a scale model, but as LesserAbe pointed out they would have camouflage specialists who would take photos of a real tree, cut down the original tree, and the replace it with a tower with the facade decorated like the original tree.
What if the enemy was around and sees the opening in the back?
These would have been used along side the typical trench style warfare WW1 is known for. So the enemy shouldn’t have gotten past your trenches. If they did, shooting them might help you out.
