amcl wrote:Hello Knouterer. Thanks for the interesting link.
The equipment state you provided there for Home Guard in SE Command in 1942 is rather less tidy than the impression left by Clarke. The presence of a small number of SMLE & P14 rifles - along with the .22s - fits in easily with Clarke's comments on training weapons & substandard ammo, but nearly 7,500 Ross Rifles is a surprisingly large number. Have you come across any comment on this in your researches?
Regards,
Angus
Hello Angus,
As Clarke notes, the monthly return for 1st March 1941 does show 79,156 Ross rifles, more or less evenly scattered across the whole country:
14,065 in Southern Command
13,630 in Northern Command
742 in Aldershot Command
3,077 in Scottish Command
28,057 in Western Command
17,234 in Eastern Command
2,351 in London District
Within Commands, they were also to be found in (almost) all zones; in Eastern Command, there were 9,497 in II Corps, 3,795 in XI Corps, and 3,942 in XII Corps. As Clarke notes, numbers dwindled from then on (as for other .303 rifles):
.303 rifles Ross .300 rifles
(SMLE /P14)
March 1941 22,539 79,156 701,660
June 16,237 54,741 770,090
September 6,315 26,965 791,525
March 1942 8,078 22,032 832,667
A good part of the remaining Ross rifles were in SE Command; 984 in Aldershot, 3,741 in the Canadian Corps zone and 2,766 in XII Corps.
After that, the Ross in the HG seemed to resist complete extinction and there were still 19, 348 on hand as of 31st October 1942.
The War Office file I had copied (WO 199/3247) contains no further detailed breakdowns of armament.
Where the HG's Ross rifles went I do not know, possibly to the Merchant Marine, minesweeping trawlers and such, mainly for shooting at floating mines (Ross rifles had laraedy been used for that purpose in WWI I beleive).
You are probably familiar with the diary of Col. Rodney Foster, who commanded the Saltwood platoon of the Hythe Home Guard company in 1940. He notes that some of his platoon were issued P14s on 23 May, plus a few more in the following weeks, supplemented by “service rifles” (SMLE presumably) on 13 August, by which time the platoon was apparently more or less fully armed. They also received a BAR mid-September. Then on 24 November:
“I drove “Bone” Foster down to the Small Arms School, picking up prior on the way for the issue of our new rifles. We have received Ross rifles, clumsy weapons. I was able with Fuller’ help to return all but three of mine. (…) In the afternoon I went round Saltwood distributing the new rifles.”