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Legacy Member
The French Collection?
French Enfields: The Navy Arms No. 4s | An Official Journal Of The NRA
The last "hurrah" in this quantity?
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09-08-2022 05:13 AM
# ADS
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Very interesting.
I wonder if the 'PP' serial prefixes mentioned in the article has anything to do with the Préfecture de Police, part of the Ministry of the Interior? It's likely that the collection/confiscation of arms would have been undertaken by Police at the end of the war and each firearm would be recorded/catalogued before being stored as these extra serials demonstrate.
It's a nice looking Maltby rifle in the article. My Maltby made No.4 has a french history and no doubt like many others supplied to resistance forces, it was never handed in at the end of the war.
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Legacy Member
I have PP listed as a prefix for special orders circa 1951 for suppliers like Parker-Hale, (PP1~PP43) and unknown source (PP44~PP47).
Was PP used earlier??
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30Three, nice rifle. My Maltby has a similar story to yours, stored for many years after the war.
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Advisory Panel
In the memoirs of "Colonel Henri" of the Abwehr he claims to have arranged and captured many weapon drops as a result of Abwehr and SD penetration of the Resistance and SOE. What the Germans did with such arms is anyone's guess, though I believe they armed the Vichy Milice militia with some of them.
Probably most ended up in the hands of the central government at the end of the war, unless some local governments or officials held onto some for the political reasons 30Three mentions.
I wonder if the Milice put any markings on theirs?
It would be interesting to know what the breakdown of dates and manufacturers was - No4(T)s were sent, but were any included? Probably prized souvenirs those and not likely to be turned in.
Last edited by Surpmil; 09-08-2022 at 09:47 PM.
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Legacy Member
These rifles from Navy Arms seem to be in too good condition to have been handed in by resistance fighters.
I've seen some of the rifles haned in by various militias and armed groups after the Balkan conflict. Wartime, armed civillians don't generally take good care of their weapons.
If they had been fired with wartime manufacture MkVII ammo, I would expect to see a lot of ruined bores from being either improperly cleaned or not cleaned at all after firing.
I'm more inclined to believe they were supplied,post-war to some French government agency, put into storage, and then never used.
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Legacy Member
The condition is nice. It would be interesting if someone would dive into the French archives and check out the provenance story.
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