The Most Famous Rifle Of D-Day … Wasn’t There? (older article)

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The Most Famous Rifle Of D-Day … Wasn’t There? (older article)

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Spoiler Alert (to an already-old article): if you like the M-1 Carbine, you may like this article.....

The Most Famous Rifle Of D-Day … Wasn’t There?


by Mark Keefe - Friday, June 6, 2014



Based on Cornelius Ryan’s Longest Day, the epic Hollywood blockbuster of the same name featured actor Peter Lawford carrying what is arguably the most famous rifle of Operation Overlord. The problem is that that rifle, made famous by Hollywood, wasn’t there on June 6 1944.

Lawford played Simon Fraser, the 17th Baron Lovat and the 25th chief of the clan Frasier. Winston Churchill called Lovat, “the mildest-mannered man that ever scuttled a ship or cut a throat.”

Lord Lovat was one of the first volunteers for the Commando units formed in 1940, and his first combat action with No. 4 Commando was in 1941. And it was no coincidence that much of the highly specialized training the commandos received was undertaken in the highlands of Scotland.

On the Dieppe Raid in August 1942-a disaster whose lessons paved the way for the success of Operation Overlord, Lord Lovat carried his personal Mannlicher-Shoenauer carbine. You can see it along with an M1911 Government Model on his hip. He was hunter and a Lord, and as such, he decided to bring his own rifle from home.

On D-Day, Brigadier Lord Lovat, Distinguished Service Order, commanded the First Special Service Brigade and landed on Sword Beach. The brigade’s objective was to move the six miles inland and link up with Major John Howard’s D Company of the 2nd Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, their sappers and troopers of 7 Para holding the bridges, thus shutting off the route to beaches for a German counterattack. Major Howard’s capture of “Pegasus Bridge” was one of the most important military feats of D-Day.

In one of D-Day’s most iconic images, you can see Lord Lovat’s lanky frame over the shoulder of Bill Millen, his personal piper, wading into the surf.

Lord Lovat

Lovat wrote: “The water was knee-deep when Piper Millin struck up ‘Blue Bonnets,’ keeping the pipes going as he played the commandos up the beach. It was not a place to hang about in, and we stood not on the order of our going.”

And it was the sound of Millen’s bagpipes that the relived airborne troops heard at the link up.

It’s a great story, and one of the best vignettes of the movie The Longest Day. The problem is that Lord Lovat-according to his autobiography March Past and the current owner of his Mannlicher-carried a different rifle that day. And like the Gillies he grew up with and the commandoes he trained, Lord Lovat actually did a bit of stalking, but of “Jerry,” on the way.

In the battle for St. Aubin on the way to Pegasus Bridge, Lovat wrote: “The enemy-a platoon about thirty strong--looked a soft touch: the sun was in their eyes and we were unobserved. I made a quick decision to ambush them. It was a relief to get the rucksack off-straps were already burning shoulders--then tee up behind its bulk and go into action with a light, short-barreled U.S. Army carbine. Joe Lawrence and Salsbury’s brother, a dispatch rider, sneaked one of the quick-firing [Vickers] K Guns up on to a shed. The Germans were five hundred yards away. We had not been seen. They were in the bag.”

So Hollywood, as is so often the case, had it wrong about Lord Lovat and his Mannlicher that day. Lord Lovat actually carried a U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30. But for this error--and a few others in otherwise excellent and important film, Hollywood can be forgiven.

Lovat, by the way, was wounded on the attack on Breville on June 12, ending his combat service. He died in 1995.

I’d like to close this post by noting and honoring the supreme sacrifice made by the soldiers, sailors and airmen-regardless of their country or rank--that gave all to secure the Freedoms we enjoy today a half a world away 70 years ago this day. Lest we forget …

 

[woodchopper]

Did he not wade ashore carrying his claymore?

I seem to recall a picture of that

 

[Ganderite]

There is a picture like that, but I don't think it was Lovat.

 

[x westie]

There is a picture like that, but I don't think it was Lovat.

The picture of the fellow with the Claymore , wading ashore, was Major Jack Churchill, who said , “any officer going into action , without his sword , is improperly dressed” ..lol, he also was the only Allied soldier to shoot a enemy soldier , with a long bow , he was a , a pre war champion archer , when he and his men ambushed a German patrol, and he shot the enemy NCO with a arrow, while his men , used their Lee Enfields and Bren guns

 

[Falconflyer]

The picture of the fellow with the Claymore , wading ashore, was Major Jack Churchill, who said , “any officer going into action , without his sword , is improperly dressed” ..lol, he also was the only Allied soldier to shoot a enemy soldier , with a long bow , he was a , a pre war champion archer , when he and his men ambushed a German patrol, and he shot the enemy NCO with a arrow, while his men , used their Lee Enfields and Bren guns

lol, ya gotta love the English hierarchy!

 

[Red_Liner740]

30 carbine at 500 yards. So pretty much pointless...

 

[x westie]

At the Dieppe raid , Lord Lovat is supposed to used a Winchester sporting rifle , not sure what model it was , he is shown in a photo, after the raid with a rifle slung over his shoulder ,it doesn’t have a full length hand guard , as military rifles do , but not a clear view ,possibly a Winchester Model 70, his rifle does have the web sling as as a Lee Enfield would have , it looks that he is wearing civilian corduroy civilian trousers, and a Model 1911 in a web holster

 

[nowarningshot]

To the fallen.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

lol, ya gotta love the English hierarchy!

And the eccentricity in their officer corps. Even Monty had his quirks.

Grizz

 

[grelmar]

There is a picture like that, but I don't think it was Lovat.

Did he not wade ashore carrying his claymore?

I seem to recall a picture of that

The picture of the fellow with the Claymore , wading ashore, was Major Jack Churchill, who said , “any officer going into action , without his sword , is improperly dressed” ..lol, he also was the only Allied soldier to shoot a enemy soldier , with a long bow , he was a , a pre war champion archer , when he and his men ambushed a German patrol, and he shot the enemy NCO with a arrow, while his men , used their Lee Enfields and Bren guns

View attachment 279008

Mad Jack Churchill.

The pic is actually from the landing at Vågsøy Island, Norway, in 1941.

Churchill was captured in Yugoslavia in 1944, where he had been "assisting" Tito's forces - largely by dint of being Mad Jack, wandering around, doing astoundingly dangerous things with a complete lack of concern for his own mortality. Although he escaped a few times, he kept on being recaptured, and it wasn't until 1945 that he was able to rejoin allied forces.

He missed D-Day.

Teddy Roosevelt Jr., on the other hand, had to convince an awful lot of people to let him land on D-Day. Aside from being the son of the former president of the same name, and cousin to the current sitting president, he had a serious heat condition and arthritis, which forced him to walk with a cane.

There was grave concern about the public relations nightmare of someone of such high stature being captured or killed during the landings.

Teddy Jr. gave absolutely zero f@cks about those concerns. He had trained with his regiment for over a year, and he wasn't about to send "his boys" somewhere he wouldn't go himself.

View attachment 279009

He landed with the 1st wave, and used his cane to direct traffic and troops. When a Roosevelt waves his can at you, you do what he tells you to do.

Teddy's atrocious health would catch up with him a short time later, and he would die of a heart attack, while in command, in France on July 12, 1944.

 

[TheTooner]

View attachment 279008

...

Teddy Roosevelt Jr., on the other hand, had to convince an awful lot of people to let him land on D-Day. Aside from being the son of the former president of the same name, and cousin to the current sitting president, he had a serious heat condition and arthritis, which forced him to walk with a cane.

...

Teddy's atrocious health would catch up with him a short time later, and he would die of a heart attack, while in command, in France in 1942.

"Aside from being the son of the former president of the same name, and cousin to the current sitting president, he had a serious heat condition and arthritis, which forced him to walk with a cane." I don't think that would make it as much of a challenge as having died of a heart attack two years earlier. That was some comeback.

 

[grelmar]

"Aside from being the son of the former president of the same name, and cousin to the current sitting president, he had a serious heat condition and arthritis, which forced him to walk with a cane." I don't think that would make it as much of a challenge as having died of a hear attack two years earlier. That was some comeback.

Fixed typo

 

[x westie]

And the eccentricity in their officer corps. Even Monty had his quirks.



Grizz

My dad used to tell me about when Monty inspected his battalion, 2nd Battalion, Welsh Guards, prior to the landing in Normandy, Monty walked through the ranks like Jesus checking out his disciples..lol,

 

[Grizzly Adams]

My dad used to tell me about when Monty inspected his battalion, 2nd Battalion, Welsh Guards, prior to the landing in Normandy, Monty walked through the ranks like Jesus checking out his disciples..lol,

My dad actually met and sketched the man, apparently. As a prisoner of war, he wanted to trade drawings of British soldiers for cigarettes, the universal currency. Had to get the great man's approval and do a pic of him to get it.

Grizz