Commonwealth Weapons of World War 2

[Nightcrawler]

Are there any weapons that the Commonwealth Nations used in the Second World War used that were not simply standard-issue British items? I mean, sure, they all had the STEN and the BREN and the Vickers, as well as the No.1 and No.4 Enfields, but what weapons were unique to Australia and Canada?

I know Australia had its funky looking Owen Machine Carbine. Canada had the Hi-Power as its standard issue sidearm, whereas it was only on a limited issue basis to the Brits and the Aussies (I believe).

Did Australia use the .455 Webley revolver, or were they using only the .38-200 Enfields?

Which American weapons were most widespread amongst British, Canadian, and Australian Forces?

 

[Preacherman]

Most Commonwealth nations produced British small arms under license. Some of them also produced larger weapons like artillery, armored vehicles (South Africa produced about 6,000 Marmon-Herrington armored cars, for example), aircraft assembly, etc.

 

[swingset]

The commonwealth used all kinds of weapons during WWII.

The P14 (No3mk1) was still in use, mainly in homeguard units. The Ross was still employed in limited numbers. The Thompson SMG saw use by British & Canadian troops. There was also the DeLisle carbine (a silenced SMLE in .45acp) and the Stirling SMG, both used alot by SAS commandos....and let's not forget the No5 Enfields. I recall some M3 grease guns making their way into Brit units too.

 

[Nightcrawler]

I had thought that the Australians never got the No. 4 Enfield, but apparently they did.

The Sterling was a postwar submachine gun based on the STEN, with lineage that goes back to the Lanchester, correct?

How common was it to have British, Australian, and Canadian units equipped with Thompsons instead of STENs?

 

[Mike Irwin]

The Aussies manufactured the No 3 MK 1 at Lithgow. They had all the tooling for it, no sense in mucking around and trying to make a new rifle when you need the ones you're already making.


The two weapons that spring immediately to mind as being Aussie are the Austen and Owen, both submachine guns.

The Austen (Australian Sten) was exactly that, a homemade copy of the Sten.

The Owen, however, was an indigenous design. Very very funky looking. The commission that examined it, and finally accepted it, said that it would do as a war expediency, but that it had multiple areas where it should be improved. The Owen stayed in service in Australia until the middle 1960s, unchanged.


The Australians also had one home-grown fighter aircraft, the Boomerang. It was fairly straight forward and not very innovative, it used an underpowered Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine, which was the only thing available at the time, and it was an EXCEPTIONALLY maneuverable and capable dogfighter.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Wait a second...

The Pattern 14 is what became the US Model of 1917 Enfield. That's a different critter altogether from the No. 3 Mk I.

 

[Sunray]

The Sterling is definitely post-war. The HP was made here but not exclusively used by our guys. The WW II CF used mostly Brit designed weapons. The Ross was long gone from CF stores although it may have been issued to our Home Guard types. It was never used in combat by our guys.
There are tons of books about WW II, the Commonwealth Armies and who used what in WW II in your public library.

 

[Old Fuff]

>> Did Australia use the .455 Webley revolver, or were they using only the .38-200 Enfields? <<

The Australians used a lot of S&W No.2/38-200 revolvers, as well as Enfields and Webley Mk IV .38's.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

The Pattern 14 is what became the US Model of 1917 Enfield. That's a different critter altogether from the No. 3 Mk I.

Nope. No.3 Mk.I = Pattern 1914. The Brits changed the nomenclature after World War I. Before and during WWI, the No.1 Mk.III was known as the "Rifle, Short Magazine, Lee-Enfield Mk.III". That's where "SMLE" comes from, and why it's incorrect to refer to the No.4 as a SMLE.

After WWI the SMLE was redesignated the No.1. I forget what the No.2 was, something experimental (maybe the Pattern 1913 in that .276 round). The P-14 became the No.3 Mk.I.

Brit small arms nomenclature can be really confusing.

 

[Mike Irwin]

No 1 Mk III, No. 3 Mk I...

poo stick.


I'm forever getting that messed up.