The Royal Laboratories Handbook of Ammunition, May 1918 is an important British military technical manual compiled by the Royal Laboratories at Woolwich during the final year of the First World War. Originally issued as a highly confidential document, it was expressly forbidden to be carried into front-line trenches, where there was a danger of its falling into enemy hands.
Produced primarily for Battery Commanders, this concise 68-page handbook provided practical guidance on the artillery ammunition then in British service. Its particular value lies in its detailed descriptions of contemporary projectiles and fuzes, accompanied by clear technical drawings, cutaway illustrations and full-colour plates.
The handbook explains the distinctive colours, markings and stamped information applied to ammunition, enabling officers to identify different types of shells, fuzes and associated components accurately and safely. As an official working manual, it provides a direct insight into the increasingly sophisticated ammunition systems employed by the British Army after four years of intensive artillery warfare.
Today, the Royal Laboratories Handbook of Ammunition remains an invaluable primary-source reference for military historians, collectors, model makers and researchers studying Great War artillery, ammunition, ordnance technology and wartime manufacture. Its combination of official technical information and detailed colour illustrations makes it particularly useful for understanding the identification and employment of British artillery ammunition in 1918.