The British Army

The Sten Mark II (Machine Carbine)

The Sten Mk II, showing the simplicity of its design and manufacture

The term universally applied to describe the Sten is crude.  It is an apt description, as the weapon was a particularly basic item.  It was designed to be as fast and simple to produce as possible.  The original Mark I was slightly longer (90 cm) and heavier (3.25 kg) than its successor.  1941 saw dark days for Britain, and further savings were called for, resulting in the Mark II.  The Mark III simplified the design even further.
The Sten was not a popular replacement for the Thompson in British and Commonwealth service.  It was notably lighter and more accurate, but lacked its robustness and stopping power.  The Sten was quickly nicknamed the 'Tin Tommy Gun'.  By 1944 the Mark V appeared, reintroducing wooden furniture and even a fore pistol grip, and was chiefly issued to Airborne troops.
The basic ammunition issue was five magazines for a total of 160 rounds, one magazine loaded and four carried in one of the webbing pouches.  A purpose made carrier was available for parachute troops, which held seven magazines.

Browning 1935 'Grande Puissance' (High Power)

The Browning, used by both Allied and Axis forces
The Browning Automatic has the dubious distinction of having been used by both the British and German armies during World War Two, as well as a host of Commonwealth and other allied nations.
The Browning was produced in Belgium pre-war, and following the Occupation was kept in manufacture for German use.  For the Allies, production was set up in Canada, and continued apace throughout the war.  The Browning was a typical single action semi automatic, whose two selling points were reliability and its large 13 round magazine.
In British use it was issued to Airborne and Commando units, gradually replacing the Colt.  The German appetite for the Browning was tempered by the knowledge the Belgian workers forced to manufacture it for them took great pleasure in sabotaging as many examples as possible on the production lines. 
In British service, three magazines were carried in the same fashion as described above for the Colt. 

The British Army
Enfield Number 2, Mark I

The Enfield Number 2, lacking the hammer piece of normal revolvers.  The weapon was derived from the long series of Webley revolvers
The British Army retained its faith in the revolver throughout the war, despite introducing the semi automatic Browning for certain specialist units.  The Enfield was officially the standard sidearm, but as the Army increased in size the Webley was obtained to make good the shortfall.
The Enfield deleted the hammer comb, so could only be fired by applying full pressure on the trigger.  This amendment was made for those men serving in armoured vehicles where the cramped conditions meant the hammer was constantly being snagged or struck.

Webley Mark 4

Webley were somewhat bemused when their Mark 4 was rejected for British service pre-war.  Demand during 1939 to 1945 though ensured it was destined for major use 
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The Webley was a standard design, with a double action trigger.  The hammer could be pulled back to the cocked position where it would lock, requiring only a light pressure on the trigger to release it. 
It was a traditional safety precaution with revolvers to carry the weapon with the hammer on an empty chamber.  This meant if a sudden blow forced the hammer forward there was no chance of a shot being fired.  Standard issue was 12 rounds, carried in a small belt pouch, which could be increased to 18 (less one as above) if the weapon were carried loaded.  At the outset of the war the revolver was widely distributed to tank crews, despatch riders, RMPs and a host of others.  Every officer carried one also.  The Sten gradually replaced it in many areas, but tank crews could only find space for one Sten so wore their holsters as well. 

The British Army
The Rifle Number 4 (Short Magazine Lee Enfield)

The Rifle No 4

The Rifle No 5, lower of the two, distinguished by the flash hider and shoulder pad
The Number 4 was the penultimate model in the Lee Enfield series which had first appeared back in 1896.  The reliability and accuracy of the weapon were already legendary, and its service in the hands of British and a host of Commonwealth troops during the Second World War confirmed its reputation.  
At the outbreak of war, the standard rifle remained the Mark III Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) of Great War vintage, which was slightly lighter at 3.7 kg, but the same length as the Number 4.  While the Number 4 was far easier to produce, there were no pronounced differences between the two models, excepting the simplified sights of the latter.
As a basic load, each man armed with the rifle carried fifty rounds of ammunition in ten chargers of five rounds each.  They were carried in one of the two webbing pouches worn by each rifleman.  By 1944 the load had doubled to one hundred rounds, but the additional ammunition was earmarked for the Section Bren Gun.  Bandoliers, each containing five pockets (10 rounds per pocket) were also used.
Somewhat late in the day, the British Army decided it needed a shorter weapon, particularly for the campaign in the Far East.  This was accomplished by sawing the Number 4 down to 100 cm, adding a flash hider, and reducing the weight to 3.25 kg.  The result was named, imaginatively, the Rifle Number 5.  It appeared in 1944, and was not a happy invention, losing the accuracy of the earlier models, and increasing the recoil effect dramatically.  It did not see use outside of the Far East theatre.

The Bren Gun

The Bren light machine gun, the base of fire for the British Infantry throughout World War Two
The Lewis gun had been in British service for some twenty years before a replacement was found just before the outbreak of World War Two. 
The Bren was a gas operated weapon which held the bolt group to the rear between firing.  It came with a second barrel which could be quickly changed and a host of spares.  It soon became the basis of the Rifle Section, the first line of defence against air attack and also the armament of the Universal Carrier and several models of Scout Car.  It proved itself utterly reliable in all climes and conditions, the only modifications being to simplify production with the Mark 2 and to shorten the barrel in the Mark 3.
Ammunition wise, each Bren was provided with twenty five magazines, one with the gun and the rest carried in two boxes holding a dozen each.  In the Rifle Section the boxes were not taken into action.  Instead, each of the six men in the Rifle Group carried two magazines, and each of the three men in the Gun Group carried four.  Two magazines could be held in a single webbing pouch.  It was quickly found that the only real flaw concerned the magazines, which if loaded to capacity would jam.  The maximum load was therefore reduced to twenty eight rounds each, 700 rounds for a full complement of magazines.  This was rounded up to 1000 rounds with loose ammunition, carried by its vehicle, or distributed as an extra fifty rounds for each man in the Rifle Group. 

The British Army
The Medium Machine Gun (The Vickers)

An excellent study of the Vickers, displaying the condenser pipe which recycled steam back into water and the belted ammunition.  Odd choice of headgear for the 3rd Division gunners
The Vickers first entered British Army service at the end of 1912, and remained in service until the late 1960s.  It earned its reputation for reliability during the Great War, typified by an action on the Somme where 10 guns fired just shy of one million rounds during a twelve hour action.
It was quickly found that, if left unattended, the water in the cooling jacket, which vaporized as the barrel grew hotter, would emit a cloud of telltale steam.  If this steam were vented into a partially filled water can via a hose, it would turn back to liquid again and could be recycled.  
The firing crew consisted of commander, gunner and loader.  Transportation was initially by 15 cwt truck, but as shortages eased the Universal Carrier took on the role.  This had the added advantage that the gun could be mounted and fired from the vehicle if required.  The British Army deployed far fewer heavy machine guns in support of its battalions than the Germans or Americans.  During the Western Front campaign, Divisional MG Battalions would join in 'pepper pot' shoots, dousing selected areas of enemy territory prior to infantry assault - very much in the style of the Machine Gun Corps some quarter century earlier. 

The British Army
The Boys Anti Tank Rifle

A pre-war shot of the Boys, as indicated by the old style ammunition pouches worn by the men.  The Boys was largely abandoned by the troops in the field by 1942 

The Projector, Infantry, Anti-tank (PIAT)

The PIAT in position, a three tube ammunition container and spare bomb at the ready in the foreground
The Boys Anti Tank Rifle was one of those weapons designed to meet an urgent frontline requirement and in true British fashion took three years to arrive.  It was named after Captain Boys (often misspelled as Boyes), but he unfortunately died before the outbreak of war, which given the performance of his contribution may have been ironically fortuitous.  
The Boys was a typical weapon of its type, firing a high velocity, large calibre rifle round.  It was fed by a detachable five round magazine, but remained a bolt action weapon.  The first few encounters against the Panzer Waffe painfully demonstrated its premature obsolescence, facing the British Army with what was to become a familiar problem; withdraw the weapon completely or retain it until something else came along?  They chose the latter and the Boys was widely distributed to infantry battalions and rear echelon troops, as well as being fitted to armoured cars. 
Its replacement was a perfectly unique device.  The Projector, the British Army term for a 'launcher', was unlike any other weapon of its class.  Rather than using rocket propulsion, the bomb was delivered by means of a spring powered spigot.  Quite what persuaded the army this was the way to go is uncertain, but it produced a remarkably flexible weapon and one which was seemingly loathed by any man required to use it.
To cock the weapon, the recoil spring had first to be compressed, requiring something akin to 90 kg of pressure to be applied.  This was done by pulling the T shaped butt plate while twisting the weapon anti clockwise.  The 'easiest' method of achieving this was by standing on the butt plate and pulling upwards, but this proved highly unattractive during combat and means were found to accomplish the task lying down.  The bomb was primed and placed in the trough.  The gunner then had to brace, aim and pull the large trigger.  The spigot shot forward and entered the hollow tail tube, detonating a small propellant cartridge as it did.  The bomb left the trough on a somewhat wobbly trajectory, but the shaped charge warhead did not require too great a velocity to do its work.  The gunner's work, however, was not quite done.  The intention was to harness the recoil from the propellant cartridge to drive the spigot back against the return spring and lock it ready for a second shot.  This was not always the case though, especially if the gunner let the fearsome recoil loosen his grip and the weapon jerked.  In this case, the Projector had to be reloaded manually, as described above.
This odd method though bestowed two distinct advantages.  The report of the Projector was not much more than a rifle and more importantly there was no tell-tale flame and smoke produced.  It also meant that the weapon could be fired in safety from inside a room or bunker, with no need to clear a safety zone behind the gunner for the exhaust discharge.  Another trick was the PIAT could be fired at a high angle, as an impromptu mortar, as well as on the horizontal to engage other targets.  High explosive and smoke bombs were available in this role, and range was increased to around 350 metres.