Don't look to bad seeing as they've been hidden for 70 years.
http://www.guns.com/2017/10/19/french-resistance-cache-unearthed-including-stens-named-pepette-and-alice-photos/
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Don't look to bad seeing as they've been hidden for 70 years.
http://www.guns.com/2017/10/19/french-resistance-cache-unearthed-including-stens-named-pepette-and-alice-photos/
Try this link... French Resistance cache unearthed including STENs named (PHOTOS)
Yes, look like we could wring them out without much except oiling.
lucky person
I wonder whether the FRench Government had a post war policy of buying back or an amnesty for those weapons that were supplied to the resistance
Who would have been the actual legal owner of the weapons once they were dropped to the resistance groups in occupied Europe and elsewhere? Would it be the people dropping it, the British in this case, or the people receiving the arms? Did the governments in exile pay for the weapons or agree to pay for them at a latter date? When it was decided to drop vast numbers of weapons into Europe some decisions must have been made as to who was going to pay for them and who owned them once they were dropped?
Something I've often pondered too Peter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Laidler
If you put yourself in the mind set of the average Marque member, after all, the Boche had been uninvited guests twice in only 20 years!
That and the people were terrified France would rip itself apart in civil war, it came very close ... Apparently the French killed more French people than the Germans did during four years of occupation, with the purging of the republic after the Germans where booted out.
In the context of that chaos, the authorities never really got round to collecting the weaponry in any meaningful quantity.
If it was me in that position, I would think twice before handing in my gear too, my Sten and Mills bombs would likely be under the floor too!
There is still tons of gear in France, it seems to surface on a regular basis and I am sure it will for many years to come.
Good old press still getting it wrong "several Bren magazines" I counted 23 of them (had to use my toes?) I agree with #6 you would be thinking twice about handing it in with the govt the way it was or hand in part and say that's all you have keeping the other in another hiding place.
They would fetch a pretty penny on today's market those Stens provided the barrels are not badly corroded or pitted.
This is an interesting find; but not that unusual. Some weapons were handed back in after the war; but many were hidden away again. In May this year I acquired a No4Mk1 that had been well preserved for over 70 years.
So as not to disrupt this thread; I will start a new one for this rifle.
I can well imagine the mind set of many who quietly tucked away weapons for the 'next time' or 'just in case'. One only needs to think: Franco-Prussian War, WWI, WWII, and a virtual political vacuum throughout much of Europe in the early post-war era.
Quite honestly, if it had been me, I would have been one of those who cleaned, greased and packed away one of those STENs, magazines and ammunition for that uncertain future.
I would have kept all of it and squirrelled it all away.
I'm with you on this Jim.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
Remember also that some of the different Resistance groups did not really get along with each other. Some being communist motivated and other's not.
They obviously had to work together when the invasion came; but not alway's as easily as one might expect.
The truth is that the communists composed most of the resistance, however only AFTER the German invasion of the USSR.Quote:
Originally Posted by 30Three
from 1939 thru late 1941 the French communists sabotaged their own country and assisted the Germans (fellow socialists) wherever possible.
After the war the communists continued their campaign against their own country.
I would be intrested in the Stens finish, not long from the factory untouched for 70 year, they look parkerized in the photos.
don't know how much I would trust grenades that old..... :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by enfield303t
Those would be gone. I just wouldn't turn anything in. I wouldn't use the frags.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merle
Would the grenades be relatively safe to handle provided that you didn't do anything obviously stupid with them like pull the pin out? Or, to put it another way, would the explosive filling have become unstable after 70 or more years and liable to explode by rough handling such as being dropped?
Anybody recall the weapons stashed in a mountain tunnel in the Austrian Alps discovered 8-10 years back? Found when the tunnel began leaking and the repair crew broke though a false wall. The final count of weapons was never released. The US Army placed them around various sites in Europe in the event of a USSR invasion. Never used, but not forgotten. Austrians contacted the US Embassy and the Military Attache arrived and took everything away. End of story.
A very real possibility that you wouldn't want to even guess let alone bet on. That stuff can crystallize, liquify, nitrate, decay or just aquiesse...any of those ain't good. Normal action requires them to be stacked and blown as close to situ as possible to avoid dangerous handling. BUT!!! for the Stens involved, I'd manage. They'd still go away to a safe place(the grenades)...Quote:
Originally Posted by Flying10uk
In addition to aging of the explosives, I'd be concerned about the reliability of the fuse - normal delay or instantaneous detonation?Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
Always a fun guess...Quote:
Originally Posted by Merle
Would be interesting to be very friendly with all the old ones in the area, or were in the area, to find out where those Brens are. Those Bren magazines have to fit somewhere.
I'll bet it's like around here, the stuff is still held in reserve waiting for the day they want to "Do Dodge City" in the front yard...Quote:
Originally Posted by Daan Kemp
STENS were considered disposable. Surprisingly light rust considering where they've been for 70 years. Sad that the French Government is welding 'em into paper weights. Wonder where the Brens are.
There was some woman over there who had had an operational Tiger or Panther(forget which) in her garage until fairly recently too.
"...the governments in exile..." The French government in exile was De Gaulle. Who was self appointed. He wasn't actually elected until 1958.