Boys anti-tank rifle

Henry C. Boys, (1885-1937), oversaw development of the firearm bearing his surname, as a Captain, assistant superintendent of design, member of the British Small Arms Committee, and a designer at the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield. The weapon was initially called "Stanchion", but renamed to "Boys", when he died a few days before his rifle was approved for service, in November 1937. The .55 Boys cartridge was an adaptation of the .50 BMG with a belt added firing a bullet. At its introduction, the weapon was effective on light armour thick at . about the thickness used on the frontal armour of a half-track or armoured car, or the side or rear armour of a light tank. Later in the conflict, a more effective round was developed, the W Mark 2, which fired a tungsten-cored projectile at . The Boys' effective range against unarmoured targets (for example, infantry), was much greater. Despite its recoil slide and rubber-cushioned buttpad, the recoil of the weapon (along with noise and muzzle blast) was said to be painful, frequently causing neck strains and bruised shoulders. Consequently, the Boys was almost never fired as a free weapon (that is, not affixed to a support) except in emergencies. ==Operational use==

The Boys rifle was used in the early stages of the Second World War against lightly armoured German tanks and combat vehicles. Britain also supplied a large number of Boys anti-tank rifles to Finland in 1939 and 1940 during the Winter War with the Soviet Union. The weapon was popular with the Finns, because it could deal with Soviet T-26 tanks, which the Finnish Army encountered in many engagements. A further limitation was that the Boys rifle was relatively heavy and unwieldy to carry. The Boys' reputation after the Battle of France was such that the Canadian government, through the Directorate of Military Training, the Department of National Defence and National Film Board of Canada (NFB) commissioned a training film, Stop That Tank! (1942), from Walt Disney Studios, to counter the rifle's "jinx" reputation. Nonetheless, in the European theatre, it was soon replaced by the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank) in 1943, which first saw service during the Allied invasion of Sicily. In other roles, the Boys saw some use against bunkers, machine gun nests and light-skinned vehicles, but was rapidly replaced in British and Commonwealth service, as quantities of the latter weapon became available, by the U.S. .50 BMG calibre M2 Browning machine gun. Using armour-piercing (AP), armour-piercing incendiary (API), and armour-piercing incendiary tracer (APIT) ammunition, the .50 Browning was just as capable in armour penetration and more devastating when igniting thin-skinned vehicles using incendiary rounds than the Boys, and could also serve as an effective anti-aircraft weapon. The heavier Browning, however, was not "man-portable" at without tripod and with tripod. Even the British Special Air Service, which made much use of captured or cast-off weapons for their jeeps and reconnaissance vehicles, quickly got rid of their Boys rifles, in favour of M2 Brownings or the Italian 20mm Breda cannon. The weapon was standard issue to British and Commonwealth forces, which attempted to stem the Japanese onslaught through the Pacific theatre. At Milne Bay, at least one of the two Type 95 tanks was perforated by several shots from a Boys. During the Battle of Jitra a Boys gunner of the 1/14th Punjabi Regiment knocked out two light Japanese tanks, blocking the bridge that was the route of Japanese advance. The Boys rifle was also equipped and used by the Philippine guerrilla and resistance forces as well as the United States Army Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) during the Second World War against the Japanese occupation and to aid the Allied liberation. In the post-Second World War era, it was operated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines including Philippine Army and Philippine Constabulary during the Hukbalahap Rebellion against the Hukbalahap Communist fighters in Central Luzon and by the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) against the North Korean and Chinese communist forces. In September 1965, members of the IRA hit the British fast-attack patrol boat HMS Brave Borderer with a Boys rifle, crippling one of her turbines while she was paying a visit to Waterford, Ireland. ==Performance==

The contemporary training manuals for the Boys directed that it was for protecting the platoon against light armoured fighting vehicles: penetrating "their armour up to about 500 yards range" and "inflict casualties on their crew, although it may not seriously damage the vehicle itself." A manual on the Boys published for the Home Guard in 1944 gave the expected performance against armour ranging from 0.91 in (22.3 mm) at 100 yards square on to 0.35 in (8.8 mm) at 500 yards hitting at a 40-degree angle. The manual also noted that maximum penetration against other materials was of brick walls and of sandbags. ==Users==

• • • • : 771 Boys Rifles produced in Canada, sold to the United States. • • Provisional IRA used it during The Troubles • • – captured in the North African campaign. • – 1,786 British 14 mm Boys anti-tank rifles were ordered from Greece for the immediate protection of the infantry. used in the Greco-Italian War and Greek Civil War. • • • • Vehicle mounting The Boys rifle was sometimes mounted on vehicles such as the Universal Carrier ("Bren Gun Carrier"), Humber Light Reconnaissance Car and the Morris CS9, Standard Beaverette and Rolls-Royce armoured cars. ==See also==