[Skunkabilly]

Anyone have a line on Enfields that served in Hong Kong during the war?

I'm both historically and riflically inept.

[SMLE]

If there were Brits in Hong Kong, there were Enfields. Most likely #1 MkIIIs. I would have to hit my books for more info than that.
Your best bet for a a long and detailed answer would be to post your question here: http://www.britishguns.net/cgi-bin/forums/enfield.pl

[pbhome71]

According to these folks, http://www.rhkr.org/equipment/weapon.htm, they uses No1, Mk4.

However, they list the Enfield as a 5-rounder, so you need to take it as a grain of salt.

There is another page that I found... http://www.geocities.com/phil_doddridge/index-18.html
This one is interesting, especially Page 18 and later. He went on talking about the defending of HK, and what happened after the surrender.


Total Surrender

The next morning we stacked our rifles, the last act before total surrender, and the equivalent of presenting the sword to the victor. That was the last I saw of my Enfield, number 1-59544. I had carried it from Valcartier in July, 1940. We had always been admonished to respect the rifle, "the best friend a soldier ever had". I had taken to heart the advice that had been given to me. The rifle had become a part of me. To this day the feel of a Lee Enfield against my shoulder is like an extension of my body, almost like a third arm.

[carpettbaggerr]

Don't forget grammatically.


:neener:

[nemesis]

Anyone have a line on Enfields that served in Hong Kong during the war?

Hong Kong fell to the Japanese in the opening days of the war. I guess you can count the two weeks between Pearl Harbor and the December 25th surrender as "during the war".

That was the last I saw of my Enfield, number 1-59544. I had carried it from Valcartier in July, 1940.

The Valcartier reference indicates that the comment was made by a Canadian soldier, so the rifle would be a No. 4, Mk 1.

[Skunkabilly]

Hmmm.

It would be darn near impossible to track down individual rifles huh?

[SMLE]

The Valcartier reference indicates that the comment was made by a Canadian soldier, so the rifle would be a No. 4, Mk 1. I have seen a lot of pics of Canadian Soldiers early in WWII still carrying #1 rifles. There is a picture of Canadian troops parading past Parlement in 1940, all carrying #1s.

The British and Commonwealth forces never fully switched over to the #4 during the war. And the Aussies never even tried, carrying #1 rifles all the way through the Korean war