War Office
Published: 2004-01
Total Pages: 392
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The British Army has long been famous for its use of rifle fire in battle, and this was never more true than after the Boer War, when the lessons learned in South Africa were made part of the core of musketry training in the army. The rifle was part of the life of every infantryman, and he had to know it intimately. This pamphlet, issued before the start of the First World War contains all the wisdom of the nineteenth Century about the rifle and how to use it effectively in war. The pamphlet describes the two rifles on issue at the time, the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (Marks III and IV) and the Charger Loading Magazine Lee-Enfield (sometimes known as the Long Lee-Enfield). The Webley pistol is also included in a detailed weapons description section that is at the level of Instructions for Armourers. Care and cleaning of the weapons is followed by details of ammunition in use (although the Treatise on Ammunition, 1915, also available from Naval and Military Press can be consulted for even more detail). There is a very clear section on the theory of rifle fire and its application, and then the rest of the work is taken up by musketry exercises and field practices, a look at the tactical handling and use of the rifle. As with all pre-World War I manuals and pamphlets produced by the War Office, the illustrations (34 plates) are all important. An appendix describes the Mark I hand grenade.