British Army uniform and equipment in World War I

[1] The value of drab clothing was quickly recognised by the British Army, who introduced Khaki drill for Indian and colonial warfare from the mid-19th century on.

As part of a series of reforms following the Second Boer War, a darker khaki serge was adopted in 1902, for service dress in Britain itself.

The classic scarlet, dark-blue and rifle-green uniforms of the British Army had been retained for full-dress and off-duty ("walking out") usage after 1902, but were put into storage as part of the mobilisation process of August 1914.

[2] In this the British military authorities showed more foresight than their French counterparts, who retained highly visible blue coats and red trousers of peacetime for active service until the final units received a new uniform over a year into World War I.

The British soldier was issued with the 1908 Pattern Webbing for carrying personal equipment, and he was armed with the Short Magazine Lee–Enfield rifle.

The Officers' uniform was a little different in cut, but the Other Ranks' tunic was distinguished from the temperate service dress by having only the breast pockets.

A kilt of the regimental tartan was covered by a khaki apron on active service; it had pockets since sporrans were not worn in the field.

[3] The British were the first European army to replace leather belts and pouches with webbing, a strong material made from woven cotton, which had been pioneered in the United States by the Mills Equipment Company.

[4] The 1908 Pattern Webbing equipment comprised a wide belt, left and right ammunition pouches which held 75 rounds each; left and right braces, a bayonet frog and attachment for the entrenching tool handle, an entrenching tool head in web cover, water bottle carrier, small haversack and large pack.

[6] The cavalry version of the 1903 Equipment had a further four ammunition pouches on the bandolier, worn on the soldier's back, giving a total of 90 rounds carried.

Initially there were far from enough helmets to equip every man, so they were designated as "trench stores", to be kept in the front line and used by each unit that occupied the sector.

[10] The helmet reduced casualties but was criticized by General Herbert Plumer on the grounds that it was too shallow, too reflective; its rim was too sharp, and its lining was too slippery.

These criticisms were addressed in the Mark I model helmet of 1916 which had a separate folded rim, a two-part liner, and matte khaki paint finished with sand, sawdust, or crushed cork to give a dull, non-reflective appearance.

Soon afterwards the British introduced the Black Veil Respirator, which consisted of a long cloth which was used to tie chemical-soaked mouth pads into place.

[12] Dr. Cluny MacPherson of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment brought the idea of a mask made of chemical absorbing fabric and which fitted over the entire head to England,[13] and this was developed into the British Hypo Helmet of June 1915.

The Mk VI proved to be a very reliable and hardy weapon, well suited to the mud and adverse conditions of trench warfare, and several accessories were developed for the Mk VI, including a bayonet (made from a converted French Pritchard bayonet),[16] a speedloader device ("Prideaux Device"),[17] and a stock allowing for the revolver to be converted into a carbine.

The Lee–Enfield rifle, the SMLE Mk III, was introduced on 26 January 1907, along with a Pattern 1907 bayonet (P'07) and featured a simplified rear sight arrangement and a fixed, rather than a bolt-head-mounted sliding, charger guide.

[20] World War I accounts tell of British troops repelling German attackers who subsequently reported that they had encountered machine guns, when in fact it was simply a group of trained riflemen armed with SMLE Mk III rifles.

They were issued to training and second-line units and late in the war, saw front-line service as a sniper rifle fitted with a telescopic sight.

[23] The Vickers machine gun accompanied the BEF to France in 1914, and in the years that followed, proved itself to be the most reliable weapon on the battlefield, some of its feats of endurance entering military mythology.

During the early years of the war it quickly became clear that some type of weapon was needed to provide artillery like fire support to the infantry.

[33] A weapon that was fully man transportable yet could fire reasonably powerful shells at targets beyond the range of rifle- or hand-launched grenades was badly needed.

There was a demand for a self-propelled and protected weapon which could move across any kind of terrain in support of the troops and that was effective against enemy machine gun emplacements, leading to the development of the tank.

The great weakness of the armoured car was indeed that they required smooth terrain to move upon, and new developments were needed for cross-country capability.

[50] They were very fast by 1918, standards but tank crews found them difficult to drive and combat experience showed that it was not suitable for working with the cavalry.

[54] With the increase in the number of batteries of heavier guns the armies need to find a more efficient method of moving the heavier guns around, (it was proving difficult to find the number of draught horses required) the War Office ordered over one thousand Holt caterpillar tractors, which transformed the mobility of the siege artillery.

[55] The army also mounted a variety of surplus naval guns, on various railway platforms to provide mobile long-range heavy artillery on the Western Front.

[57] The 6-inch guns were first sent to France on 5 October 1914 with 7th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, mounted on improvised field carriages.

[59] Following its successful employment in the battle of the Somme its role was defined as counter battery fire and also they "were most effective for neutralising defences and for wire cutting with a new fuse which reliably burst instantly above ground on even slight contact, instead of forming craters, they were also employed for long range fire against targets in depth.

[68] The BL 12-inch railway gun, had the ability to send a 850-pound (390 kg) shell 12 miles (19 km) into the German rear area and was used during the battle of Arras.