Here his the history of this useful weapon that helped early in the war.
Key point: This rifle helped to slow down the Nazi advance. In the end, the rifle would need to be replaced with heavier fire power, but it served its purpose.
When the first tanks appeared in World War I, they were relatively lightly armored and protected the crews only against small-arms fire. In addition, much of the armor was riveted. Projectiles striking the exterior of the armor could pop off rivet heads or flake armor from the internal surfaces, creating fragments that would fly around the vehicle interior, causing injuries or death. In fact, British tank crews had to wear protective goggles and chain-mail masks to guard against fragments made by bullets striking close to their open vision slits.