Lee-Enfield Rifles captured in Afghanistan 2006

[Sentryduty]

A few months ago I was discussing with Robert (Seaspriter) about Long Branch Lee-Enfields that I had encountered during my tour of Afghanistan in 2006. There were various details that I recalled that made these rifles somewhat unique, such as one had a blond stock. Following up on this thought I spoke with a close friend who has become the unofficial photo collection manager and he too recalled these various captured rifles.

Recently he was able to search through the terabyte of collected photos, and while he was unable to find any of the exact rifles we captured, he did include 3 photos of ones captured by other members of our Battalion.

The one I closely examined was a 1944 Long Branch in worn but serviceable condition, with a blond stock and covered in a large amount of decoration, which we called “Jingle” after the local “jingle truck” phenomenon.

The irony of Canadian Wartime manufacture being used to shoot at Canadian Soldiers 62 years later is not lost on me, and a LE would have a distinct bark when compared against the stacco racket of an AK on automatic. These Lee Enfields were not common, but they showed up often enough to stand out in my mind.

I have included these photos below for interest and examination by the forum members and for historic reference. They have been slightly cropped to omit elements of the background that are irrelevant or may be considered of an operational nature.







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[Eaglelord17]

It is rumoured that the Long Branch No. 4 Mk. 1(*)s ended up there because the Canadian Government sold them to the Mujahedeen during the Soviet Invasion. At about the same time, a large stock of Long Branch Lee Enfields, and .303 Brit ammo disappeared from government stockpiles, but never ended up on the surplus market.

Personally I believe that rumour, it fits the time period, and the type of missions that would have going on (US trained them, and even supplied missile launchers to the Mujahedeen). The Soviets supplied the Vietcong, the West supplied the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. It is definitely ironic though that they ended up used against us (and the rise of religious fanatics in the region was helped by the West).

It is interesting, that the reason the West invaded Afghanistan, is similar to the reasons the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The Soviets were actually fighting for many things that we were fighting for in the region (secular government, equal rights especially for women, education etc.). Of course the reasons aren't 100% lined up (Soviet government being different than our government), however I wonder what would have happened if instead of supporting the Mujahedeen, we had let the Soviets win over there.

[Sentryduty]

I too had heard the rumor that the Muji's had been equipped with Canadian LB rifles, and the photographic evidence during the 1979-89 Soviet invasion does show a lot of fighters with some variation of Lee-Enfield rifles. It is a reasonable assessment as to how they got there.

I had spoken with an older fighter that told stories of his Mujahedeen youth days, and was quite proud of what they did to the Soviets. Reading the accounts of the the Soviets in the book The Bear went over the Mountain told of of a generally fierce and crafty enemy.

The geo-political aspects of Afghanistan are just far too complex for me to broach over a keyboard, I am sure you know it is a mix of religion, local and international politics, tribalism, local warlords, the opium trade, and in some parts borderline feudalism. For an entire country the size of the state of Texas, they sure have a lot of deep rooted social issues and been thumped into the dirt since the end of Zahir Shah in 1973.

[mrclark303]

It is rumoured that the Long Branch No. 4 Mk. 1(*)s ended up there because the Canadian Government sold them to the Mujahedeen during the Soviet Invasion. At about the same time, a large stock of Long Branch Lee Enfields, and .303 Brit ammo disappeared from government stockpiles, but never ended up on the surplus market.

Western Government's supplying the Mujahideen with weapons to fight President Brezhnev's evil Soviet empire, surely not, why the very suggestion ... move along now, nothing to see here

I do know a chap who bought back a No5 (the only one found I think), it was rescued from destruction at the 11th hour when an arms cashe was being destroyed. Its on his FAC now after being checked over and proofed. If he doesn't mind I will ask him for some pictures, this could be a very interesting thread indeed!

[Sentryduty]

Detailed photos of anything brought back would be interesting, everything I have access to is based on random snapshots that would have been taken with 2006 vintage pocket digital cameras. Quality varies between a few hundred kb size to 1 MB, depending on the personal soldier's camera at the time.

[Roy W]

Looks like it belonged to the RAF Regiment with all those pretty colours over it

[Gil Boyd]

Now now, not fair................. the Queens Colour Squadron apparently are quite good at rifle drill..........well they don't do anything else, they should be Good old Rock Apes

[Peter Laidler]

We had a load of this junk dropped on us at Warminster that had been returned to the UK by what was described to me by a sheepish Officer as '.......by accident'. What a load of pure tat it all was. I gave an 'Irish contract' No4 Mk2 to one of the directing staff (after we'd arranged the deactivation) and I kept another that was also deactivated but externally left exactly in the xxxx-poor state as it'd been found. Eventually gave it away. We did keep an AK plus a home-made AKSU but weapon cleaning, care and maintenance didn't feature too high up in their training syllabus. We used to pass one of the totally crap AK's around as an example of the tat they were using. But it backfired when one Yorks lad remarked that it was still going - unlike his L85!

The Intelligence summaries that listed the captured stuff by number where possible was a good mix of UK, LB and Savage stuff and no make really stood out above the others. Someone was religiously taking/noting all the AK numbers for reasons best known to 'someone, somewhere' but what he/they were hoping to achieve by number taking alone is hard to fathom.

[Sentryduty]

AK numbers for reasons best known to 'someone, somewhere' but what he/they were hoping to achieve by number taking alone is hard to fathom.

Number taking to us was unimportant, the location and quality of manufacture on the other hand was, it was a way to find out just who you were fighting in that area. Scrapped out Chinese and Khyber pass guns were common and of no consequence, however when Russian or new in the packing grease unmarked heavy MGs were discovered, it meant that sources with good bankrolls were supplying them, Helmand had a lot of opium money, and as a result they tended to have the best kit compared to your average fighter. Quality of the RPG-7 projectiles varied wildly too, many were Chinese marked anti-personnel rounds, however, some proper RPG-7VR (uses a molten metal penetrator) projectiles started to appear later, and when used correctly they were very effective at cutting through our armour. Seen one VR round used on a LAV 3, it works as advertised.

[Gil Boyd]

Thank God that no SLR's got through for their use against us