Manufacturing enough small arms to supply British & Commonwealth forces during the SWW was a real challenge. Small Arms Factories sprang up across the country beyond RSAF Enfield.
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Source https://royalarmouries.org/projects-and-associations/royal-small-arms-factory-enfield-roll-of-honour-project/
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Source https://royalarmouries.org/projects-and-associations/royal-small-arms-factory-enfield-roll-of-honour-project/
That meant relying on US as well as the Imperial armoury system.
But if you were running the Armament Design Establishment for Small Arms and General Staff policy was to adopt American .30'06 once hostilities allowed for it, would you argue in favour or no?
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But if you were running the Armament Design Establishment for Small Arms and General Staff policy was to adopt American .30'06 once hostilities allowed for it, would you argue in favour or no?
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The obvs answer is no. And so despite a highly reasoned report produced by ADE Cheshunt in March '46, the conclusion was that switching to US SAA would not be acceptable because:
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Obvs you'd also want to hold out the prospect of having your own self-loading rifle under development in 7.92, a weapon that itself would potentially offer more tactical flexibility than the M-1 Garand.
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I was searching for something else in my files & found this report.
Just a short interlude between threads but thought you might like to see that British engineers had a lot to do.
Not only did they have to design & defend their own weapon but also overturn GS policy.
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Just a short interlude between threads but thought you might like to see that British engineers had a lot to do.
Not only did they have to design & defend their own weapon but also overturn GS policy.
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