The 7.92mm Gewehr ’98 introduced into service with the Imperial German Army on 5 April 1898 was designed by Paul Mauser and was the standard infantry weapon in the First World War. Reliable and extremely accurate, the SMLE is regarded by most authorities as the finest rifle of the First World War. However in the 1930s, a Small Arms School Corps Warrant Officer managed a rate of 37rpm. In the hands of a trained soldier the British Short Magazine Lee–Enfield was easily capable of 15rpm (rounds per minute) of accurate fire. A soldier could actually load eleven rounds if he had one in the breach, or ‘up the spout’, and this gave him a significant advantage over German soldiers whose Gewehr ’98 had a five-round magazine. blade the theory behind this was that it gave a foot soldier sufficient reach to be able to bayonet a mounted soldier. The ‘sword’ bayonet fitted to the SMLE had a formidable 17in. 303 calibre round it weighed 8.62lbs was 44 ½ in. The British Army had the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk III Rifle more commonly known as the SMLE it was the standard infantry rifle in the First World War and would be for much of the Second World War.Ī bolt action weapon that fired a. In terms of weaponry, by 1914 all European armies had a magazine-fed bolt action rifle.
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