Historical Enfield Question

[barbarossa]

Thunderbox, no offense, but where exactly did you come up with this information? I am specifically curious about the losses at Dunkirk, versus rifles available for issue in the summer of 1940. I have seen figures quoted as high as 250,000 small arms lost in the French campaign and its aftermath. Also-- the new book by Max Hastings "Winston's War" states there were only 75,000 rifles and 3000 BREN guns (if I remember correctly) available for issue in the immediate aftermath of the debacle in France. There's a helluva disparity there! I also simply cannot believe this in light of the known emergency U.S. shipment of close to a million small arms such as the 1917 Enfield rifle from war reserve stocks to help make up for the Brit's losses in France. That million rifles we shipped over was used to arm the Home Guard and free up the available SMLE's to arm the rapidly expanding Royal Army. The First Canadian Division dispatched to Britain in 1941 went over equipped with Model 1917 Enfield Rifles and left their issue SMLE rifles at home for training new Canadian divisions. All this historical fact would seem to lead to the inevitable conclusion there was indeed a major shortfall in small arms in the immediate aftermath of Dunkirk.

Like any good troops I suspect most of the British troops effectivley rendered the majority of their rifles hors d' combat before leaving France or surrendering to German forces. I would also suspect that most of the rifles left anywhere on the beaches may have not been in an operable condition after lying out exposed to salt spray and the elements for a few days or weeks before being salvaged from the battlefield. I speak with some authority on this, having survived Hurricane Ike and helped clean well over 200 rifles and handguns belonging to friends or relatives in the wake of the storm. A goodly number of these weapons were fit only for the scrap yard after being submerged in brackish water for a few days. It would thus seem rational to draw the logical conclusion that most of the SMLE's left behind on the evacuation beaches were fit for little more than rebarb for the Atlantic Wall or tomato stakes when all was said and done. I would opine there never was any large scale issue of the Lee Enfield series rifles by the Germans to second line formations during WWII simply because the weapons no longer existed in any quantity or condition acceptable for issue.

Anyhow, a good thread and interesting to speculate.