×

Following the defeat of the Dutch Army in 1940, a number of men escaped to the United Kingdom to continue the fight. These Engelandvaarders would form the core of new Army, trained and equipped as if belonging to the British Army.

As such, the 2-inch mortar was taken into use, and would serve for another 48 years until replaced by the L9A1 51mm.

The entire manual - a brief 14 pages at its core - is found here.

The archive of manuals can be found here.

×

In the following post, we will take a look at an East German manual concerning the US Army's rifle squad and rifle platoon.

This document, titled Schützengruppe und Schützenzug der USA-Armee im Angriff was published by the Verlag des Ministeriums für Nationale Verteidigung in 1956.

Click here to continue reading.

The manual is available for download here.

The archive of all manuals is available here.

×

Today, we have an FN operator's manual regarding the Mitrailleuse Minimi Calibre 5,56 × 45 mm NATO, more commonly known as the FN Minimi.

Dated March of 1981, this provisional manual shows off the early Minimi, in addition to the Para and Tank (Char) models.

Below, the technical characteristics are presented and translated to US-customary units:



Click here to continue reading.

The manual is available for download here.

The archive of all manuals is available here.

×

For today, we have a British document to take a look at, a manual for the M20 3.5in Bazooka dated 1952.

Great-Britain entered World War II with the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, a .55 calibre weapon that was soon to find itself declared obsolete. Even more so - as tank armour advanced - the anti-tank rifle was phased out in general in favour of shaped-charge weaponry. In case of the British, this would come in the form of the PIAT, a rather awkward spigot mortar type weapon. As early as 1950, the PIAT had been replaced by the American Bazooka.
Indeed, the Bazooka would prove itself to be a popular design, seeing use with dozens of countries and serving as the basis for the Panzerschreck and Blindicide.

In British service, the Bazooka was replaced by the Carl Gustaf (designated the L14A1), a weapon for which we also have some documentation available.

The manual is available for download here.

The archive of all manuals is available here.

Footnotes