Mystery of the Missing Wartime Long Branch Snipers

[Surpmil]

Infantry rifles......, air cargo......... I think your last 5 words sum it up. H&H were churning them out, all 26 THOUSAND of them. This'd hardly make a couple of thousand more from abroad a deal breaker - or strategic war winner requiring air cargo consideration. Just my opinion of course based on what my mum used to call '.....the bleedin obvious.......'

Well, at least I learned I was not hallucinating. There was a post a year ago:
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread....l=1#post325714
which stated (FWIW):
"In the current huge pile of records I am working through, it appears that the sniper rifles from Canada were shipped "via bomber" and not "on the water" as most common material. Found that revelation most interesting."

"I have some of the records and once I get them digitized so they are more readable I will share them."

That'll be interesting, and I suppose it is possible in light of the fact that the vast bulk of the H&H production seems to have been in 1944 and 1945, just like Long Branch.

In "Without Warning" it is mentioned that, "...a survey of British Army sniper equipment taken in November 1943 revealed that there were 3,756 rifles with No.32 scopes, 900 rifles with Patt. '18 scopes and 450 rifles with Aldis scopes [Alex Martin P14 conversions - not all with Aldis scopes] still on issue to the British Army." The Canadian Army was not up to establishment in No4(T)s until around January 1944 according to the same source and their requirement was about 1400 rifles.

Or in other words, H&H had produced about 2353 No4(T)s by November of 1943 since starting some time around Sept. 1942. (Assuming the number of 1403 trials No4's converted at RSAF(E) is correct) Skennerton says "from 22nd September, 1942 Holland & Holland took up the conversions of Britain's No.4 sniping rifles..."

The next contract was for 12,100 units, and it was signed on 13th February 1943, for a rate of 800 per month. It was often the case that these wartime contracts were not signed until after work had commenced. More orders were later placed with Hollands, and 100 of the last contract were passed on to B.S.A Shirley.

(The British Sniper, p.111.)] Skennerton doesn't say how many were ordered in the first contract unfortunately.

So assuming about 13 months working time, that is about 45 rifles per week output. It looks as though the supply of No32 MkI scopes far out-stripped the fitting of them to rifles in the UK. That is based on the fact that HBMCo. began production in 1941 and like Watson & Kodak had produced thousands by the end of 1942, based on serials and dates on surviving scopes. By the end of 1943, No32 MkI production must have amounted to at least 10,000 units based on serial numbers alone.

If output from H&H was anywhere near 800 rifles per month in 1943, plainly many times more than 2353 would have been on issue in November 1943!

The reference to 100 of the final contract being assigned to BSA Shirley does not fit with the rifles that have surfaced since the war AFAIK. I believe it is more likely that 100 was assigned to BSA in 1942 or 43. Perhaps these are some of the rifles that show no "T", "TR" or "S51" marks, which we generally assume are early H&H production?

It would have made sense in 1942/3 to diversify production, or at least get production set up at a second location in case of bomb or accidental damage to H&H's production. At the end of the war there was no reason to begin production anywhere else.

That all being the case, there might well have been a certain urgency to get rifles to the UK quickly in 1943, since P14s with AJP target sights or Warner & Swasey sights grafted on, were not exactly "competitive" in 1943/44. Hopefully Warren can give us some idea of the dates of these shipments at least.

By November 1943 Canadian troops had been in Sicily and Italy for a couple of months. 1st Canadian Infantry Division included nine regiments of infantry, the 5th Armoured Division included another four, and there was also the 1st Special Service Force Battalion. Colin, do you know what the scale of issue was per battalion in the Canadian Army at that time?

There is one other possibility of course: H&H "churning them out" at the reputed 800 per month and the army supply people promptly putting them into store where they remained for the duration: "You've already got a 'sniper's rifle', you won't get a new issue until that one wears out or is lost. We'll leave them in stores until the war is over and then sell them off for pennies on the pound, that way nothing will be wasted!"