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The Lee-Enfield bolt-action, magazine-fed, repeating rifle was the standard issue weapon to rifle companies of the British Army and other Commonwealth nations during the First World War. These included Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, among others. It featured a ten-round box magazine which was loaded with the .303 British cartridge manually from the top, either one round at a time or by means of five-round chargers.
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The adoption of the all-Canadian Ross Rifle prior to World War One was an important milestone for the nation's fledgling arms industry; its impact on the fighting abilities of Canadian soldiers in 1915 was equally marked. The Ross came with its own bayonet, worn in a brown leather frog (here we see the Mark II) as part of the Oliver Pattern infantry equipment with which Canadian soldiers were equipped prior to and in the early years of World War One.

Pattern 1907 Bayonet
Canadian adoption of the Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield (SMLE) The sword bayonet was carried in a variety of frogs; shown from the top are the 1908 Pattern web frog with helve carrier attached, leather Canadian 1915 Pattern Oliver Bayonet Frog, and the narrower 1937 Pattern Web No 1 Mk III Bayonet Frog with retaining strap.
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The Lewis Machine Gun was the early light machine gun widely adopted by British and Empire forces from 1915 onwards. It had an air cooling jacket and fins. It was nicknamed 'the Belgian rattlesnake' by German forces who came up against the weapon in 1914. Although in 1915, each battalion on the Western Front had just four Lewis Guns, by 1917 each infantry section boasted its own Lewis gunner. and backup, with battalions by now deploying 46 Lewis Guns.
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The British Army formally adopted the Vickers gun as its standard machine gun on 26 November 1912, using it alongside their Maxims. There were still great shortages when the First World War began.The Vickers machine gun was based on the successful Maxim gun of the late 19th century. After purchasing the Maxim company outright in 1896, Vickers took the design of the Maxim gun and improved it, reducing its weight by lightening and simplifying the action and substituting components made with high strength alloys. A muzzle booster was also added. When the Lewis Gun was adopted as a light machine gun and issued to infantry units, the Vickers guns were redefined as heavy machine guns, withdrawn from infantry units, and grouped in the hands of the new Machine Gun units.
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The Mills Bomb introduced into battle by the British, looks like a hand grenade that would be used today. It was adopted by the British Army as its standard hand grenade in 1915, and designated as the No. 5. The Mills was a classic design; a grooved cast iron "pineapple" with a central striker held by a close hand lever and secured with a pin. A competent thrower could manage 15 metres (49 feet) with reasonable accuracy, but the grenade could throw lethal fragments farther than this.
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Oliver Pattern P14 webbing
In 1914, the Canadian Militia was issued with a variety of different equipment, most of it the Oliver pattern and Mills Burrowes 1913 pattern in leather. A Canadian version of the 1908 pattern webbing was also available. When the CEF was formed, there was hardly enough equipment to go round, so a variety of all three sets of personal kit were in use. The leather equipment did not survive long in France, as it was found to be inferior. Webbing took over, although in some cases, the 1914 pattern equipment, produced in England, was also available to the CEF.
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