Real Dad's Army by Longmate Norman

Author:Longmate, Norman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Amberley Publishing

54. & 55. (top) Webley pistol .45 inch or .38 inch and (below) diagram showing the parts of government issue rifle from a Home Guard manual.

its slightly heavier and longer, but more accurate cousin, the P14. The SMLE, at 8 Ib 6 oz, weighed a pound less than the Ross, was accurate up to 1600 yards, and was exceedingly reliable and easy to operate in the hands of a trained man.

By the end of 1940 many units had at least a few Lee-Enfields, though it was to be another year or more before they were plentiful everywhere. By this time some automatic weapons had also begun to arrive. The first received by one West Country unit was a Lewis gun, mounted on a pivot and tripod behind which its two-man crew squatted, swinging it freely across their front, as it poured out 600 bullets a minute. For heavier support this battalion relied on a Hotchkiss of very ancient vintage, and a veteran swore that he recognised it as an old friend of the South African campaign.

Far more popular was the BAR, Browning Automatic Rifle (or light machine gun), with which a skilled man could fire 40 single shots a minute, though on ‘automatic’ its rate of fire was up to 550 rounds. At under 16 Ib in weight this was a one-man weapon, but there was a heavier two-man version providing double the rate of fire, and during 1941 this largely replaced the popular but far more bulky Vickers, which with its cooling jacket weighed 43 Ib. The Browning , one officer found, ‘fired well when properly water- cooled’ but ‘when overheated gave us some exciting moments’. ‘My own opinion’, declared the colonel of a West Cornwall battalion, ‘is that the Vickers would stand up to the bowling better.’

When a new weapon arrived the keenest Home Guards could barely wait to get their hands on it. One garage mechanic from near Aylesbury recalls ‘being summoned to the platoon commander’s house to assist in the reassembling of a Browning automatic’, only to be confronted on arrival with ‘a scatter of spare parts strewn on

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