Sniping in the Great War by Martin Pegler

Author:Martin Pegler
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783460847
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

Neither was the use of periscopes limited to observation, for a number of inventors immediately appreciated their possible use for mounting to a rifle, to enable it to be fired remotely. Battery rifles were a common sight in the trenches, mounted on frames in a fixed position to fire at a predetermined spot, but the new periscope rifles were something different. Introduced into the trenches in the early months of 1915, the actual inventor is disputed, although improvised periscope rifles had first appeared during the Boer War, inexplicably called ‘infascopes’. These were mentioned in detail in T.F. Fremantle’s book of 1901, and he devoted quite a large chapter to them:

A little device may here be mentioned which is the outcome of the Boer War [. . .] called the ‘infascope’. The Boers found the storm of shot and shell directed against them so overwhelming that they held up their rifles over the edge of the entrenchment and discharged them in the general direction of the enemy, without attempting to take aim. At Mafeking [. . .] where the trenches got to be very uncomfortable close quarters indeed [. . .] an impromptu device was arranged to enable effective fire to be brought to bear under such circumstances. Two small pieces of mirror were attached so that one could be clipped on behind the backsight, while the other hung down below [. . .] and in the latter could be seen the reflection of the line of aim [. . .] this enabled shots to be truly directed while the whole head of the firer was below the sheltering level of the sandbags. The application of this arrangement could hardly be very extensive since it admits of no large field of view, but under special circumstances it has proved its utility.130

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