turpin42
Well-Known Member
Hi all
Been an awful long time since i postet anything but this has really got me thinking so here goes....
Just got permission to search around a German position here in Southern Norway and would like some feedback around these .303 casings i found.
Finding .303 at German sites is nothing out of the ordinary. Milorg posted guards at the end of the war and the 1st Airborne troops that arrived to clean up after the Germans had Lee Enfields, most i have found are dated between 1942-1944.
Amongst the German and Dutch 7.9 schwarzlose casings (thanks to Super7 and TonyE for ID from another site back in 2011) i found a number of .303. They all look like they were fired from a Bren. They are all dated 1939 and i have never found cases with such an early date before...
Now the interesting bit, this position is quite literally a stones throw from where the Polish aircrew and SOE agents from operation Pliers were buried (october 1942) and a month later the Royal Engineers from Operation Freshman.
Since they had Dutch schwarzlose here it could be very possible that they simply had Bren guns captured at Dunkirk (would explain the early date) but the fact that the position is so close to where they were buried has got me thinking.
I have heard stories that the locals threw some Brenguns into a lake near the crashsite of the Halifax from OP Pliers so maybe one found it's way here?
The Royal Engineers from Freshman from what i have read, only seem to have had Sten guns and Lee Enfields with them so i guess that is a dead end?
Anyway, if anyone out there has any thoughts, i would love to hear them.
If only the stuff we collect could talk......
All the best
T42
Been an awful long time since i postet anything but this has really got me thinking so here goes....
Just got permission to search around a German position here in Southern Norway and would like some feedback around these .303 casings i found.
Finding .303 at German sites is nothing out of the ordinary. Milorg posted guards at the end of the war and the 1st Airborne troops that arrived to clean up after the Germans had Lee Enfields, most i have found are dated between 1942-1944.
Amongst the German and Dutch 7.9 schwarzlose casings (thanks to Super7 and TonyE for ID from another site back in 2011) i found a number of .303. They all look like they were fired from a Bren. They are all dated 1939 and i have never found cases with such an early date before...
Now the interesting bit, this position is quite literally a stones throw from where the Polish aircrew and SOE agents from operation Pliers were buried (october 1942) and a month later the Royal Engineers from Operation Freshman.
Since they had Dutch schwarzlose here it could be very possible that they simply had Bren guns captured at Dunkirk (would explain the early date) but the fact that the position is so close to where they were buried has got me thinking.
I have heard stories that the locals threw some Brenguns into a lake near the crashsite of the Halifax from OP Pliers so maybe one found it's way here?
The Royal Engineers from Freshman from what i have read, only seem to have had Sten guns and Lee Enfields with them so i guess that is a dead end?
Anyway, if anyone out there has any thoughts, i would love to hear them.
If only the stuff we collect could talk......
All the best
T42