CES for No1 Mk3 HT's

[BushyFromOz]

Was there a CES list for the HT rifles? What would normally be contained in the transit chest?

Information

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[Lithy]

Bushy, I have been reluctant to reply to your question in fear of being laughed down, but the short answer is no. There was no such thing as a HT equipment schedule and the HT did not come in a chest with all the bits and pieces as per the No.4T or later versions

The HT was not a "weapon system". Such terminology and practical reasoning came much later on within the ADF.

Battalions were allocated a list of stores which may have included telescoped rifles, either No.3T or HT, scout regt. telescopes etc. depending on the timeframe, the Bns operational role and availability of such niceties.

Pte. Bloggs and his spotter would simply rock up to the QM or CQMS and sign out whatever they needed or what was available at the time in order to get the job done. As they were in Admin Coy. and working directly under the Int. Officer, they were given a lot more leeway than a normal Digger when it came to controlled stores.

Generally, controlled items commonly drawn by HT users included a compass prismatic, scout regiment telescope, watch GS and binoculars prismatic no.2.

Obviously non controlled stores used would have been gridlined paper notebooks for making maps/scaled sketches, local maps etc.

Items for camouflage and concealment were made/procured by themselves.

Reallocation of Government property (not necessarily ours) for best use has long been a hallmark of the Australian soldier.

One has to remember that following WW1, the sniper was not seen as an "honourable" soldier by the general public and quite a few of their fellow soldiers. There was a stigma attached to the role, which is why the art was lost for so many years by the ADF and consequently there are limited first hand references to their activities.

[BushyFromOz]

Bushy, I have been reluctant to reply to your question in fear of being laughed down, but the short answer is no. There was no such thing as a HT equipment schedule and the HT did not come in a chest with all the bits and pieces as per the No.4T or later versions

The HT was not a "weapon system". Such terminology and practical reasoning came much later on within the ADF.

Battalions were allocated a list of stores which may have included telescoped rifles, either No.3T or HT, scout regt. telescopes etc. depending on the timeframe, the Bns operational role and availability of such niceties.

Pte. Bloggs and his spotter would simply rock up to the QM or CQMS and sign out whatever they needed or what was available at the time in order to get the job done. As they were in Admin Coy. and working directly under the Int. Officer, they were given a lot more leeway than a normal Digger when it came to controlled stores.

Generally, controlled items commonly drawn by HT users included a compass prismatic, scout regiment telescope, watch GS and binoculars prismatic no.2.

Obviously non controlled stores used would have been gridlined paper notebooks for making maps/scaled sketches, local maps etc.

Items for camouflage and concealment were made/procured by themselves.

Reallocation of Government property (not necessarily ours) for best use has long been a hallmark of the Australian soldier.

One has to remember that following WW1, the sniper was not seen as an "honourable" soldier by the general public and quite a few of their fellow soldiers. There was a stigma attached to the role, which is why the art was lost for so many years by the ADF and consequently there are limited first hand references to their activities.

Thanks lithy. I found a bit of what i was after by running several searches of the milsurps forums, mostly from son and yourself actually. I came to realise i had one of the SA chests you and son have that were internally set up for the HT, i just didnt know what it was.

Was the spotting scope always a scout regiment or the tel sigs used as well? Being a budget defence force, i imagine whatever we had?

Now i need a rifle....

[Peter Laidler]

That's an interesting question regarding the spotting scope Bushy. It is little known that in the UK No4T CES that it wasn't always a Sct Reg Scope either. There were several types including the Tele GS, The Tele Signalling, Tele Admiralty Patt and in some, said to be those fitted out by/for the RAF, the little B&C x20 pre-war Brittanic telescope. But for the L42's it was always (?) the Sct Reg Tele.

[BushyFromOz]

Would be quite ironic to have the modern optic for the spotting scope but the weapon itself being essentially ww1 vintage!

[Warren]

This is all fitting in with a memo I saw at one time which semi explained why you see so many Auzzie AOC scopes missing their optics.
Apparently Patt: 18 sniper kit (scopes) were not a high priority item and the telescopic sight lenses were removed during WW II for use in naval gun sight proximaters....?