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The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA Compiled by Bob Butcher |
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March 2009 |
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THE SMLE By Frank Gardner From 1904 the British service rifle was, of course, the 'Rifle .303 Short Magazine Lee Enfield ' (SMLE). Experience in the South Africa War (1899—2002) resulted in the 'Long' Lee Enfield being shortened which made it handier for the infantryman. It also made it suitable for use by the cavalry at a time when the continental cavalry were armed with a carbine, derided as a pop gun. When the army's recommendation that there should be six machine guns in a battalion was reduced to two on economy grounds, great efforts were made to improve the infantryman's rapid rifle fire in order to help make good the deficiency. The SMLE's splendid bolt action made it an ideal weapon for that purpose. This was further improved when it was modified for charger loading ,that is the magazine could be reloaded by pressing two clips of five down in the breach instead of feeding cartridges in one at a time. Having provided this excellent rifle , the army then wanted to replace it with an inferior one. Prior to the war experiments were conducted to try to get a rifle with a lower projectory than the SMLE which would fire a smaller but more powerful cartridge with a calibre of .276. The resulting rifle was longer than the SMLE, the magazine held only five rounds instead of the SMLE's ten , the bolt action was inferior to that of the SMLE but it was more accurate. Importantly, the new rifle was more suitable for mass production. Fortunately difficulty in perfecting the .276 cartridge delayed things and the army entered the war with the trusty SMLE which enabled the Old Contemptibles to produce the rapid fire that saved the day and which would have been impossible with any other rifle. A BELGIAN REFUGEE By J.P.Lethbridge The German Army invaded Belgium in 1914 in contravention of Germany's treaty obligations. When the Belgians gallantly defended their country the German Army reacted ferociously. As a result many Belgians became refugees a quarter of a million of whom came to Britain. Initially all were regarded as heroes. The great majority were decent, hard working people but there were inevitably some bad eggs. On Saturday 9 September 1916 a seventeen year old Belgian youth was tried at the Birmingham Munitions Tribunal for having 'twice threatened to kill his foreman and for general insubordination'. The foreman explained that he had rebuked the youth for throwing things at a fellow worker. The Belgian retorted to the foreman 'I will kill you: I will knock your brains out' and swore. Later the youth disobeyed another order from the foreman and used similar words. The manager interceded and got a similar response, A policeman was summoned. The youth swore at him and he was arrested and charged under the Munitions Act. The youth's embarrassed father told the tribunal that his son spoke very little English. As the Birmingham Post commented, he had evidently learnt some words. Professor Tillyard took the same view and fined the boy forty shillings about two hundred pounds in our terms.
'THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED' By a Private in the 9th South Staffs Sir-You may think we have no football matches out here, but we have the finest team in the world. George Ground is our goalkeeper and stops some very strong shots. Then come our backs—Sam Sandbag, who never gives an inch of ground, and Bob Barbwire, a player with whom you always get entangled. Then come our half-backs, a fine trio—Jack Starlight, a fine illuminating player, who enlightens all spectators; then comes Jack Sniper who is always potting at goal and seldom fails to score; and Pip Squeak who puts in some useful shots. Then comes the forwards. We have Harry Rifle, a very cool player indeed; and Walter Bayonet, a very dangerous player at close quarters; and Joe Whizzbang, who comes in with a crash; and Jack Shrapnel who is up and down the field in grand style; and also Bob Grenade who does some very clever work. Now if anyone wishes to see this game, he has only to call at the nearest recruiting office, and I can assure him that there are a few empty dug-outs left, and he will see the grandest final ever seen between two teams—Krupps versus Munition Works,. (Birmingham Weekly Post Alan Tucker
DID YOU KNOW In 1914 BSA got 75/- per rifle supplied complete with oil bottle and pull through plus 10/6 if produced on night shift; Some rifles were produced with a shorter butt for the Bantams; In the early days of the war 130,000 Japanese rifles were purchased for use by troops at home?
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