Books by The War Office

A highly illustrated War Office training manual for the raw native recruit, produced in 1954 for the West African Command (the WAC disbanded in 1956). Postwar plans to raise an infantry division in West Africa as part of a British strategic reserve were not realised due to lack of government funding. An interesting artefact from the last days of colonial Africa, reproduced from the original WO Library copy.Contents:The Rifle, stripping, assembling and sightsetting.The Rifle, care and cleaning,Loading and unloading.Lying position and hold.Aiming, Range targets.Trigger Control.Firing a shot.On guard and hip firing.The point.Alteration of sights.Two points.Working the bolt.Further cleaning.Snapshooting.Rapid firing.The training stick.Firing from other positions.Self-defence.Amendments No 1

¿An important official publication covering all aspects of subterranean warfare with much practical detail for the guidance of mining companies of the Great War.Contents:Subterranean Warfare.Shafts and Galleries.Countermines.Ventilation and Lighting of Galleries.Charges and Effects of Mines.Preparing Mines for Firing.Firing Powder Charges without Electricity.Firing Charges by Electricity.Boring and blasting.Explosives.Demolitions with Gunpowder.Demolitions with Guncotton.Demolition of Railways.Demolitions of Telegraph Lines.

Classified SECRET post-war publication compiled by the authority of the Army Council, the object of which was to preserve the experience gained in weapon development during WW2. This is a valuable volume, which is part of a three volume set, and covers matters not considered in great detail in the main Military series.

Classified SECRET post-war publication compiled by the authority of the Army Council, the object of which was to preserve the experience gained in weapon development during WW2. This is a valuable volume, which is part of a three volume set, and covers matters not considered in great detail in the main Military series. Very rare in it's original and only 1951 printing, with 375 copies issued. This reprint is taken from the file copy held by The Ministry of Defence Pattern Room.Chapters:Introductory.Smoke materials, weapons and appliances. Smoke screening.Tactical smoke screening.Smoke training.Feasible uses of smoke not resorted to operationally.Axis smoke development.Signal, Smoke and Flares.Introductory.The Development of Phase, 1940-1943.Operational Success, 1944-1945.Effect of flame and defence against it.Flame development in Germany, Japan and Russia. Incendiary projectiles. Insecticides and insect repellents.Special and common user Equipment.Jungle equipment and policy regarding tropicalization of equipment.

Classified SECRET post-war publication compiled by the authority of the Army Council, the object of which was to preserve the experience gained in weapon development during WW2. This is a valuable volume, which is part of a three volume set, and covers matters not considered in great detail in the main Military series. Very rare in it's original and only 1951 printing, with 375 copies issued. This reprint is taken from the file copy held by The Ministry of Defence Pattern Room.Chapters:Major Policy.Organization.The war gases.Gas Weapons.Employment of gas and tactical doctrine.Defensive equipment.Gas training- principles and development.Development in enemy countries.

The 3-inch mortar was one of the most effective battalion weapons, used for medium and long range support and bombardment on the battlefield. It has served the British Army in various forms (it is now the 81mm Mortar) for many decades. It delivers a high explosive charge at high angle, allowing it to be effective against troops on the ground, troops in trenches, and to bring fire behind intervening obstacles such as buildings, trees and hills.The pamphlet gives full details of the weapon including the mounting, base plate and sights. The working stores are listed and there is a substantial examination of ammunition and fuses.Four plates show the weapon assembled, the mounting, the sights and the bomb.

Published halfway between the new Polish Army's surprise humbling of the vast but untrained Red Army in 1920 and its obliteration at the hands of Hitler's Wehrmacht in 1939, this handbook gives the British War Office's official view of the new kid on the European block. It is, however, much more than a portrait of the Polish army in isolation - as it also gives a rundown of the new Polish state - its natural features, roads and rail, population, ethnography, religion, education and 'national character'. There is much on the constitution and Government of the new state; and another chapter is devoted to the industry, agriculture and natural resources of Poland. The chapters on the army itself are completely comprehensive, covering command, training, Arm., transport, Organisation, recruitment, uniforms, artillery, cavalry and mechanisation and much more. Poland's navy and air force, too, are not forgotten. With charts of uniform insignia, maps this is a complete picture of a new state and its army before nemesis arrived.

This Naval and Military Press series on military technology continues with this very important publication, which gives details of all ammunition in use by the British Army in 1936 With few exceptions, it covers ammunition, explosives and propellants in service just prior to the start of the Second World War.Every military historian, war gamer, re-enactor and reader should be familiar with the technology associated with the tactics, and this series of reprints aims to provide that information. No true, objective appreciation of tactical operations is possible without a basic knowledge of the weapons and ammunition being used at a specific point in time, and the series will serve as a continuing source of the relevant information.This volume looks in detail at explosives, cartridges, tubes and primers in detail. It also gives a treatment of projectiles, explaining the form of shells, and how they are designed for their purpose. There is a detailed examination of time fuses (the proximity fuse being still a dream in 1936). Small arms ammunition is described, as are grenades (including the famous Mills 36) and a section deals with military explosives.There is a wealth of illustration including many colour plates and the book is an essential to any study of the British Army and its equipment at the start of World War II.