Thursday, March 06, 2008

 

Canadians in the Fight


Canadian troops march in Holland (nice windmill) late in the war. Because I recently spent some time at the regimental museums in Calgary, I know that Canada during WWII, with a population just over 10,000,000 fielded over 1,000,000 men and women (mainly men) in its armed forces against the Axis powers. That's 10%. Wow. (Of course we Americans did about the same, maybe a little better actually).
Now with a population over 30,000,000, the Canadians field total armed forces with just over 57,000. That's like .16%. Gee, you don't think they could be relying on us to actually defend them in a big fight? Naah. They wouldn't do that. The first guy in line has a Bren gun over his shoulder. That would be a good gun to have. The rest have the Lee Enfield in .303, which is not on my list of guns to be collected.

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Comments:
Why dont you like the Enfield?
 
Not so much dislike as total underwhelming. It was a WWI gun pressed into service in WWII because the Brits didn't bother to make a semi auto during their near complete disarmament in the 20s and 30s. Thanks for the comment
 
If you get an SMLE, Roger, I'll be happy to dispose of it for you for a nominal fee. (That's just the kind of guy I am.)

On a somewhat related note, the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY has quite a few Enfields of various descriptions in its collection. (And if you haven't been there, it's quite possibly the most amazing small arms collection in the world -- they even have a 15th century Swiss matchlock in amongst all the other stuff.)
 
I wanted to get to the museum up there but a blizzard chased me away. Maybe after I retire. I'm not saying SMLEs are bad, just not outstanding enough to collect. Regarding WWII arms, I want a Walther G-43, Soviet SVT 40, KAR 98, STG 44, MG 42 and an M2 but I'll have to earn some money to get that accomplished (except for the SVT and KAR).
 
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