RIFLE CORPS 



Rifle Corps, KING'S ROYAL. 

 Regiment of the British army, 

 known also as the 60th Rifles. 

 Formerly the 

 60th Foot, this 

 regiment was 

 raised in 1755, 

 and took a lead- 

 ing share in the 

 campaigns in 

 America. It pro- 

 ceeded to Portu- 

 gal in 1808, bear- 

 ing a prominent 

 King's Royal Rifle part in all Wei- 

 Corps badge lington's c a m- 

 paigns down to 1814. In the 

 second Sikh War the regiment was 

 engaged at the siege of Multan and 

 the battle of Gujarat. Stationed 

 at Meerut at the outbreak of the 

 Indian Mutiny, it took part in the 

 first six months' hostilities, which 

 included the siege and capture of 

 Delhi. It saw service in the China 

 War, 1860, and the Afghan War, 

 1879-80, accompanying Lord Rob- 

 erts in his march to Kandahar. 

 The Egyptian War of 1882, and the 

 Sudan Campaign, 1884, added to 

 the regiment's battle honours, and 

 in the South African War it helped 

 in the defence of Ladysmith. 



In the Great War the regiment 

 had six regular and special reserve 

 battalions, and about 20 service 

 battalions. The 1st and 2nd bat- 

 talions took part in all the great 

 battles of 1914. After winning dis- 

 tinction throughout the ensuing 

 campaigns, the former rendered 

 special services in the battles of 

 BapaumeandEpehy,1918. The2nd 

 batt. was at Loos, 1915, and formed 

 part of Rawlinson's Fourth Army 

 in the autumn advance of 1918. 



The 3rd and 4th battalions 

 were conspicuous in the fighting 

 around Ypres in 1915, and the 4th 

 rendered special services in the 

 closing battles of the war. A bat- 

 talion of the King's Royal Rifle 

 Corps, along with men of the 

 Northamptons, put up an heroic re- 

 sistance against the Germans when 

 attacked in the Nieuport sector at 

 Lombartzyde (q.v.), July, 1917. 

 Service battalions distinguished 

 themselves on the Somme, and in 

 all the critical battles of 1918, 

 while the 21st batt. formed part of 

 I lie British force in Italy, 1917-18. 

 The regiment's casualties were 

 officially 11,838 of all ranks killed. 

 A cadet corps of the Church 

 Lads' Brigade (17. v.) was affiliated 

 to the K.R.R.C., known as the 

 16th battalion, and specially dis- 

 tinguished itself at Neuve Eglise in 

 1918. In Dec., 1920, the name of 

 the regiment was altered to The 

 King's Royal Rifles, but in March, 

 1921, it reverted to its previous 

 title. The depot is at Winchester. 



66 i 9 



Rifle Grenade. Grenade fired 

 from a rifle. Rifle grenades have 

 been developed from hand gre- 

 nades, in order to provide these 

 effective missiles with a longer 

 range, and most types are of very 

 similar construction to the hand- 

 thrown grenade, but are capable 

 of being thrown up to 400 yards. 

 Most rifle grenades function by 

 impact, and the method of pro- 

 pulsion is of two types. The first 

 and most general requires the base 

 of the grenade to be fitted with a 

 metal rod of such external diameter 

 that it is a good fit in the rifle 

 - barrel. 



These rods are generally copper 

 plated in order to prevent rusting, 

 and a special blank cartridge is 

 necessary to fire the missile. The 

 second type of grenade is used with- 

 out a rod, and is perforated by a 

 longitudinal hole of the same in- 

 ternal diameter as the bore of the 

 rifle, which has a cup attached to 

 the muzzle to hold the grenade. 

 This type is thrown by an ordinary 

 cartridge provided with a bullet, 

 the latter passing through the per- 

 foration in the missile, and usually 

 this type of grenade functions by a 

 time-fuse, as it is not so certain to 

 hit the target " nose on " as the 

 former type. 



The rifle is fired at an elevation 

 of 15-45 degrees, but an ordinary 

 cartridge is used. The bullet 

 strikes the percussion cap in 

 passing through the grenade, the 

 flash from the cap igniting the 

 pellet, which is arranged to burn 

 for the average length of time of 

 flight of the missile. When the 

 pellet has burned through it fires 

 the detonator, which initiates the 

 high explosive, and the grenade 

 explodes. See Ammunition ; Gren- 

 ade; and the various types of 

 grenades described under their 

 distinctive names. 



Rifle Range. Stretch of land 

 affording facilities for rifle practice 

 with ball ammunition at various 

 distances from the target. These 

 distances are, for miniature rifles, 

 from 25-100 yds., and, for service 

 rifles, from 200 yds. up to 1,000 

 yds. or more. The targets on full- 

 sized ranges are provided with good 

 cover for the markers, and ar- 

 rangements for raising and lowering 

 the targets as required. There is 

 also telephonic communication be- 

 tween the markers' shelter-pit and 

 the firing-point in use, while the 

 employment of flags reduces the 

 risk of accident on the range to a 

 min mum. 



The butts which receive the 

 spent 'bullets are massively con- 

 structed and fairly high, but re- 

 rruita may send a shot singing over 

 the butt, so that in open country 



RIGA 



a considerable area has to be kept 

 clear while firing is going on. The 

 roads and paths leading through 

 the danger area are therefore pa- 

 trolled, and a red flag is flown as an 

 additional warning to wayfarers. 

 In some cases the targets are placed 

 against a hill-foot, or in a gravel 

 pit, etc., thus giving complete 

 safety to civilians behind the butts. 

 The majority of miniature rifle 

 ranges are limited to 25 yds., oc- 

 casionally 50 yds., and constructed 

 under cover. This enables training 

 to be continued in towns and 

 barracks under all conditions of 

 weather. See Bisley. 



Rift Valley. Type of valley 

 produced by the sinking of a 

 crustal block between two parallel 

 faults. During the formation of a 

 fold in the earth's crust, the pres- 

 sure is generally so steadily ex- 



Rift Valley. Diagram illustrating 

 causes of rift formation 



erted that the rocks are gradually 

 compelled to fold. In some cases, 

 however, the strata cannot with- 

 stand the strain, and fractures 

 occur, causing some crustal blocks 

 to be raised, and others depressed 

 relatively to each other, while the 

 sinking of the land between two 

 fractures or faults will produce a 

 rift valley. The Red Sea, as ia 

 indicated by its length and width, 

 and its steep, straight sides, oc- 

 cupies part of a rift valley, which 

 extends from the valley of the 

 Jordan to Lake Nyasa, in Central 

 Africa. Glenmore and the Central 

 Lowlands of Scotland are also 

 examples of this type of valley. 

 See The Great Rift Valley, 1896; 

 Rift Valleys and Geology of E. 

 Africa, J. W. Gregory, 1921. 



Riga. Baltic seaport and capital 

 of Latvia. It stands on the Dvina, 6 

 in. from its mouth. Before the Great 

 War it came next in importance to 

 Petrograd on the Baltic, and its 

 large trade and many fine build- 

 ings led it to be styled the Queen 

 of the Baltic. It was the seat of 

 the governor-general of the Baltic 

 provinces of Russia, and one of the 

 chief centres of the Russian transit 

 trade, while its numerous mills and 

 factories employed 50,000 hands. 

 It exported timber, flax, hemp, 

 skins, butter, and eggs, imported 

 mixed goods to the value of 

 millions, and manufactured linens, 

 cottons, sugar, soap, candles, 

 dressed timber, and machinery of 

 various kinds. More than a third 

 of its population, which in 1914 

 was 520,000, was German, who, 



