The Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun PDF Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782007938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
During World War I, the British adopted the US-designed Lewis gun as an infantry weapon, realizing that its light weight and the fact that it could be fired both prone and on the move made it ideal for supporting advances and defending captured trenches. Later adopted by an array of countries from the Netherlands to Japan, the Lewis successfully served as the primary or secondary armament in armoured fighting vehicles and in both ground-based anti-aircraft and aircraft-mounted roles. Although it was superseded by the Bren in British service in 1937, the outbreak of World War II meant that thousands returned to active service, and it played a key role as far afield as Libya, with the Long-Range Desert Group, and the Philippines, with the US Marine Corps. Written by an authority on this iconic light machine gun, this is the fascinating story of the innovative and influential Lewis gun, from the trenches of World War I to the Libyan desert and Pacific islands of World War II and beyond.

The Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun PDF Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782007938
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 153

Get Book

Book Description
During World War I, the British adopted the US-designed Lewis gun as an infantry weapon, realizing that its light weight and the fact that it could be fired both prone and on the move made it ideal for supporting advances and defending captured trenches. Later adopted by an array of countries from the Netherlands to Japan, the Lewis successfully served as the primary or secondary armament in armoured fighting vehicles and in both ground-based anti-aircraft and aircraft-mounted roles. Although it was superseded by the Bren in British service in 1937, the outbreak of World War II meant that thousands returned to active service, and it played a key role as far afield as Libya, with the Long-Range Desert Group, and the Philippines, with the US Marine Corps. Written by an authority on this iconic light machine gun, this is the fascinating story of the innovative and influential Lewis gun, from the trenches of World War I to the Libyan desert and Pacific islands of World War II and beyond.

The Belgian Rattlesnake

The Belgian Rattlesnake PDF Author: William McCleave Easterly
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780889352360
Category : Lewis machine gun
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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Book Description


The Bren Gun

The Bren Gun PDF Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782000844
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
Adopted in 1938 and remaining in British service until 1991, the popular and reliable Bren was an iconic light machine gun, and arguably the most recognizable Commonwealth weapon of World War ll. Gas-operated and magazine-fed, it was based on a Czech design and was issued in large numbers during and after World War ll, as a section-level automatic weapon. Offering remarkable accuracy for an LMG, the Bren had an effective range of 600 yards, but could reach out to over 1,500 yards. It was generally fired from the prone position using a bipod, but could be fired from the hip when necessary. If kept clean, the Bren gave a reliable service in the harshest of environments, from the deserts of Libya to the Korean mountains in winter. As well as widespread infantry use, the Bren was widely supplied to resistance movements in Occupied Europe. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork and based on meticulous research, this is an engaging story of the iconic light machine gun that equipped British and Commonwealth forces throughout World War II and in a host of postwar conflicts, right up to the Falklands and beyond.

Operation and Tactical Use of the Lewis Automatic Machine Rifle

Operation and Tactical Use of the Lewis Automatic Machine Rifle PDF Author: Isaac Newton Lewis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lewis machine-gun
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description


The Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun PDF Author: Neil Grant
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781782007913
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As a lightweight machine gun, the American designed Lewis Gun made a place for itself in World War I & World War II. Although machine guns were widely issued and used during the bloody opening months of World War I, these deadly weapons proved to be too heavy to be tactically mobile. Casting around for existing designs to supplement inadequate stocks of the excellent Vickers gun, the British adopted the US-designed Lewis gun, which had not found favour with the US Army. The British quickly came to realise that while the new weapon was unable to match its heavier cousin in terms of robustness and sustained firepower, its light weight and the fact that it could be fired both prone and on the move made it an ideal weapon both to support advances and defend captured trenches. Serving on the Western Front and across the world, the Lewis gun soon became the core of the British and Dominion infantry section, and was widely adopted by the Germans too; even so, the US Marine Corps found on landing in France that their Lewis guns were replaced by an inferior French weapon, the CSRG 'Chauchat'. Although offering significant advantages over its rivals, such as the Danish Madsen, American BAR and German MG 08/15, the Lewis was not without its faults. Although the distinctive cooling tube proved to be a very effective flash hider and the weapon's 'forced cooling' system and open-bolt design helped to limit overheating, like all fixed-barrel guns it couldn't offer true sustained fire. Its magazine feed system made it easier to carry than rival models employing non-disintegrating fabric belts, which trailed everywhere, picked up water and froze, but the Lewis's open-bottom pan magazine let dirt into the mechanism, and the pans were relatively flimsy. Even so, it won a lasting reputation and became an iconic weapon of World War I. Adopted by an array of countries from the Netherlands to Japan during and after World War I, the Lewis successfully served as the primary or secondary armament in armoured fighting vehicles and in both ground-based anti-aircraft and aircraft-mounted roles, being the first weapon to be used to shoot down an enemy aircraft from an aeroplane - indeed, it was the most important aircraft-mounted machine gun in virtually every air force well into the 1930s. Although it was superseded by the Bren in British service in 1937, the outbreak of World War II meant that thousands returned to active service to counter weapons shortages, and it played a key role as far afield as Libya, with the Long-Range Desert Group, and the Philippines, with the US Marine Corps. Fully illustrated and written by an authority on this iconic weapon, this is the fascinating story of the innovative and influential Lewis gun, from the trenches of World War I to the Libyan desert and Pacific islands of World War II and beyond.

Lewis Gun Mechanism Made Easy

Lewis Gun Mechanism Made Easy PDF Author: C. H. B. Pridham
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781847348159
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
The US-made Lewis gun, with its distinctive circular ammunition drums, replaced the VIckers as the standard British Army machine gun in the First World War. This 1941 reprint of a manual first published in January 1919 shows that the versatile Lewis was still a popular and effective weapon twenty years later. Written by a former Officer-Instructor at the Army s School of Musketry at Hythe in Kent, the booklet describes the correct loading and unloading of the gun; the action of the firing mechanism; the magazine; the action of gases and the cooling system and notes on how to deal with jams and stoppages.

The Lewis Gun

The Lewis Gun PDF Author: J. David Truby
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Lewis machine-gun
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description


Instruction on the Lewis Automatic Machine Gun

Instruction on the Lewis Automatic Machine Gun PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Machine guns
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description


German Machine Guns of World War I

German Machine Guns of World War I PDF Author: Stephen Bull
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472815181
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
World War I's defining weapon for many, Germany's MG 08 machine gun won a formidable reputation on battlefields from Tannenberg to the Somme. Although it was a lethally effective weapon when used from static positions, the MG 08 was far too heavy to perform a mobile role on the battlefield. As the British and French began to deploy lighter machine guns alongside their heavier weapons, the Germans fielded the Danish Madsen and British Lewis as stopgaps, but chose to adapt the MG 08 into a compromise weapon – the MG 08/15 – which would play a central role in the revolutionary developments in infantry tactics that characterized the last months of the conflict. In the 1940s, the two weapons were still in service with German forces fighting in a new world war. Drawing upon eyewitness battlefield reports, this absorbing study assesses the technical performance and combat record of these redoubtable and influential German machine guns, and their strengths and limitations in a variety of battlefield roles.

My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun

My Daddy Was a Pistol and I’m a Son of a Gun PDF Author: Lewis Grizzard
Publisher: NewSouth Books
ISBN: 1603061541
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
Lewis Grizzard always makes us laugh. But this time, when he tells us all about his father—a certified war hero and a shameless passer of bad checks . . . a charmer of men and women and a consummate con artist . . . a man of great courage and an alcoholic destined to drink himself to death—he’s going to make us cry, too. And he’s going to give us a hilarious, moving account of that “tender, spooky territory: that country of the heart inhabited by fathers and sons.”