Moonraker Posted 19 December , 2010 Share Posted 19 December , 2010 This is a crop of a postcard of Chisledon Camp, near Swindon. (Though not captioned as such, its publisher was "D Last The Post Office", who is known to have published other cards of the camp.) I guess that the thin pole is a very primitive form of catapult for lobbing bombs (grenades)? Was anything as basic as this ever used in actual warfare? I've looked at other images of trench catapults and though some look weird none is as basic as this. I suppose there is enough room for the bottom of the pole to pivot? And how was the bomb fixed to the pole - the fit must have been nicely judged, otherwise the bomb would have fallen out of the cup. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 19 December , 2010 Share Posted 19 December , 2010 Not even sure thats a cup. There's no pivot visible. Don't think its a catapult. Perhaps some form of Bangalore torpedo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 20 December , 2010 Author Share Posted 20 December , 2010 Centurion, I see what you mean. There were five similar devices in the complete postcard, all slanted backward like the one in the crop, though at slightly different angles. A couple are unattended, suggesting the short vertical pole is pushed into the earth.The card is captioned "The Trenches" and at the end of the waist-high trench in which the soldier is standing there's a row of suspended sandbags, presumably for bayonet practice. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 20 December , 2010 Share Posted 20 December , 2010 Maybe they serve as targets? Or Hot Toddy delivery vehicles? -Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 20 December , 2010 Share Posted 20 December , 2010 I posted a description of a crude catapult tried by the LRB in 1914 Here which may be of interest; apparently never used in anger for fairly obvious reasons. NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc2 Posted 21 December , 2010 Share Posted 21 December , 2010 Looks like something I have seen before in training sites--- does it simulate an enemy bayonet for you to try to parry as you run forward to the bayonet dummies? I remember seeing something similar on US training bases in the post Korea period. Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 21 December , 2010 Share Posted 21 December , 2010 Looks like something I have seen before in training sites--- does it simulate an enemy bayonet for you to try to parry as you run forward to the bayonet dummies? I remember seeing something similar on US training bases in the post Korea period. Doc Possibly a form of quintain a device originally used to train cavalry in the middle ages. If your lance didn't strike dead on the centre of the dummy the wooden arm would swing round and catch you with the clout (a padded ball) at about ear level "catching a clout around the earhole" probably originates from this. Could something similar have been set up for bayonet practice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 21 December , 2010 Author Share Posted 21 December , 2010 Could be, Doc, though the head of the one in the crop looks a bit too high. Perhaps our smoking friend is holding it up for the photograph (though, as Centurion says, there appears to be no pivot)? The heads of a couple of others are a foot lower, the rest at the same sort of level as a bayonet en garde. The sandbag presumably keeps the device in position. Behind the men the ground has been cleared away so that it comes only to the backs of their knees. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 31 December , 2010 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2010 Over Christmas I discovered how to easily reduce large pics to a size acceptable to the Forum (not having got around to it since I bought a new PSC), so here's a larger crop showing the line of devices. In the background there appear to be targets, though hardly in the setting of the butts that were being created in the Great War. And a mile from the camp were long-established rifles ranges at the foot of Liddington Hill. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 31 December , 2010 Share Posted 31 December , 2010 I'm wondering whether they are measurement or detection devices of some sort ? For measuring projectile velocity, sound ranging, whatever ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 31 December , 2010 Author Share Posted 31 December , 2010 Rod, I think that the need to measure velocity etc wouldn't be necessary at a camp that trained recruits but what about some sort of surveying or measuring device in connection with the excavations that are or have been going on? Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 31 December , 2010 Share Posted 31 December , 2010 The blobs on the ends of the sticks were what got me thinking about "detectors" of some sort. Their organized layout and progressive height indicates some kind of scientific application. Theodolite work still looks like that. Perhaps part of excavation or construction work then ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regimentalrogue Posted 31 December , 2010 Share Posted 31 December , 2010 Considering the hanging bags in the background, I would go with the theory that they are some sort of bayonet course target. Unless the cropped photo is hiding more, there appears to be six of each item. Perhaps the objects was for the soldier to parry the "enemy's rifle and bayonet" before continuing over the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc2 Posted 1 January , 2011 Share Posted 1 January , 2011 I continue to think they are "parry dummies", designed to train you to parry an enemy bayonet. See the US Army Bayonet Field Manual (http://www.scribd.com/doc/12980824/1943-US-Army-WWII-Bayonet-Training-Manual-65p-Knife), pages 44 and 47. Doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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