"Questions about British Army Practices " Topic

Hi,

Recently a friend gave me a copy of "Over the Top," by an American author (Arthur Guy Empey) who enlisted in the British army in 1915. I'm about a quarter through the book (published in 1917) and I have a couple of questions.

He says that when he was issued his equipment it included

"… a long ungainly rifle patterned after the Daniel Boone period … "

He adds that this was replaced by the SMLE when they left for France. I believe his tongue might have been in his cheek wrt the Daniel Boone period, but I have to accept that he used an older, longer rifle in England.

Has anybody heard of this? I guess there might have been a shortage of SMLEs in 1915, but I've never reference to it before.

Second question: Talking about his time behind the lines in France, he said he once when he was on mess detail told the corporal that "breakfast was ready." The corporal looked at him in contempt and said "Breakfast Up! come and get it!" He said that he learned his lesson.

Is that a thing? Does "breakfast is ready" mean something else, or is it just conforming to common usage?

Thanks,
Duncan

IIRC a variety of rifles were used for training , as there weren't enough SMLE's to go around. I forget what sort were used, a mix of Lee metfords, Ross's or whatever else was available. SMLES in the field were sent back to depots to be repaired/refurbed then reissued to the next wave of recruits.

As for the other point the army (and probably all military formations!) has a tendency to adopt a phrase or vocabulary on a whim, and then stick to it like it was handed down from God.

The long rifle could have been a Rifle, Long, Magazine, Lee Enfield (some of which were converted to charger loading when the SMLE came in) which were issued as a stop gap at the start of the Great War. Some of these went to France with the first Territorial units. Foreign rifles were also used, including 150,000 Japanese Askari rifles (for more details of the rifle shortage see page 258 onwards in Andrew Rawson's "British Army handbook 1914-1918" Sutton Publishing 2006). I've seen photos of recruits with Martini-Enfield carbines.

They might have been Martini Henry rifles. They were used during the Boer war.

I even used them when I was at school in the Cadets.

They really were museum pieces.

Most like a Lee Metford rechambered for 303. Rather a lovely rifle, but certainly a bit longer than an SMLE, but perfectly serviceable.

I still like to believe American Soldiers and Marines were at some point issued Remington/Springfield 1903 A3s. Especially the Marines.

Could have been just a Magazine Lee-Enfield, the predecessor to the 'smelly'. Barrel was a good 6" longer, though from the 'Daniel Boon' comment it was probably a Martini single-shot.

I still like to believe American Soldiers and Marines were at some point issued Remington/Springfield 1903 A3s. Especially the Marines.

The M-1917 Enfield Rifle out numbered 'aught 3's over there by about 3 to 1.
US armories were already cranking out Pattern 14 (P14) Enfields for Britain. They just rechambered the production line from .303 to .30-06 and kept going.

Could really have been anything held in stock at the time, especially as the army expanded beyond the ability to equip it (hence blue uniforms etc).

My father was engaged in crash recovery for the Fleet Air Arm towards the end of WW2. His unit was issued with Lee Metfords to guard crash sites from souvenir hunters.

It's not impossible that Martini Henrys or even Sniders were still about in 1915, but I suspect it was more likely a Metford or MLE rather than the more manageable SMLE.