Do they really have dad's service rifle?

Well, a story of a good friend of mine is this, and it's 100% true. His father was a naturalised Canadian Brit who went over in 1944 and served. The story takes place in 1945 right near the end of the war. He and 3 other gents were scouting/clearing a small town (I believe 150 km north or north west of Berlin, don't quote me that's what his son said). They came upon a house and as they were approaching it, out comes this young German soldier, carrying 4 Mauser K-98k rifles. The kid freaked, dropped the rifles and ran for his life out the back of the house. The guys didn't bother chasing, and took the Mausers. When it was time to board the ship back home, my friend's father handed in his Enfield and hobbled onto the boat amidst the hussle and bustle. he had the barrel down one leg and the stock down the other, with the bolt disassembled in his pockets. He somehow hid it during the voyage, and did the same trick coming off the ramp. The rifle was not duffle cut at all and remains in 100% original condition, it is a "1944 dou", and I have had the honour of shooting it. A very neat story.
 
yes all sorts of stuff got dumped off the boats, but a lot of stuff didn't. Add to that anything mailed / sent home and there is a good deal of stuff floating around.

And as for keeping your service rifle, at the end of the war if you lost it in the demobilization process they would deduct your pay, not too many service men were interested in keeping their service rifles as a their war trophy. Not when it was going to cost them a several days pay. As my dad said by the time training was over he would be happy never to see another dam enfield. :D
 
A lot of guns came home with the soldiers. The ones I saw, and shot with them on bush shoots, were Lugers, P38s and the 30 calibre carbine.
Those fellows who had been through the war learned a lot of tricks and getting guns smuggled home did not present a very difficult problem for many of them.
 
Did my research and this is what I dug up in regards to the dewatting of #4's

"The direction to weld the weapons comes from Ottawa, this process is to ensure that the weapon is decommisioned. The weapons were bought using public funds but DND does not have to sell them or auction them off as they once did in the fifties and sixties. They are fully authorized to destroy them especially with all of the gun laws."

I'm still going to write my MP over this.
 
My grandfather always told the story of how they (MP's on the dock) went through his kit and found a case of unissued lugers that he "borrowed" from a German officer who wouldn't need them any more. He ended up in stockade for 3 weeks because of the ensuing brawl. He didn't see it right that he risked his life, then came back here to give these gifts to the MP's, so he faught them until he was close enough to throw them in the harbour.
 
I have the serial number of my grandfathers Enfield rifle. It would be cool if I could look up in some database and contact the owner, if its in Canada. But, that's obviously an infringement of the privacy of whoever has it now, if it still exists and made it back, what 90 years ago?
 
I know my Uncles didn't get to keep their rifles but they definitely all brought home war trophies! In fact, I have my Uncles Italian Carcano artillery carbine that he "liberated" from an Italian soldier in Sicily where he was later wounded. He actually brought 2 back but, I'm unsure of where the other one got to. I also saw Lugers and P-38 bringbacks that were from other vets in the family. I have no idea what became of them either but I sure wish I would have asked before they passed away. My uncle that passed on his Carcano before he passed away never mentioned anything about difficulty bring them home.
 
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