-
Last edited by Warren; 03-13-2016 at 10:19 AM.
-
The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to Warren For This Useful Post:
-
03-10-2016 05:29 PM
# ADS
Friends and Sponsors
-
FREE MEMBER
NO Posting or PM's Allowed
Originally Posted by
Warren
I can probably give you the year and exact quantity if I have a chance to dig into some files.
Not wanting to put any pressure on you, but as both a historian and a Long Branch collector, I'd be fascinated to know more -- when you come up for air.
Thanks
------------------------------------
One of the reasons why Enfields would have been shipped to Afghanistan is because of the large number of existing Lee Enfields left over from the British
Empire. India (pre WWII) included what is now Pakistan. Large stocks of LEs (including Ishapore, British, and Australian) must have been available to the Afghanis. Replenishing the existing stock and providing new rounds of ammo would make a lot of sense. I wonder who make the ammo (HXP perhaps)?
Last edited by Seaspriter; 03-10-2016 at 07:52 PM.
-
-
Legacy Member
If you are talking about the shipments Charlie Wilson arranged, I think you will find a lot of the Enfield’s were from Israel.
CW also arranged for new .303 ammo to be produced here and shipped to Afghanistan. I still have a few cans.
The Enfield’s were shipped when plausible deniability was still ordered. That went out the window when CW got approval for the Stingers. That made him famous here. The Enfield’s hardly got mentioned even though one of the most famous pictures of CW shows him holding an Enfield in his office.
Last edited by Vincent; 03-10-2016 at 09:56 PM.
-
The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to Vincent For This Useful Post:
-
Contributing Member
Originally Posted by
Warren
It is no rumour....around 8,000 No.4 rifles were shipped from
Canada to Afghanistan along with a huge pile of ammo, estimated at 6 or 8 million rounds.
Rifles were all LongBranch.
I don't want to elaborate too much on this but I can probably give you the year and exact quantity if I have a chance to dig into some files.
Just too busy right now to spend hours looking for the paper trail..........
Wow, its great to get some detail on these Cold War escapades, I would imagine those LB No4's were in superb order when shipped too. The mix of covert training, plus Western supplied Enfields, AK's, Stingers and various HMG/LMG's must have been a huge and terrifying headache for the mostly young conscript Soviets facing them.
-
Thank You to mrclark303 For This Useful Post:
-
Warren, you REALLY must start digging into these mysterious files of yours that never seem to appear. You have made more promises than David Cameron! It IS a rumour until you come up with the goods
-
The Following 5 Members Say Thank You to Peter Laidler For This Useful Post:
-
Contributing Member
I await the information with great interest, as a footnote to the covert training supplied to the Afghans during the 1980's, I saw a very interesting photograph hanging on a business contacts kitchen wall a few years back, it was him holding what appeared to be an L42 (might be wrong), along with a couple of other gents and a bunch of Afghan locals, they were standing around a crashed Soviet Hind gunship with a pile of liberated avionic items at their feet.
When I asked him to elaborate, he just smiled and said "old 80's Holiday snap". I guess the flip side of Western support was hands on access to Soviet hardware.
-
The Following 3 Members Say Thank You to mrclark303 For This Useful Post:
-
Legacy Member
This thread has opened up far wider than than I expected, it seems there may be some actual credibility to the rumors of how these Canadian rifles ended up in country.
I use the term rumors, because that is the level of credibility I assign to the way I came to learn of data originally. From day one on my combat intelligence course, the staff thumped the dangers of relying on single source reporting and rumors into our skulls, it has stuck after these years. It would be nice to see some more supporting data and I might be able to change the credibility of rumor to fact in this story.
Standing by to see what else surfaces.
- Darren
1 PL West Nova Scotia Regiment 2000-2003
1 BN Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry 2003-2013
-
The Following 4 Members Say Thank You to Sentryduty For This Useful Post:
-
Legacy Member
Originally Posted by
Vincent
If you are talking about the shipments Charlie Wilson arranged, I think you will find a lot of the Enfield’s were from Israel.
CW also arranged for new .303 ammo to be produced here and shipped to Afghanistan. I still have a few cans.
The Enfield’s were shipped when plausible deniability was still ordered. That went out the window when CW got approval for the Stingers. That made him famous here. The Enfield’s hardly got mentioned even though one of the most famous pictures of CW shows him holding an Enfield in his office.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...iewilson-1.jpg
That rifle looks cocked and finger on trigger.
-
-
And magazine not fully home too unless it's the camera angle. And an ex Ishapore fixed one too! There's irony for you if it's one being sent to Afghanistan........
-
-
Warren, you REALLY must start digging into these mysterious files of yours that never seem to appear. You have made more promises than David Cameron! It IS a rumour until you come up with the goods
You know how it is when you have other priorities....
How is the Bren book coming ???
-
PM
