Original WWI British Tubular Trench Periscope. 22554. Original WWI British Tubular Trench Periscope. 22554. Sight & Optic

The trench periscope is an optical device that soldiers used during the First World War to observe the ground in front of their trenches and fortifications, without taking the risk of raising their eyes above the parapet and creating a target for the enemy snipers. An officer once wrote in a 1917 handbook ‘To make the image in the periscope clearer, binoculars can be applied to the lower glass at the proper angle, and almost as clear a view obtained as by looking over the parapet. One disadvantage of the periscope is that it makes the distance seem greater than it really is, and many a man receives a shock when he places his head above the parapet after looking through a periscope for a while, to see how close the enemy trenches are’. The periscope worked using two mirrors at 45 degrees to each other to reflect a view down a barrel or tube to the user who was safely out of sight of snipers This example with original brown/green painted tubular metal body with turned wooden grip. Retaining both mirror plates and measuring 55 ½ cm in length. The price includes UK delivery. 22554.