Battle Damaged Enfields?

BadgerDog

BadgerDog

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We're in the process of gathering photo montages and background information of an upcoming Knowledge Library article about Enfield rifles (any genre and period) which have suffered obvious "damage" when being carried by their owners, either in training or actual battlefield conditions.

Here's what we have so far, scattered amongst various threads and independent articles …

SMLE hit by AP round !! (by Peter Laidler)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=20135

Friday 13th SMLE sniper damage (by Kev G)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=19121

Exploding P14 Grenade Discharger Cups (by Peter Laidler)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=4198

1912 No.1 MkIII Enfield Rifle (Battle Damaged) (by terryinvictoria)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=2382

So, if you know of any links to, or personally have additional pics or historical data that could be added to these, please let us know, as I think it could make for an excellent stand alone Knowledge Library article

Thanks .. :)

Regards,
Badger
 
In the RM Museum at Lympstone (it may be moved now) was a 7.92 Mauser with a .303 bullet down the bore having been fired in from some distance, barrel was sectioned!
 
Those are amazing pieces of history. No need to imagine what happened to the rifle when the truth is carved right in your hands.
 
School of Musketry at Hythe is said to have some interesting specimens. I remember that at one time they were said to have a rifle as above: bullet down the bore. Same rifle? Or happen twice? In this old world of ours, anything is possible.

Unfortunately, I have not been privileged to visit their Museum.

They DO have one of the first 3 Maxims. (Other 2 are: very first at IWM, US has one at Aberdeen, MD). So that's 3 out of 3 of those survive, at least.

Wonder where the other 8 MG '08/16s got to? Pattern Rm. has s/n 9, only specimen extant.

I think we can blame Mr. Laidler's efforts for so few surviving! LOL! ;-)
 
Damage to that rifle is horrible, but think of what it did to the poor sod who was carrying it!

I only ever knew one man who was fortunate enough to come out of something like that. He was in a trench bay at the time of changing the shifts, just before Givenchy (3 weeks after St. Julien, which he had survived without a scratch). There were 12 men in the bay (6 going out, 6 coming in) when Jerry dropped a 90-pounder in on them. L/Cpl Robert Courtice, A Coy, 8th B'n, CEF was the only survivor. One of the men who helped load him on a stretcher and carry him out was Colonel (later General) Lipsett.

L/Cpl Courtice survived, minus one of the main bones in his forearm, with the addition of many, many chunks of jagged iron, all inoperable at that time and some scary enough even now, in his brain. When I met him, in 1973, he still had chunks of steel coming out of his face and had a little box with bits of iron that had come out of his head and body over the years.

He was invalided home, discharged and given a job at the telegraph office in Brandon, where I met him, many years later. He was cheerful, utterly indomitable, ignored the still-shattered condition of his body and enjoyed every day. He was the only person who ever assembled THREE complete collections of Manitoba automobile-licence plates, one of which he gave to a museum. I have a 1934 plate which he gave me on my Ford Sedan DeLuxe.

The only other man I knew who was close to a big one was my friend Jack Snow (Nfld Regiment) who was knocked out by the concussion of one at Monchy-le-Prueux but otherwise unscathed.

They are all gone now.

This rifle stands as a monument to what so many went through. If it were in Japan, it would be an object of worship.

It is a national treasure.... and our Government would like to see it destroyed.
 
This rifle stands as a monument to what so many went through. If it were in Japan, it would be an object of worship.

It is a national treasure.... and our Government would like to see it destroyed.[/QUOTE]

Well said sir. Military firearms are more than just "guns", but try convincing non gun types of that.
 
Well I have what's left of a No1Mk1 from the Somme. Wood all gone, barrel bent, and solid rust. I assume there is still one up the spout as the safety is still on and the friend who gave it to me said the magazine was loaded. If it hasn't gone off yet it isn't going to, and there is NO WAY I can open the bolt.

Again, I wonder what happened to the poor bugger who was holding it when the barrel got bent.
 
Battlefield salvage rifles, British and German, awaiting sorting out in the Somme region.

standard.jpg
 
BadgerDog said:
We're in the process of gathering photo montages and background information of an upcoming Knowledge Library article about Enfield rifles (any genre and period) which have suffered obvious "damage" when being carried by their owners, either in training or actual battlefield conditions.

Here's what we have so far, scattered amongst various threads and independent articles …

SMLE hit by AP round !! (by Peter Laidler)http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=20135

Interesting article you are working on Badger.
There was a time when I would receive a copy of the Gun Digest or the Shooter's Bible each christmas. There was an article in one of those volumes about a SMLE that had an 8mm bullet lodged in the barrel and when the LE was fired, the action blew up. It may be the same rifle described by Mr. Laidler above. I will try to dig up the article and pass it on to you.
Click to expand...
 
Besides the earlier article that Peter Laidler replied .... We've got about 8 or 10 of these variously battle damaged rifles at Warminster. I'll see if I can't get a series of decent photos of them..........

It would be great to get Warminister's pics of these old girls to add to the groupings already sent in by other collectors ..

I'll post them to the thread once they arrive ... thanks guys ... :)

Regards,
Badger
 
I recall seeing on the web a few pix from a private museum in France. There was a Panzerfaust launcher that had the bomb detonate while being held but not yet fired. Pieces of the tube had peeled back with such force that they still tightly held pieces of the uniform of the now vaporized guy that was holding it at the time.
 
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