Editing Long Range Desert Group (section)

===Weapons===
[[File:Boforswb.jpg|thumb|left|alt=four wheeled truck mounting a large artillery piece at the rear and a Lewis gun at the front. The three-man crew can also be seen|A Chevrolet WB with a [[Bofors 37 mm]] [[anti-tank gun]] mounted at the rear]]
The patrol vehicles were initially armed with 11 [[Lewis gun|Lewis machine guns]], four [[Boys anti-tank rifle]]s and a [[Bofors 37 mm]] [[anti-tank gun]] distributed amongst their vehicles.<ref name=db317/> By December 1940, the vehicle armaments had been improved and 'T' Patrol, for example, had five .303 [[Vickers machine guns|Vickers Medium Mk. I]] machine guns, five Lewis guns, four Boys anti-tank guns and the Bofors 37&nbsp;mm.<ref>Gross, O'Carroll and Chiarvetto 2002, pp.20–22</ref> Another Vickers gun used was the heavy [[Vickers .50 machine gun]], which would be mounted at the rear of the vehicle.<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.64</ref> All of the unit's vehicles were armed with at least one gun; each vehicle was fitted with six to eight gun mountings, but normally only two or three of them would be in use.<ref>Molinari 2007, p.83</ref>
[[File:A member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol poses with a Vickers 'K' Gas-operated machine gun on a Chevrolet 30-cwt truck, May 1942. E12410.jpg|thumb|upright|A member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol poses with a [[Vickers K]] machine gun on a Chevrolet 30-cwt truck, May 1942.]]

Supplementing their army-supplied weapons, the LRDG was equipped with surplus [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) aircraft guns, which were acquired for their high [[rate of fire]]. The most widely used of these was the [[Vickers K machine gun]], which was sometimes used mounted in pairs.<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.67</ref> From mid-1941 the LRDG acquired [[Browning M1919|.303 Browning Mk II's]] from RAF stocks, also mounted in pairs, with a combined rate of fire of 2,400 rounds per minute.<ref>O'Carroll 2000, pp.65–66</ref> When new vehicles were issued in March 1942, several were converted to carry captured dual-purpose 20&nbsp;mm [[Breda Model 35]]s, which replaced the Bofors 37&nbsp;mm, and each half-patrol was equipped with one Breda "Gun truck".<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.65</ref> In September 1942 the [[M2 Browning machine gun#Aircraft guns|.50 Browning AN/M2]] heavy machine gun began to replace both calibres of the Vickers machine guns and the Boys anti-tank rifle.<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.66</ref>

The men of the LRDG carried the standard [[List of World War II weapons of the United Kingdom#Small Arms|British Second World War small arms]], the [[Lee–Enfield#Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mk III|Lee–Enfield No.1 Mk III*]] being the primary rifle.<ref name="Gib9">Gibson 2009, p.9</ref>{{#tag:ref|Although some references refer to the [[Lee–Enfield#Rifle No. 4|No. 4 Mk I rifle]], it was not introduced into service until the spring of 1942<ref>Walter 2006, p.254</ref> and was rarely, if ever, used by the LRDG in the desert.<ref name="Gib9"/>|group=nb}} Other small arms carried were [[Thompson submachine gun]]s and .38 [[Enfield revolver|Enfield]], [[Webley & Scott]] or .45 [[Colt 1911A1]] pistols.<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.72</ref> Several types of [[hand grenade]] were used: the [[Mills bomb]], the [[No. 68 AT Grenade|No. 68 Anti-tank]] and the [[No. 69 grenade|No. 69]]. Each truck was outfitted with a Lee–Enfield EY rifle attachment with a discharger cup able to fire the No. 36M Mills [[rifle grenade]].<ref>O'Carroll 2000, p.68</ref> The LRDG also laid [[land mine]]s, the most common being the [[Mk 2 mine]]. Other explosives included the [[Lewes bomb]]s, a custom made weapon using [[Plastic explosive|Nobel 808]]  used to destroy aircraft and other targets,<ref>O'Carroll 2000, pp.70–71</ref> and [[sticky bombs]] used to destroy enemy vehicles.<ref>Kiras, James D., ''Special Operations and Strategy: From World War II to the War on Terrorism'', Routledge (2006) p. 179. {{ISBN|978-0415459495}}</ref>

Captured German and Italian small arms were utilised including the [[Beretta M 1934]], [[Luger P08 pistol|Luger P08]] and [[Walther P38]] pistols. The German [[MP40]] [[submachine gun]] and [[MG34]], [[MG42]] along with Italian [[Breda M37]] and [[Breda M38]] machine guns were all used.<ref name=mol82>Molinari 2007, p.82</ref>