Churchill's Underground Army by John Warwicker

Author:John Warwicker
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783469345
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2013-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

Inclusion of the .22-inch rifle is important confirmation of the dangerous commitments expected from Auxiliers. In his August 1940 report to the Prime Minister, Duncan Sandys had acknowledged that sniping was included in their remit. This was followed by a similar task-allocation to Scout Sections. Sniping was not possible with comparatively inaccurate handguns, and a noisy P.17, with the associated impossibility of silent operations, was never a serious proposition either. But a marksman with a silenced .22 rifle with telescopic sight and long-range bullets would have a real chance of living to fight another day.

Winchesters, Remingtons and BSAs were among the sniping rifles issued. Don Handscombe was in no doubt about their intended use:

At home I had my revolver, of course, and dagger, truncheon, a cheese wire, face veil, some hand grenades and detonators, and some plastic explosive and rounds of ammunition. And we had one .22 rifle with a telescopic sight between the patrol and we shared the ammunition. So I had some .22 ammunition as well.

We knew of a list of people who might have collaborated with the enemy. But it was not produced to us. We were told that part of our duties may have been to deal with some of these people, but we didn’t really know more than that. I would have felt justified in taking the lives of people we regarded as Quislings or collaborators. In the Stand-down orders Colonel Douglas wrote that he knew we would fight with orders or without. In my patrol we were all good shots. The .22 was passed round. We regarded it as an assassination weapon although it might have helped us to live off the land as well.

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