SMLE rifles used by British troops, Germany May 1945

[GeeRam]

Donitz and his staff were apparently arrested by an RAF Regiment Task Force at his headquarters and then handed over to the King's Shropshire Light Infantry. So a photo/film at the time of the handover may well have had RAF Regiment with No1 MKIII's and KSLI's with No4's.

Very likely. Not easy to see the shoulder flashes of the guys with the SMLE's, but RAF Regt. does seem likely. The officer kneeling down searching clearly has KSLI shoulder flashes, so it does tally.

---------- Post added at 12:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 AM ----------

Does anyone know when the RAF Regiment "officially" received the No4 rifle, please? My understanding was that they retained the SMLE for longer than the British army but I don't know if they retained them "officially" until after the end of WW2.

As did the RN as well IIRC (along with using 08 webbing as well)