British Expeditionary Force (World War I) - Weapons

Weapons

Further information: British Army uniform and equipment in World War I

Until 1914, British infantry officers still carried swords and the cavalry retained the cavalry sword throughout the war. The other officers' weapon was the pistol, the three most common being the Webley MK V or VI, the Colt New Service and the Smith & Wesson hand ejector.

All other ranks in the BEF carried a .303 Lee Enfield rifle fitted with an easily loaded ten-round magazine and issued with a seventeen-inch (430 mm) Bayonet. These rifles enabled a high rate of fire with good accuracy, such that pre-war British soldiers were trained to hit a target fifteen times a minute at a range of 300 yards. The devastating firepower of the BEF infantry led the Germans to estimate that there were 28 machine guns in each battalion.

When the BEF landed in France each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment was equipped with two Vickers or Maxim machine guns. Part of the reason for only allocating two guns per unit was the cost of manufacture and the need of a ten-week intensive training course for a Vickers gunner.