British Army equipment
The equipment of the British Army was from the late 17th century, when firearms which had existed since 1661 British Army until the First World War continuously improved began to dominate. From the second half of the 19th century, in particular, the technical superiority of the British Army made it possible for the British Empire to conquer large parts of the world . Long periods of time often passed between the approval of a new model and its widespread introduction. There was never a standard weapon for all British troops. Obsolete weapons were often passed on to colonial and auxiliary forces, where they were used for a long time.
Military equipment in the 19th century
British infantry
The first widely introduced firearm was the ignition lock musket for over 100 years . With it, it was possible to fire two to three rounds per minute with extreme inaccuracy at about 90 m. The guns often exploded when fired, seriously injuring the shooter's face. As part of the then common tactics of shooting at a line of enemies, it was still sufficient until the Crimean War . The soldiers mostly referred to them as Brown Bess . During the Napoleonic Wars , the India Pattern was used, which was first introduced by the East India Company for their troops.
A first improvement was the introduction of the percussion fuse , which, although patented as early as 1807, was not used until the 1830s. In addition to converted old muskets, carbines were also used from 1842. At this time, rifle barrels were introduced, first for non-commissioned officers of the Foot Guards , to improve accuracy and range to about 135 m.
Muskets remained in use in India until before the Second World War. B. the railway police auxiliary troops ( Assam-Bengal Railway Battalion, AFI ), which were used in 1930 to suppress the Chittagong uprising , equipped with it.
German
The Ferguson rifle was used as the first breech-loader in the American War of Independence in 1777 . Various models were introduced in the 1850s, e.g. B. the Calisher & Terry , made in Birmingham, or the Westley Richards , issued to individual units. However, the technology was not fully developed for general use until the 1860s.
In order to be able to reduce the caliber, it was necessary to increase the exit speed, but this was not possible because of the softness of the metal with lead balls. The Swiss artillery colonel Rubin developed lead bullets coated with carbide. This also made a flatter trajectory and thus higher accuracy possible. The British Army took this over for the first time in 1888 with the .303 cartridges. Black powder was replaced as a propellant by smokeless cordite in 1892 .
Standard models
- From around 1720 the Brown Bess was used as the standard weapon.
- Baker Rifle , a rifled weapon, was used by the 95th Rifles and the Rifle Corps duringthe Napoleonic Wars.
- Brunswick Rifle , introduced in 1837, was a less useful model.
- The Belgian Minié rifle, caliber .702, was used from 1851 . Initially, it was given to the best 100 riflemen in each regiment. The effective range was 720 m, but up to 1400 m hits could be achieved. When deployed in the Crimea, it was calculated that one shot out of 16 hit.
- Model Enfield 1853, now only in .577 "caliber, was a significant improvement over previous rifles.
- In 1866, the Enfield 1853 model with the Snider patent lock was redesigned to become the Snider-Enfield breech -loader . In conjunction with a .577 Snider brass cartridge developed by Colonel Edward Mounier Boxer , the rate of fire could be increased to around 10 rounds per minute.
- The Westley Richards carbine was approved in 1866 for its smaller .450 caliber, but then the Snider model became the standard. The weapon was still in use by Indian troops until the First World War .
- Another advance was the Martini-Henry rifle , caliber .450, which came into use from March 1871 and could fire up to 12 rounds at 1300 m. The corresponding carbine was introduced from 1877. From 1896, the rifle with a modified barrel was used by colonial troops as a Martini-Enfield .
- In 1888, the .303 caliber rifle developed by James Lee was introduced. The lock ejected the empty cartridge case and a spring pushed the next shot from the 8-round magazine. The rifle was officially called Lee-Metford from April 1891 , the magazine has held 10 rounds since the introduction of cartridges with cordite, the exit speed increased from 1,800 to 2,000 feet / s.
- After modifications to the barrel of the Lee-Metford, the Lee-Enfield (.303) was introduced from 1895 , effectively at 800 m, which was the standard infantry weapon of the British in both world wars in numerous variants.
- In 1957 the assault rifle L1 A1 was introduced.
- In 1985 the SA80 assault rifle was introduced.
Machine guns
The first practicable machine gun was developed by the American Richard Jordan Gatling and used in the American Civil War. The Gatling gun was tested in several versions by the British in 1870 and introduced from 1874 with .45 caliber and usually six barrels. A non-commissioned officer and five men were required to operate. In the tests, the weapon achieved a hit accuracy of 19% at 1260 m. In the best of circumstances, 4,000 rounds could be fired in just under 11 minutes. Cleaning was necessary after approx. 64,000 shots.
The Gardner Gun, caliber .45 was named after its inventor William Gardner from Ohio and was produced by Pratt & Whitney . The ammunition was fed vertically. In addition to the Nordenfeldt MG , both models were also used by the Royal Navy despite their tendency to jam .
The principle of an automatic reloading weapon with only one barrel, patented by Hiram Maxim in 1884, found worldwide distribution . The water-cooled Maxim machine gun , aimed at 2250 m, was supplied via an ammunition belt (250 cartridges) and fired up to 600 rounds per minute. The models introduced from 1891 were initially revamped, from 1897 weapons supported with tripods were used. With the introduction of smokeless powder, the standard caliber was reduced from .45 to .303. The weapons were first used in colonial wars, for the first time in Uganda under Lugard . During the Zulu and Boer Wars, some officers refused to use machine guns against "savages" armed only with spears and knives. Until 1897, machine guns were operated exclusively by artillerymen. After the acquisition by Vickers , the manufacturer traded as Vickers, Son & Maxim . Another product of the house was the so-called pom-pom , which is 1 lb. Fired heavy 1.46 "caliber projectiles.
To a lesser extent, Hotchkiss and Colt machine guns were introduced.
British artillery
In the first half of the 19th century, muzzle-loaders with a smooth barrel were used, which fired cannon balls or "canisters" with musket balls, usually 6 or 9 pounders. Howitzers fired 12 or 24 pounders. Fortress guns fired heavier ammunition. Mortars were used for sieges. The last conflict to use smooth-barreled cannons was the Indian Uprising of 1857 .
| Ranges (in yards ) of some 1843 common models (cannon balls) | |||
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| medium 9 or 12 lb. (Bronze) | 300 | 700 | 1400 |
| 24 lb howitzer (bronze) | 250 | 450 | 1025 |
| 12-lb., 2.70 m long (iron) | 360 | 720 | 1540 |
| 18-lb., 2.4 m long (iron) | 340 | 710 | 1560 |
| 24-lb., 2.70 m long (iron) | 360 | 755 | 1670 |
| 32-lb., 3.15 m long (iron) | 380 | 760 | 1730 |
A cannon with a rifled barrel, the breech-loading model Armstrong, whose barrel was reinforced by iron rings, was used for the first time in China in 1859. It surpassed anything previously seen in accuracy and range and was available in various sizes, up to 110 lb. manufactured. It was the last gun to be built on wooden carts. Wrought iron was used from 1871 and steel from 1874.
The British Whitworth (12 lb.) used in the American Civil War fired over six miles. For cost reasons, however, muzzle-loaders were increasingly manufactured again from the 1860s. The lighter bronze was also preferred for field guns until 1874.
From 1885 modernization became inevitable and breech loaders were introduced as standard. The field guns fired 15-pound projectiles or shrapnel containing 200 (or 314) bullets. The range was 5400 m or 3000 m if time fuses were used. Propellant was 1 lb. Cordite.
Troop units with muzzle-loading siege guns were divided into light (8 25-pounders and 8 6.3-inch howitzers), medium-weight (6 40-pounders and 10 8 "howitzers), and heavy (4 40-pounders and 10 8" howitzers) assigned. The 1890s saw the introduction of 4 "and 5" breech loaders and 6 "howitzers. The 5" gun fired 50 pound shrapnel loaded with the new type of explosive Lyddite (based on the manufacturing site of Lydd in Kent ). Furthermore, significantly heavier ones became The largest 16¼-inch ammunition, weighing over 800 kg, fired up to 11 km. The problem of recoil, which required realignment after each shot, was not resolved until after 1900.
Smaller, lighter guns, so-called gallopper guns (3-pounders or 4 2/5-inch howitzers), which could be transported on a mule - or possibly by porters - were used particularly in the Indian border wars and in Africa. There were also guns with a range of 3600 m, the barrel of which consisted of two halves that could be screwed together ( screw guns 2½-inch). Such a gun required two mules for the barrel, another one each for the wheels and the team, six for the ammunition and five animals for replacement, with the appropriate drivers.
Missile force
Congreve rockets , developed by Sir William Congreve , were first used in the Napoleonic wars. They were more useful in undermining enemy morale with their noise than effective weapons. The Russian general Sayn-Wittgenstein called it after the Battle of the Nations "the devil's artillery". They were also used by the missile force of the Bengal Horse Artillery in their 12-lb.-version in Burma 1824-1825.
After the Crimean War, Hale's improved model , the 9- or 24-lb, was used. Fired explosive or incendiary charges. However, it was very inaccurate with a range of around 1300 m. They were used in Abyssinia, the Ashanti War in 1874 and in 1881 in the Transvaal. With the improvement of cannons, missiles became obsolete in the 1880s. The last use was in 1897 in the Tilah campaign.
Military equipment in the First World War
British infantry in general
In 1914 the British had probably the most modern equipment. Your army has always had to wage a skirmish or war in some occupied country of the vast British Empire. Therefore, no other army at that time was so well trained through constant use and had such a profound wealth of experience.
The khaki service trousers M1902 had two vertical side pockets and were always worn with suspenders. The simply and practically cut uniform jacket M1902 was issued in the same color and was worn almost unchanged until 1937. The jacket was closed in a single row with brass buttons on which the regimental name was to be read as a combination of letters, it had a pocket with buttoned flaps on each skirt and at chest height, with the breast pockets being designed in the form of flaps. In the shoulder area, fabric reinforcements were underlaid against the chafing of the belt equipment and fabric satchels ("pannier") introduced in 1908. The jacket had sewn-on epaulettes on which the regiment was also recognizable in a combination of letters made of brass. Only a few units had other badges sewn on.
Short laced nail boots made of blackened leather served as footwear, with khaki-colored leggings rolled over their shafts below the knee.
The tried and tested Enfield rifle No. 1 MkIII , caliber .303 British, use that had a bayonet that was standard equipment. The stiff khaki-colored service cap M1905 with a fabric-covered peak was lined with black oilcloth. In front was a badge of the respective unit made of brass. The rigid visor cap proved to be unsuitable for the modern Central European theater of war at the latest in the first winter of the war and was replaced by a new, very soft visor cap model as early as 1915, which was called " gorblimey " because of its unsoldy and ugly appearance . Gorblimey is a corruption of the English curse "God blind me", in German "Lord, let me go blind"! This headgear had ear and neck protection that could be folded down in bad weather. In November of the same year, the British Army was the second in the world to introduce a steel helmet, the MK I ("soup plate") made of manganese steel, which was optically based on a helmet shape common in the Middle Ages, but mainly from the requirements of trench warfare got its special shape. Initially, the helmet, which weighed around 980 grams, was only given to the soldiers in the front positions and gradually distributed to all units. The MK I was pressed from a steel plate in just one work step, a deep-drawing process . Due to the urgency of the matter, longer tests were not carried out, but great importance was attached to a high-quality helmet lining. This helmet was made in a slightly different design from the beginning of 1918 as M1917 by the Americans who entered the war in 1917 and was worn until the beginning of the Pacific War in 1941. The British MK I was produced until February 1919, and its similar successor was also worn for decades.
Scottish infantry
The Scottish Highland regiments differed from their comrades from the Lowlands and other parts of the United Kingdom mainly in a kilt and, from 1881, in a tunic cut differently. The actual kilt with a total length of 6.5 meters had a colored tartan and was covered with a light brown protective cover made of fabric during combat operations during the First World War. The knee socks had different garters by regiment and were covered in the lower third by white or black, later light brown fabric gaiters, which were replaced by wrap gaiters soon after the war began. In the course of the war, the kilt largely disappeared from the field suit and was only occasionally worn by the bagpipers in the field during the Second World War. The special form of the tunic also disappeared in the khaki uniform.
In the 18th century, the Highlanders initially wore a beret-like Kilmarnock bonnet as headgear, which was decorated with a pompom and an ostrich feather. At the bottom the bonnet was bordered by a wide, red, white, and blue plaid ribbon. As early as the American War of Independence, the feather headdress had grown so much that the actual cap was no longer visible above the cap ribbon underneath. In the middle of the 19th century the pith helmet replaced the ostrich feather cap in colonial service, and in the motherland this gave way to the standard English helmet. It is only carried to the parade by the bagpipers to this day.
Among the types of suits in which a cap was worn by English troops, most Scottish infantry regiments from the 1860s onwards wore a boat called Glengarry . The units could be identified by means of different colored tartan ribbons, which took up the lower part of the boat as a wide border, or the lack of these ribbons. In addition, a metal regimental badge was attached to the front on the right side. In the neck, the Glengarries had two longer single-colored strips of fabric that reached down to the neck.
The uniform of the Lowlander and the Scottish Guard or Light Infantry mostly combined the style of the Highlander and the English: Scottish headgear was worn with an English uniform, with the tunic sometimes having a Scottish cut. Occasionally trousers made of tartan fabric were also worn. The kilt was only worn by bagpipers, with the Scots Guards this bagpiper uniform is the only indication of the recruiting area next to the checked ribbon on the cloth hats. As far as these Scottish peculiarities were still present on the field suit in 1914, they mostly disappeared in the course of the war for reasons of cost.
The rest of the equipment was British standard.
literature
- D. Featherstone; Weapons and Equipment of the Victorian Soldier. Poole 1978
- D. Goldsmith: The Devil's Paintbrush: Sir Hiram Maxim's Gun. London 1989
- G. Markham: Guns of the Empire: Firearms of the British Soldier 1837-1987. London 1990
- J. Walter (Ed.): Arms and Equipment of the British Army, 1866. London 1986
- Haythornthwaite, Philip J .; The Colonial Wars Source Book, London 1995, ISBN 1-85409-196-4 , pp. 35-42.
Individual evidence
- ↑ If all the dead in the Battle of Vittoria had been killed by musket fire, a shot of 459 would have hit. Haythornthwaite (1995), p. 36.
- ↑ Sharma, Mallikarjuna I .; Easter Rebellion in India: the Chittagong Uprising; Hyderabad 1993
- ↑ here the English pound (lb.) at 454 g
- ↑ According to Haythornthwaite (1995), p. 38.
- ^ Edinborough Evening Courant January 20, 1814, cited above. in Haythornthwaite (1995), p. 41.