I saw the picture of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (OBLI) exercising the Freedom of Oxford marching across Magdalen Bridge in 1953 (Memory Lane, January 12).

I can remember watching as a boy of seven the parade from a vantage point in Queen’s Lane with my parents.

As for ‘Rifles at the trail’, this practice goes back to the Napoleonic era when the OBLI were part of Sir John Moore’s Light Brigade made up of the 60th, 95th, 43rd and 52nd.

They were sharpshooters and skirmishers who operated in front of the massed ranks of infantry, picking off officers from the enemy as they advanced.

The weapon used was the Baker rifle, although the OBLI still had muskets. This was unique as its barrel was ‘rifled’ to give better accuracy.

A special bayonet that was referred to as a ‘sword’, as it is today, was never fixed to the rifle as it upset the balance of the weapon. The rifle was carried at the ‘trail’ so as to be ready for action.

If a sword was fixed on the march, the soldier in front would be in danger of receiving a pierced bottom and the pace of 140 to the minute was to enable the troops to move fast into a position.

TERRY ROPER MBE TD Major (Retd)
Chairman
Oxford Branch
Royal Green Jackets Association
Claymond Road
Headington