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Brown Bess
The term Brown Bess was not used in writing till 1785, and it remains uncertain if the phrase originated in the German Büsche (gun) and whether 'brown' applied to the colour of the stock or barrel. By the 1740s, there were two main types in use, the Long Land Pattern with a 46-inch barrel and the Short Land Pattern with a 42-inch barrel.
In 1797, during the French Revolutionary Wars, contractors were ordered to supply muskets with a 39-inch barrel, based on East India Company muskets which had been ceded to the British government, and this 'India Pattern' musket remained the principal infantry weapon of the Napoleonic period.
After a series of experiments with a more reliable system of ignition based on a cap containing fulminate of mercury, the percussion musket came into service in the 1830s. Although Brown Bess still survived - some old muskets were taken to the Crimea - her days were numbered.
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Prussian experiment
In the Prussian experiment, widely quoted by historians, a battalion fired at a canvas target 100 feet long by 6 feet high, hitting it with 25 per cent of shots at 225 yards, 40 per cent at 150 yards and 60 per cent at 75 yards. In 1779, a battalion of Norfolk Militia, less well-trained than Prussian regulars, managed 20 per cent hits with two volleys fired at a similar target 70 yards away. However, these trials were carried out in safety, and the proportion of hits would be likely to fall still further as men loaded and fired at a real enemy line, producing fire of its own.
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Development of the rifle
The first phase of development still used the familiar black powder. Brown Bess was superseded first by a percussion musket and then, in 1851, by a percussion rifle, still muzzle-loading but with a barrel containing spiral grooves which spun its .577 inch conical bullet in flight, giving greater range and accuracy. In 1867 existing muzzle-loading rifles were modified, by the addition of a hinged breech-block, to a breech-loading system named after its inventor Jacob Snider.
This was, however, only a temporary expedient, and in 1871 the Martini-Henry rifle, which fired a .45 inch bullet in a brass case, was adopted. Rifles were now relatively fast-firing and accurate, but still produced clouds of smoke, and were still not wholly reliable. In early versions of the Martini-Henry, cartridges sometimes stuck in the weapon after they had been fired, a significant disadvantage to a man with a Zulu warrior bearing down upon him.
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Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE)
On 23 December 1902 a modified version of this rifle came into service. It was short enough to be used by cavalry, who had hitherto carried a carbine, and was known as the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield, or SMLE for short. Its magazine held ten rounds, loaded from chargers, which held five apiece, and it was sighted up to 2,050 yards: early models had a long-range dial sight which took this up to 2,800 yards.
There were various versions of the SMLE, and it was not replaced until 1939 when the Enfield No 4 rifle came into service. In practice, though, tens of thousands of SMLEs were carried during the Second World War, making it one of the most enduring infantry rifles of all time.
Not everybody who has carried a rifle has demonstrated the high standard of training shown by the British Regular soldier of 1914. But the rifle represented a giant step towards the democratisation of battle, where individuals with little training could use their weapons very effectively.
The process reached its apogee towards the end of the 20th Century when various versions of the Kalashnikov automatic rifle were available in huge numbers, across much of the world. Despite the existence of weapons of far greater sophistication, the Kalashnikov stands as a striking example of the impact of relatively simple technology.
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John Lucy
During the 18th and 19th centuries the majority of military memoirs were written by officers, though there are some wonderful exceptions, like Rifleman Benjamin Harris's account of his time in the Rifle Brigade. But some of the best accounts of World War One were written by private soldiers or NCOs: Private Frank Richards' Old Soldiers Never Die is perhaps the best known.
John Lucy's account of his service, There's a Devil in the Drum (London 1938) is amongst the best of published memoirs. Lucy's brother Denis was killed on the River Aisne in September 1914: John last saw him leading his section on in good order: 'Forward he went, and out of my sight for ever.' John himself was commissioned in 1917 - he wrote that he was proud to be an officer, but prouder still to have been a regular sergeant.
He was badly wounded but stayed on in the army after the war, and when he retired he became a well-known commentator for Radio Eireann. In 1939 he rejoined the army and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, commanding a young soldiers' battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles.
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Infantry Training 1914
'The main essential to success in battle is to close with the enemy, cost what it may... The object of infantry in attack is therefore to get to close quarters as quickly as possible, and the leading lines must not delay the advance by halting to fire until compelled by the enemy to do so... The object of fire in the attack, whether of artillery, machine guns, or infantry, is to bring such a superiority of fire to bear on the enemy as to make the advance to close quarters possible...'
[At the appropriate moment the attacking commander would order his bugler to sound the charge, and] 'the call will be taken up buy all buglers, and all neighbouring units will join in the charge as quickly as possible. During the delivery of the assault the men will cheer, bugles be sounded and pipes played.' (Emphasis appears in original)
Infantry Training 1914, HMSO 1914
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Published: 28-01-2005
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