No.5 in Norway, 1945

[crunch]

No.5 in Oslo, Norway, May 13, 1945.

Of course, VE day was May 8, 1945.

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[duggaboy]

yes, I remember the blonde bombshells there too. thanks for the pic

[Surpmil]

North Staffordshires? Were they an air-landing battalion? The man on the right whose leg and rifle butt we can just see may have been a sniper as it appears he has a No.4(T)?

[Amatikulu]

Surpmil, I think he's got a Sten mark V over his shoulder and not a No.4 mark 1(T) based on the sling, swivel and butt plate

[crunch]

I posted this pic on the the old Culver Shooting Pages.
The man on the right has a Sten Mk.V.
The sling has an extra metal ring, and the sling swivel is on top of the butt stock.
The man in the center was identified as belonging to the Catering Corps.
(Although, I still don't know how you can tell.)
The pic is as close as I've ever come to finding a No. 5 in Europe in WWII.

[Peter Laidler]

We can tell that he's a cook by his cap badge. The Army cooking exam is the most difficult exam to pass. We know this because no Army cook has ever passed the exam to date. The old ones are always the best!

[crunch]

Wow, I never noticed his cap badge was different than all the others in the photo.
I was looking for a pic of a No. 5 in Europe for a long time, so I was very pleased when I found such a good one. I've learned a lot from just one pic.
I suppose I should post this in the "Holy Grail" discussion group.

Next, I'm going to look for a pic of an SKS in the Battle of Berlin.
Wish me luck!

[Digger]

Great photo, thanks.

[gunner]

crunch, as far as i know the SKS was developed in 1946, so this would be a heavy thing to find a pic from this rifle in 1945.

Regards

Gunner

[John R.]

Ah,but you're WRONG.You see it is really the CKC-45 Systema Karabina Simonova 1945 Goda(no upside down Cyrillic L on this keyboard.

The Sovs DID indeed field some for "field tests" in 1945 prior to the fall of Berlin so you might well find a few photos IF you look hard enough.I should think that Red Army Signal Corps or whatever they called their equivalent would be the place to start.A nice e-mail to the Red Army's"Great Patriotic War" photographic archives too might produce results.

The Russians lost well over TEN million people during that war(as well as 35-45 MILLION of their OWN people to J.V.Stalin&Co) and are justifiably proud of having pulverized the Wehrmacht all the way back to Berlin.Mind you WE all helped them with trucks,Jeeps,radios and FOOD and if you talk to Red Army WWII Veterans NOW they will thank you for everything but most of all for the SPAM(they LOVED the stuff!).

Pity that we can't all get back together again and just ask RUSSIA to join NATO too.Having been invaded twice by Napoleon and Hitler they are a wee bit paranoid and if NATO were to guarantee the Russian Borders(remember CHINA ??) I am of the opinion that we ALL might live happily ever after.JR