War Horse: just portrayal

Raymond Gregory sits with a Mark 3 Lee-Enfield rifle in his hand and a Ross rifle across his lap, both of which were used during the First World War as well as a book on war horses. The Lee-Enfield rifle was predominantly featured in the 2011 film War Horse, which Gregory says was an extremely accurate depiction. (Harvie photo)

More often than not, seeing a movie on a subject you are well informed of can often be disappointing when things are out of place, or details are overlooked leading to a terrible let down.
Raymond Gregory was pleasantly surprised when he went to see The War Horse at the movie theatre in New Glasgow.
A history buff for the past 40 years, Gregory has studied all things pertaining to military and the world wars and says The War Horse is an extremely accurate reproduction.
“It’s a good story,” he says. “Well put together and very fascinating how the weaponry was used.”
Gregory is referring to the use of the Mark 3 Lee-Enfield rifle in the film.
“They had the original Lee-Enfield rifles that the British military would have used during World War I,” he explains. “These guns and bayonets in the film are going on 100 years.”
To make the connection even greater, Gregory discovered that upon return to his home, he had one of these rifles in his collection.
“What’s of interest is that this rifle was made in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank and two years before the First World War. It just shows how they were preparing for war early on,” says Gregory.
The Lee-Enfield rifles were used in the trenches by British soldiers.
“It was amazing how precise they were in the movie,” he says. “I noticed the long range volley site which was an extra set of sites to take the .303 bullet to its absolute limit, which was about three miles. It’s an appropriate rifle for aiming.”
These particular rifles are very rare. Gregory acquired his 25 to 30 years ago from a collector in New Glasgow.
“I have no idea how it got there, but after the war there would have been hundreds of thousands of them floating around. You could buy them back then for about $9, now they sell for about $1,000.”
As Gregory remarks, the Canadians did not enter the First World War until 1915, so the movie depicts British soldiers as Canadians were using different rifles at that time.
“The Lee-Enfield rifle is a superior rifle,” explains Gregory. “There were no better ever designed for the trench war fare.“
Gregory explains, the Canadians went overseas with Ross rifles made in Quebec.
“The British wanted to set up a manufacturer in Canada of the Lee-Enfield rifles, but they couldn’t make them fast enough for the troops and at the time Sir Charles Ross, Bart., went to the Canadian government when he saw this need and convinced them that his hunting rifle was superior. So they knew going into the war that these rifles wouldn’t perform in the trenches,” explains Gregory. “At the time he received $1 million for his rifles and the factory was on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.”
The Canadian soldiers had a lot of trouble with the Ross Rifles because the bolts would jam and they couldn’t get the bullets in, meaning they couldn’t return fire and so many Canadian men were killed.
It wasn’t until 1916, after many complaints and a high rate of fatalities, that the Lee-Enfield rifle became standard issue. Until that time, any Canadian soldier seen with this rifle would be court marshalled.
Gregory explains the Ross rifle was an excellent sniper rifle and was, in fact, used by Stephen Toney, a Mi’kmaq from Cape Breton who took out more than 125 enemy soldiers.
“The men were under heavy fire from the Germans and they couldn’t find the sniper so they called Stephen Toney to the front lines and he took out the German sniper with a 1,000 yard shot from a Ross rifle. After the war he came back here to the Maritimes and weaved baskets, in fact, one of his baskets is at the Hector Exhibit Centre.”
Gregory is also the proud owner of a Ross rifle which he garnered from International Firearms in Montreal many years ago. He also notes the accuracy of the bayonets on the Lee-Enfield rifles in the film.
“In the movie it looked like you could see about 500 rifles, there may not have been that many, but I was very impressed by the weaponry,” he says. “And the uniforms and backpacks, the water bottles and the badges, there was so much detail. It was so accurate.”