With British Snipers to the Reich by Capt. C. Shore

Author:Capt. C. Shore [Shore, Capt. C.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Arcole Publishing
Published: 2017-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

FOREIGN WEAPONS

Mauser Kar 98K • German Sniper Rifles and Equipment • Gewehr 41 • Gewehr 43 • German Automatic Rifle Sniper • Austrian Steyr-Mannlicher 8mm • German Machine Guns MG 34 and 42 Schmeisser • MP 44 • .22 • Sporting Rifles and Shotguns • Mannlicher-Carcano 6.5mm • French Rifles • American Weapons

During my time in N.W. Europe it was but natural that I should take every opportunity of using the divers types of weapons with which I came into contact. Many had the same idea, but in the majority of cases it was from sheer idle curiosity, and not from a real interest. Probably the enemy weapon which was used most by Allied troops was the German Mauser rifle, and it was astonishing to hear how many men thought this rifle to be superior to the British and American service rifles. I write “astonishing” but that is a mild term, since at least 95% of the men who uttered such statements hardly knew from which end of a rifle the bullet appeared; most certainly they couldn’t use a rifle of any type, so their complacent verdict just arose from that queer foible which is so prevalent of extolling anything which is thine enemies and slinging mud at that which is thine own.

Once, for a joke, I took a man who had been talking a lot of rot about the superiority of the German weapons compared with our own down on the 25 yards range we had built when static in Holland in the winter of ’44-’45. We carried a No. 4 rifle—belonging to the culprit—a Kar 98K of mine (which was a good shooting job at short ranges), a Walther pistol, my S & W .38, a Sten carbine and a Schmeisser. I told the chap that I looked forward with keen interest to his substantiating his deprecatory remarks about our weapons by putting up some excellent targets with the 98K, the Walther and the Schmeisser. I fired the No. 4, the .38 and the Sten. My targets were not bad, and malicious though it may appear I found the green and yellow jaundiced appearance of my companion’s face pleasing. Anyhow he proceeded to do his best with the German weapons, and a damned poor best it was too. At twelve paces he never once hit the standard pistol target in six shots with the Walther; anyone standing in front of him at yards when he was using the Schmeisser would have escaped unscathed, and with the Mauser he had only four shots on the Hun Head target at 15 yards! He then used the British rifle, Sten and pistol and although his performances were really shocking by all shooting standards he certainly improved on his showing with the German weapons. He returned to his section in very chastened mood, and never again was he heard to speak glowingly of the Huns’ armoury!

I fired a good deal with the Mauser Kar 98K which was given to me by an officer in the Belgian Maquis in September 1944.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.