'Military Lessons of the Arab Rebellion in Palestine 1936' [‎58v] (121/294)

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of the bomb splintered while the remaining two-thirds conplete with pin
were found intact. Again smoke was little used. It would have been
of considerable value, especially for use in picquets, _ had some form of
parachute flare been available which could have been fired from a mortar
and which would have burnt longer than a Verey light.
AUTOMATIC WEAPONS
Vickers G-uns
Five belt boxes per gun were usually carried in the field, but it
was possible to dispense with the condenser can cind tube and the indirect
fire equipment, since either prolonged or indirect fire was oeHcm employed.
The spare parts box and picks and shovels were also left behind to
reduce loads.
Lewis Guns
The need was felt very much of some form of synchronised light for
night firing from guns mounted on lorries. This applied equally well
to Lewis guns on tanks and armoured cars, and several expedients were
tried. The most successful was that described in Appendix XII and
illustrated in photographs Nos. 42 to 46, which was devised as a result
of experiments carried out by the 3rd Bn. Coldstream Guards and later
issued by the R.A.O.C. on a scale of 4 per battalion.
GRENADES
Rifle grenades proved most effective both from a moral and physical
point of view against rebels firing from the cover of rocks or from
houses. Infantry units usually employed one rifle bomber per platoon
headquarters, while hand and rifle grenades were used frequently by the
crews of armoured cars and railway trucks. It would have been extremely
useful had it been possible to increase the range of rifle grenades,
since fire up to 600 yards v/as sometimes required.
TRACER AMMUNITION
Tracer bullets of the type supplied for use by aircraft were employed
by the R.A.F. armoured cars in the early stages and were most valuable
in directing fire against road ambushes and snipers at night. Later
their use was prohibited by the home authorities on humanitarian grounds.
TEAR GAS
The Palestine Police were authorised and trained to use tear gas,
but conditions in Palestine gave little chance for its effective use.
It was not held or employed by troops. On one occasion the aid of the
police tear gas squad was invoked to assist troops in the capture of two
armed men "who had taken refuge in a well which led into an underground
cave, so deep that hand grenades had had no effect. The gas failed to
overcome the Arabs owing to difficult draughts, and in the end charges
of gelignite had to be employed to put them out of action* The principal
lessons regarding tear gas were that it was by no means as effective in
this type of operation as might be thought at first, and that its use is
a matter of considerable skill and must be left to trained detachments.
The latter should be police and not troops.