Hi all, A liitle interesting photo, the man in the greatcoat looks to be wearing a ARP badge on his cap and the man holding the gun looks to be a smartly dressed home guard member. Is the rifle he's holding a Lee Enfield? Also these ladies are they members of the ladys land army? not dressed like that surely regards kieron
Hi Kieron, It's me again! These are definately posed photos. The ladies look they may be celebrating some sort of event, espically as the man in the photo is wearing what appears to be his "Sunday Best". This would not be normal working daily attire for farmhands. Your other photo looks like it could a Policeman. Not sure who the guy in the tin hat is but he is carrying a Lee Enfield, as you stated. regards PAUL J :ph34r:
The guy in the first photo seems to fancy the dark-haired lady, or else he is about to toss that hay over her.
The rifle is NOT a Lee Enfield. It looks to me like a M1903 Springfield, a model which was supplied to the Home Guard in great numbers. When the LDV (later named Home Guard) was created in 1940, there were insufficient SMLEs available for issue to them, particularly given the need to equip troops who had returned from Dunkirk without rifles and the new troops completing training, so a large supply of rifles and ammunition was purchased in the USA. I remember my dad telling me how in 1940 he had to take his SMLE with him when he went home on leave and his memory of it being propped in the corner of the living room at my grandparents house alongside my uncle's Home Guard issue Springfield. The Lee Enfields in service early in WWII resembled the Mk1 and Mk2 SMLE models in the link below. The No4, the standard issue rifle at the time of D-day, did not enter service until later in the war. As you will see, the rifle in the photo does not resemble the Mk1/Mk3 and as far as I know the No4 was never issued to the Home Guard. Pictures: http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/leenfld.htm
Sorry Angie, Looked like an LE to me, but I am not an expert in this field. Should make sure of my facts before making comments. Whoops! Regards PAUL J
Looks to me like a .300 Ross Rifle - minus the magazine. View attachment 715 These were delivered to the HG in June 1940 from the USA they were made toa 1912 British Design, and arrived in crates of twelve all embedded in hard yellow grease.
Certainly not a Lee-Enfield rifle -- could be Pattern 1914 Enfield (.303 British caliber), Pattern 1917 Enfield (30/06 US caliber), 1903 Springfield (30/06 US caliber) -- or possibly Canadian Ross rifle. All were issued at various times to various LDV/HG units -- an admixture that led to ammunition supply problems. My father's (#1 Burnley) Company was originally issued US lend-lease 1903 Springfield rifles which they later turned-in for Pattern 1914 Enfield rifles. I went with my father to the Hambledon Hill rifle range (just outside Burnley) several times when they did familiarization/qualification shooting in 1940/1941. At first they used .30/06 US ammunition for the Springfields and later .303 British ammunition for the Enfields. My cousin and I used to dig bullets out of the back stop when they were through shooting and collect spent cartridge cases that had been overlooked. It was easy to tell the US (rimless) cases from the British (rimmed) cases. It would be easier to attribute the rifle in the photo if the breach area was clearer -- for instance, the prominent lugged rear peep sight and offset bolt handles on the Enfields would be a sure giveaway. The Pattern 1914 and !917 rifles were identical except for caliber and rear sight graduations.
I agree that the haymaking photo is probably staged/posed. I worked on our Milkman's farm after school and during spring/summer school holidays in 1940/1941 with his Women's Land Army assignee and we never dressed up like that when haymaking -- or when performing any farm work We (the farmer, his wife, daughter, WLA assignee and me) always wore coarse work clothing when performing tasks such as that depicted -- the WLA assignee always wore her uniform (khaki shirt & johdpurs, dark green wool sweater and brown brogans) as far as I can remember.
The rifle may be a Lee Enfield of 1900 or slightly later date. It looks like it may even have a Parker Hale type target sight fitted to it, but it is hard to see. The P14 and P17 were aquired from the US also for Home Guard issue. It is clearly not an SMLE as the woodwork ends quite a way before the end of the barrel, a dead giveaway for that. The SMLE was however issued to some Home Guards, but in some cases they were later swapped for older patterns, which caused resentment that the Home Guard was not being taken seriously. Some people say they never got hte SMLE at all, but I can provide a pic of a unit in the SE of England with a whole parade of 30 plus HG from one unit and every man has an SMLE Ammo problems came with the .300 versus the .303 and to alleviate this all .300 calibre weapons had to have a wide clear red band painted on the woodwork near the muzzle of the weapon to indicate that on no accound must .303 ammo be used. Our Home Guard re-enactment group has a couple of these rifles. Kind regards MG
