I love this game.
I’m thinking a line-throwing pistol. Looks very heavy duty. Up under the muzzle, it looks like there’s a notch to hook over something to stabilize. I can’t find a similar example though.
Can anyone ID the uniform? British, WWI?
I'm coming to the conclusion that it's a brilliantly successful British "dirty tricks" distraction photo to be fed to a German spy for transmission back to the Reich, supposedly of a top secret British weapon.
It was intended to waste the time of the enemy's Intelligence department and the country's best inventive minds who would spend their days fruitlessly trying to work out how the darn thing worked and what it was for, instead of concentrating on inventing something useful to the war effort, such as the tank.
I expect that in early 1919 there was STILL a room full of professors in Berlin earnestly saying things like "yes, but what's that hook thingy on the front for?"(in German, of course).
Who knows how many lives were saved and by how much the war was shortened as a result?
Like much WW1 weaponry this photo is still potentially lethal 100+ years later and should be approached with extreme caution.
I'm only partly joking.
British, WWI, rank of captain (3 pips on epaulet), resolution is poor, unable to make out the regimental badge on the collar.
CC