"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
It looks more like a large periscope to me. But what is the object which looks like a placard staked into the ground in front of it? Perhaps a photo of a real front-line trench to be viewed by troops in training? Pure speculation, of course, but the tube appears to be of thin sheet metal and incapable of withstanding any internal pressure.
I'd agree that it isn't a mortar but I don't think that its a periscope - all you'd get is a view of the sky. Any way its doesn't look like a frontline trench. The guy looks as if he is checking a wire that runs out of the bottom of the thing and under his arm and away down the trench. I wonder if this could be some form of microphone housing, part of a German sound ranging system or something similar? Alternatively maybe a light for guiding German aircraft back to their air field?
It looks a bit like a Livens Projector, and the wiring would suggest something along those lines, but it's not buried and the carriage seems to be made of wood. As Jellytwig says, the little signposts are a puzzle. Is that an eyepiece sticking out? Perhaps he was an astronomer in civvy strasse.
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"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
The Germans did build copies of the Livens but due to a shortage of the right kind of steel most were too late for the war. There were two varieties - one somewhat smaller than the British Livens (and some of these did see service) and one about the same size as the Livens. However this thing looks like neither. If it is some sort of airfield light the sign could be a simple warning not to interfere with it, otherwise it might say something like don't toss your fag ends in here!
Could it simply be a decoy? The lightweight construction of wood suggests this. The cable could be a fuse for a simple pyrotechnic flash to give the impression of firing...
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
