@historicalfirearms / www.historicalfirearms.info
Back in September Ukraine received a batch of vintage M101 105mm howitzers from Lithuania. These guns have recently been seen in action. In this video we look at their history and capabilities and how they might be used in Ukraine.
Check out the full accompanying blog here.
On the 16 July, I gave a talk at the UK’s National Army Museum in London. Organised by the Vickers Machine Gun Collection & Research Association the event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the disbandment of the British Army’s Machine Gun Corps but also commemorated the legacy of the Vickers Machine Gun itself. In support of the event I gave a talk on how the Vickers was used in the indirect fire role.
You can watch the talk below:
This week marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Imjin River. To commemorate this we look the only film to be made about the British Army’s experience during the Korean War 1956’s A Hill In Korea (Also known as Hell In Korea). The film features a stellar cast including Stanley Baker, Harry Andrews, Robert Shaw, George Baker, Harry Landis and a young Michael Caine in his first film role.
Also available on other platforms and apps - find them here.
Thanks for listening!
This week marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Imjin River, the Korean War battle perhaps most closely associated with the UK’s involvement in the conflict. Sadly, Korea remains a largely forgotten war and only one film has ever been made about the British Army’s experience 1956’s ‘A Hill In Korea‘. In this video we’ll discuss the battle, the super bazooka and the classic war film!
I felt it was important to discuss the battle on its 70th anniversary as it sadly continues to be largely forgotten. The Glosters and the men of 29th British Independent Infantry Brigade Group fought a very hard battle against massively overwhelming odds, I would definitely urge you to read more about the battle and the war itself. I would also recommend seeking out A Hill In Korea, it is a fascinating film.
Let’s take a pictorial look at some of the machine guns used by both sides during the Korean War.
DShK 38/46 (on an AA mount) alongside an American M2 Browning .50 cal HMG (Source)
Soldiers from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division in action near the Ch'ongch'on River, with a Browning M1919A6 'light machine gun', November 1950. (Source)
A Vickers medium machine gun of the Royal Canadian Regiment. Widely used by British, Australian and Canadian forces. Excellent in the defensive sustained fire role. (Source)
A COMBLOC DShK heavy machine gun on a wheeled carriage, captured by US troops in Koesong, Korea. (Source)
The British Bren Gun, in use with British & Commonwealth forces deployed to Korea. Seen here with men of the Royal Canadian Regiment. (Source)
The King's Own Scottish Borderers with an American M1919A4 medium machine gun. (Source)
Men of a Dutch infantry battalion fire on North Korean positions with a .50 M2 Browning heavy machine gun mounted on a tripod, northeast of Yanggu. (Source)
A US soldier armed with an M1 Carbine, with M8 grenade launching attachment, sits next to a captured DPM light machine gun. (Source)
Captured Communist equipment including an anti-tank gun and a pair of PM M1910 Maxims. (Source)
BAR Gunner with the 25th Division, c.1951 (Source)
The photograph above shows a South Vietnamese Ranger position with an M1919A6 at Khe Sanh. Taken in March 1968, the photograph shows US Air Force bombs landing just outside the base’s perimeter. The M1919A6 is being manned by a two man team with an assistant gunner feeding the weapon’s belt, to the right of the gun a pile of spent brass has piled up.
Development of the M1919A6 began in 1943, when the U.S. Army Infantry Board began to look for a weapon capable of sustained fire to augment and replace the M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle. The A6 is a fully automatic, recoil operated, air-cooled, .30-06 light machine gun with a lighter barrel, large buttstock and a bipod. The A6′s barrel could be replaced more easily than the M1919A4 but it was still not as simple as light machine guns like the Bren or general purpose machine guns like the MG42. Weighing 14.7kg (32.5lbs) with its bipod the A6 was still not a lightweight weapon when compared to the contemporary MG42 which weighed 11.6kg (25.5lb). As with all M1919s, the A6 fed from a 250-round canvas belt.
It was designated a substitute standard and first saw action in Italy in the autumn of 1943, in Italy. 43,500 A6's were produced (along with some conversions of A4 and A5s) and these saw action throughout the remainder of the Second World War and during Korea when their firepower at a squad level was needed to combat Communist human wave attacks. Many were later transferred to the South Vietnamese Army as war aid and saw continued service during the Vietnam War. The M1919A6 was finally replaced in US service by the US’ first true light machine gun the M60 in 1957.
Sources:
Images: 1 2
The Stevens Model 520 is one of John Browning’s lesser known shotgun designs. Based on two patents filed in 1903 and 1906, Stevens Arms Company bought the rights to the design and began production in 1909. The Model 520 is a ‘hammerless’, pump action shotgun with a bolt that locked into the top of the receiver, similar to one of Browning’s patents filed before the turn of the century.
The Model 520 had a unique take-down barrel and locking breech block system which, once the slide was opened, the magazine tube could be unscrewed which freed the receiver from the barrel and magazine assembly.
The position of the 520′s safety moved several times, initially inside the trigger guard, then moved behind the trigger guard on the left side and finally, with the Model 520A the safety moved to the shotgun’s tang. The Riot and later Trench Gun models had 20 inch barrels, 5-round tube magazines and weighed approximately 8lbs (3.6kg). Steven’s offered the Model 502 in various gauges, including 12, 16 and 20 gauge during its production run.
A page from a pre-war Stevens catalogue showing two Model 520 sporting shotguns (source)
With America’s entry into the First World War, the US military called for a trench shotgun. Stevens developed a military version of their Model 520, but the war ended before production began. While the US military did not purchase the Model 520 during the First World War, the Model 520-30 was purchased in large numbers during the Second World War. Fitted with a Henry Brewer’s patented heat shield and John Otterson’s sword bayonet mount for the M1917 bayonet.
Production of the civilian Model 520 had ended before the outbreak of war and remaining guns were sold to the military before Stevens restarted production to cater to the war demand. The 520 had been superseded by the Model 620, in the late 1920s, which was little more than a streamlined version of the 520.
Stevens intended the 620 to compete with contemporary streamlined designs like the Winchester Model 1912 and Remington Model 10. The military purchased both the 520-30 and 620A and the shotguns subsequently saw action during the Second World War, Korea and in Vietnam. Stevens produced 35,306 shotguns for the military during the war, of which 12,174 were M620As. Overall, Stevens produced just under 200,000 Model 520-pattern shotguns by the time production ended in 1955.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3 4 5
‘Magazine-Gun’, US Patent #781765, J.M. Browning, 10/07/1903, (source)
‘Firearm’, US Patent #864609, J.M. Browning, 05/12/1906, (source)
US Combat Shotguns, L. Thompson, (2013)
War Department Technical Manual, Shotguns, All Types, Sept. 1942 TM 9-285, (source)
The photographs above show the scaled up demonstration models used to instruct soldiers and marines on how their M1 Garand rifles worked. The training aids were approximately 2 or 3 times larger than an actual M1 Garand and were made out of aluminium and wood.
The graphic training aid rifles were 86 inches (218cm) in overall length and had their right side cut away and marked out with red paint to show the functioning inner workings of the rifle including the gas system, op rod, magazine and trigger mechanism.
A Browning M1918A2 Instructional Cutaway (source)
The US Army had a series of enlarged training aids which were used at infantry schools, training camps and ordnance training centres. These were instrumental in classes teaching troops how weapon’s fit together and worked and familiarising soldiers with the principles behind how the weapons functioned.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3
As part of the improvements made to the M3 submachine gun following its introduction in 1943, the collapsible stock was altered. Troops complained about the difficulty of loading the last rounds into the M3′s double stack, single feed magazine. In response to this a simple magazine loading tool was added to allow troops to load magazines more easily.
This improvement was designed by Milton Farber and the above patent explained its intended use:
“The invention consists in the provision of a special loop in the butt of the stock for slideably receiving the magazine and a special hook on the stock so disposed that when the magazine is slid into the loop, it is held against lateral slipping while the hook may be used to exert force on the cartridges in the magazine to compress them against the magazine spring to permit manual insertion of an additional cartridge.”
Additionally, once removed the wire stock could also be used as a cleaning rod and as a wrench to unscrew the barrel assembly. The M3A1 remained in front line US service until the early 1960s, with the last issued as personal defence weapons for vehicle crews in the early 1990s.
Sources:
Images: 1 2
‘Extensible stock and magazine loading tool for firearms‘, US Patent #2466017, M.S. Farber, 04/02/1948, (source)
I’ve just uploaded an album of photographs showing Vasiliy Degtyarev's DP-28 in action during WWII and the Korean War over on the Historical Firearms Facebook page. Everyone loves a DP, check out the images here!
Read more about the DP here
In 1941, Britain began developing the Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank, better known as the PIAT. The PIAT would become Britain’s primary anti-tank weapon during World War Two. A year earlier in 1940, the British developed the No. 68 AT Rifle Grenade, however, the No.68 proved unsuccessful and was not widely used. The .55 calibre Boys AT rifle had been in service since 1937, but was quickly found to be ineffective against thicker German armour. The PIAT was a response to the infantry soldier’s need for a lightweight, ranged anti-tank weapon.
Lt-Col. Stewart Blacker took his the 29mm Spigot Mortar, known as the Blacker Bombard, as a basis for a smaller, more portable spigot-based weapon. Blacker developed what he called the ‘Baby Bombard’ - a man-portable, shoulder fired weapon using a hollow charge bomb with a propellant charge in the tail. The Baby Bombard had a large spring and spigot at the base - when the weapon fired the spring was released and the spigot projected up the tail tube of the bomb projecting igniting the propellant charge inside. The ignited propellant charge then forced the bomb off the spigot with propellant gases expanding between the bomb and the spigot throwing it down range. The Baby Bombard was shown to the War Office in June 1941, but initial testing was disappointing. While Blacker moved on to other duties, continuing development was overseen by Major Millis Jefferis, an explosives expert and skilled engineer, at the Ministry of Defence’s research and development establishment MD1. Jefferis redesigned the Baby Bombard, rechristening it the 'Jefferis Shoulder Gun’. It was adopted in the summer of 1942, following successful testing by the Ordnance Board.
Diagram showing the parts of the PIAT from a 1943 training manual (source)
PIAT production began in August 1942, and it first saw action in the summer of 1943, during the Allied invasion of Sicily and remained in service into the 1950s. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. and other manufacturers produced approximately 115,000 by the end of the war.
The weapon itself was 39 inches (1m) long and weighed 32 lbs (15kg). The PIAT was not a rocket launcher, instead it relied on a spring-loaded spigot to detonate a propellant charge and launch a bomb containing a shaped charge.Unlike a rocket launcher the PIAT did not have to withstand high pressures and could be made from sheet steel. the positives of the system included its lack of muzzle flash and relatively little report unlike American Bazookas and German Panzerfausts. It was also relatively cheap to manufacture. However, its main drawbacks were its heavy recoil, problems cocking the weapon and the fragile sheet steel it was made from.
The performance of the PIAT in terms of range and armour penetration was adequate. The 3lb (1.35kg) projectile when fired within 100m could penetrate in excess of 100mm of armour. Optimally the projectile could achieve a muzzle velocity of approximately 450ft/s (137m/s). Although as armour skirts came into use the PIAT became less effective. Its maximum effective range against armour was 115 yards (110m), the PIAT could be used against fixed positions and buildings at up to 350 yards (320m) by arcing projectiles onto the target. It was aimed using an aperture sight and could be stabilised with the weapon’s monopod.
An inert 3lb high explosive PIAT bomb (source)
Each platoon was issued one PIAT, it could be operated by one man but was normally deployed by a two man team, with the second man acting as ammunition carrier and loader. They were extremely useful for airborne units, offering a support weapon able to answer both enemy armour and fixed positions. They were used throughout the war being issued to infantry and also mounted on Universal (Bren Gun) Carriers with mechanised units.
Britain, Canada, Australia and the other Commonwealth nations all used the PIAT. In Australian service it was designated the 'Projector Infantry Tank Attack’ or PITA. The British also dropped PIATs to resistance fighters operating in occupied Europe with many used by the French resistance and some seeing action during the Warsaw Uprising.
Australian Infantryman demonstrates the loading of a PIAT to Maj. General Milford, c.1945 (source)
Due to their limited range, of about 100 yards, PIATs took a certain amount of courage to use in action. As a result six men were awarded the Victoria Cross for using them to destroy German tanks. During the battle for Arnhem, during Operation Market Garden Major Robert Cain, of 2nd South Staffordshire Regt., won a VC single-handedly immobilising a German Stug Assault Gun and forced three Panzer IVs to retreat using a PIAT. Similarly in Italy in October 1944, Private Ernest Smith used a PIAT to destroy a German Mark V Panther tank winning a VC. 7% of all tanks destroyed by British forces during D-Day operations were knocked out by PIATs, more than destroyed by rocket armed aircraft. Image #7 shows a German Panther tank that was allegedly knocked-out by a PIAT in Bretteville-en-Orguilleuse, near Caen, in summer 1944.
The PIAT needed to be manually cocked before the first shot, theoretically the recoil from firing would then re-cock it for subsequent shots. Cocking was achieved by compressing a large spring within the body of the launcher, this was difficult to achieve without standing up. The PIAT’s manual does depict and explain how this could be accomplished in the prone position.
PIAT team from the 1st Btn. London Irish Rifles, the number two loads a projectile (source)
To ready the PIAT to fire the operator would stand the PIAT on its butt, holding it firmly twist the weapon to disconnect the shoulder pad which was attached to the cocking rod. By standing on the shoulder pad and pulling the body of the weapon up the spigot (which acted as a firing pin) and spring were compressed and the spring into the firing position and attached it to the trigger mechanism cocking the weapon. The body was then slid back down to the shoulder pad and re-latched. A projectile was then placed in the in the trough/tray at the front of the weapon. The 'draw weight’ of the PIAT equalled ~90kg of spring tension. The PIAT was difficult to operate by smaller, shorter soldiers. The recoil caused by the detonation of the propellant then blew the spigot/iring pin backwards onto the spring; this automatically cocked the weapon for subsequent shots, theoretically eliminating the need to manually re-cock
While the PIAT was heavy, cumbersome, difficult to cock and hard on the shoulder when fired. It proved an effective anti-tank weapon, capable of defeating most tanks when used with cunning and daring. They later saw action during the Korean War but were phased out of service by the mid-1950s. But were soon replaced by US M20 'Bazooka’ rocket launchers and the No.94 ENERGA AT-Rifle Grenade. The Haganah, the predecessor of the IDF, also used British PIATs during the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Projector, Infantry, Anti-Tank, IWM, (source)
PIAT, ParaData, (source)
Developed by Australian Evelyn Owen, the Owen Machine Carbine became one of the most reliable and effective submachine guns of the Second World War. The prototype pictured above is an early factory prototype chambered in .32 ACP, rather than the final 9x19mm.
Owen began work on his design in 1938, hand building a .22 calibre prototype with an unusual drum magazine (see below). As he further developed his weapon at the Lysaght factory in Port Kembla the design evolved. The placement of the magazine changed a number of times and Owen built prototypes chambered in .32 ACP, .38-200 .45 ACP and 9x19mm.
The .32 ACP prototype pictured above loaded from the side, unlike the final Owen Gun which had a top-mounted magazine (see image #4). The 30-round magazine fitted into the left side of the receiver and was angled slightly down and to the rear. Presumably this was in an effort to aid reliable feeding.
Owen’s prototype .22 calibre Submachine Gun (source)
The Australian army requested a centrefire prototype chambered in .38-200, a rimmed cartridge. The engineers at Lysaght recognised this would pose problems with reliable feeding. Instead they sidestepped the .38-200 stipulation and in just three weeks developed a prototype chambered in the rimless .32ACP cartridge instead. Ingeniously the Lysaght engineers utilised a section of .303 SMLE barrel. The .32 ACP prototype was tested for the first time on the 30 th January, 1940.
The prototype has some of the later features of the production model with two finger-grooved pistol grips and a tubular receiver. The butt and trigger mechanism could be released by a spring clip on the right of the receiver. Similarly the barrel was also held by a spring clip but could be held in place by a threaded sleeve. These spring clips were later eliminated from the design. The Owen gun's receiver was later shortened but retained the distinctive compensator.
A later prototype Owen Gun chambering 9x19 (see image #4) was successfully trialed in 1942 and adopted by the Australian military. Between 1942 and 1945 Lysaght produced approximately 45,000 Owen Guns. They proved extremely reliable and remained in service into the 1960s. They saw action with Australian and New Zealand troops during World War Two and later in Korea and during the Malayan Emergency, Indonesian Confrontation and the Vietnam War.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3 4
Owen’s Australian Patent for his Machine Carbine, #115,974, 19/02/43, (source)
The Australian Owen SMG, Forgotten Weapons, (source)
In January 1945, General George S. Patton famously declared the M1 Garand "the greatest battle implement ever devised." During World War Two the M1 served American troops well in fire fights from Northern France to Okinawa, from North Africa to the Philippines. It later proved itself during the cold winters of the Korean War and armed over a dozen nations during the early years of the Cold War.
The US Army adopted the M1 in January 1936, after two decades of development. The man behind the iconic rifle was John Cantius Garand, a French-Canadian who had moved to America when he was eleven. As a teenager he worked at a cotton mill, he became an avid target shooter and in 1916 moved to New York and worked for a toolmaking company. Garand’s academic background was minimal only partially completing a International Correspondence School engineering course.
Garand's patent for the initial gas trap version of the M1 (source)
During World War One Garand began developing his own firearms designs, a light machine gun design gained attention from the War Department. While the design was not developed in time for testing Garand’s engineering abilities earned him a job with the United States Bureau of Standards. In 1919, at the age of 31, Garand began working at the Springfield Armory on a series of semi-automatic rifle designs. After 17 years of development Garand’s rifle was formally approved for adoption on the 9th January 1936, and began replacing the bolt-action Springfield M1903 in late 1937.
The M1 became instrumental in achieving fire superiority over the Japanese in the Pacific and the Germans in Europe. Lieutenant Colonel John George recalled how the M1 gave American troops the edge even when outnumbered: "It gave an American squad the ability to slug it out on the trail with a Japanese company, and hold for a long time."
Approximately 6 million of his rifles were made between 1936 and 1956. He did not accept royalty payments for his rifle and remained at Springfield until he retired in 1953. Garand married his wife, Nellie, in 1930 and had two children, Dick and Janice, he died aged 86 on the 16th February, 1974.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Physically the North Korean Type 73 resembles both the British Bren and the Russian PKM. The gas-operated 7.62x54R chambered Type 73 has a cyclic rate of 600-700 rounds per minute and has a quick change barrel system. Weighing 10.6kg unloaded the Type 73 is heavier than the Russian PKM.
The Type 73 uses a dual feed system similar that seen in the Czech Vz.52 Light Machine Gun which allows the weapon to feed from both belts and also box magazines. In the photographs above it's possible to see the dust cover of the belt feed on the right side of the receiver. The reason for the dual feed system is believed to be that the 30-round magazine is lighter and easier to carry on patrol and once the gunner comes into contact with the enemy he can switch to belt feed after laying down initial suppressive fire from the magazine.
The Type 73 has a mixture of furniture materials with wooden stock and pistol grip and a plastic folding carrying handle. Like many weapons that feed from top mounted magazines the weapon’s sights are offset to the left. The Type 73 can also rifle grenades and has a dedicated sight and from various photographs available the Type 73 has a muzzle adapter for firing rifle grenades which can be swapped for an adapter with a muzzle brake. The adapters can be stored beneath the weapon’s gas tube (see image #1).
The Type 73′s ladder sight and smaller rifle grenade sight (Photo courtesy of Chris Shaffer)
Since its adoption in 1973, the Type 73 has been seen in numerous North Korean propaganda images, however, it seems that in the early 1980s that the North Koreans developed a simpler light machine gun. The North Korean Army subsequently began to replace the Type 73 with the Type 82, a closer derivative of the Soviet PKM light machine gun without the dual feed system. The Type 73, however, continues to appear in North Korean military propaganda photographs.
While North Korea exported a number of Type 73s to Iran during the Iran-Iraq War they have most recently begun to appear in the conflict in Iraq and Syria. These guns are probably being disseminated from Iranian stores. Interestingly the South Korean Army has just one example of the Type 73, shown in image #3, it is clear to see how battered it is with its stock held together by electrical tape.
Sources:
Images: 1 2 3 4 - 6 courtesy of Chris Shaffer
North Korean Small Arms, Small Arms Review, D. Shea (source)
Designed by Georgi Shapagin the PPSh-41 became Soviet Russia’s iconic submachine gun of World War Two. Over six million PPSh-41s were made worldwide between 1941 and 1950 becoming an integral part of the Soviet Union’s small arms doctrine.
In the photograph above we see five Soviet troops armed with PPSh-41s manning a trench system. The PPSh-41 fed from either a 35-round box magazine or a 71-round drum magazine which along with its aerated barrel shroud, gives the weapon its instantly recognisable appearance.
Shapagin’s weapon, the Pistolet-pulemyot Shpagina (or Shpagin Machine Pistol), fired from an open bolt and chambered the Soviet Union’s automatic pistol cartridge 7.62x25mm Tokarev and had a very high cyclic rate of up to 900 rounds per minute. This was ideal for suppressive fire and street fighting where suppression and point shooting were common.
The impetus for the PPSh-41′s development was the Soviet Unions lack of a suitable cheap submachine gun following encounters with the Finish Army’s Suomi KP31. The PPD-40 which was hurriedly adopted was too complicated and expensive to manufacture in the desired quantities to equip the Red Army. In response the PPSh-41 was better suited to mass production using metal stamping to allow factories to churn out thousands of guns a day. A finished PPSh-41 could be manufactured in approximately 6-7 hours.
The PPSh-41 proved to be a robust and reliable weapon with a chrome-lined bore to allow less frequent cleaning and the use of corrosive ammunition. Despite its smaller size it was not a light weapon weighing 5.45kgs when loaded with a 71-round drum. The weapon’s high rate of fire caused rapid muzzle climb despite its weight and the addition of a compensator.
Following the war the weapon remained in the Soviet Union’s arsenal for many years and was widely shared with other Communist states with many Soviet satellite states and allies manufacturing copies (such as the Chinese Type 50). They were widely used by North Korean and Chinese forces during the Korean War where they excelled during close-range engagements.
In 1943, the even simpler submachine gun, the PPS designed by Alexei Sudayev, was introduced alongside the PPSh-41. However, the PPSh-41 dominated Soviet inventories with entire platoons often being equipped with them. The operational use of submachine guns like the PPSh-41 greatly influenced the Red Army’s tactical doctrine with firepower becoming key.
The PPSh-41s continued to be used in conflicts around the world throughout the 20th century with examples still being seen in conflict zones today.
Sources:
Image Sources: 1 2
Attributed to Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller, commanding the 1st Marine Regiment during the desperate Battle of Chosin Reservoir.
Troops and armor of the 1st Marine Division move through communist Chinese lines (source)
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, 27 November - 13 December 1950, was a bitter battle of survival after the US X Corps was surrounded near Chosin by 120,000 Chinese and North Korean communist troops. UN forces near the Chosin Reservoir eventually managed to break out and make a fighting withdrawal. Both sides took heavy casualties during the battle and while the Chinese pushed the UN forces back their losses were high enough to prevent them from continuing their offensive into early 1951.
The De Lisle Silenced Commando Carbine was designed around an adapted MkIII Lee-Enfield action and stock. The De Lisle was chambered in .45ACP, accepting slightly modified .45 calibre Colt 1911 pistol magazines; rather than Lee Enfield’s standard 10-round .303 magazine. The key element of the De Lisle’s design was the 8.2 inch long integral barrel sound suppressor. The suppressor allowed propellant gas from the rifles .45 cartridge to bleed out of the barrel quieting the sound of the round leaving the muzzle.
The weapon was developed by firearms enthusiast and engineer William Godfray de Lisle who worked for the Ministry of Aircraft Production. De Lisle had previously built an integral suppressor for his .22LR Browning SA, which he used to hunt small game. De Lisle's neighbour Major Sir Malcolm Campbell, of the Office of Combined Operations, heard about the silenced hunting rifle and felt it could be a valuable clandestine weapon. Prototype development was completed by 1942, however, upon demonstrating the weapon a 9mm version was requested as this was the most commonly available rimless pistol cartridge available. When this was tested, however, the velocity of the 9mm round was too high and the suppressor was unable to reduce the prototype's report sufficiently.
The prototype development was completed by 1942. De Lisle suggested rechambering the carbine to fire the subsonic .45 ACP; this was found to be extremely quiet. The first .45 ACP carbine was made using a Thompson submachine gun barrel and the action from a Lee-Enfield. De Lisle and Campbell submitted the design and prototype to the Board of Ordnance for evaluation. Because the carbine was a project of the Office of Combined Operations production was fast tracked and a first batch were built at the Ford Motor Company's Dagenham works. De Lisle applied for his patent in May 1943, but due to the weapon's clandestine nature and importance it was not publically granted until after the war in July 1946.
De Lisle carbine with folding metal stock, an example is held by the SASC Collection (source)
The De Lisle proved to have improved accuracy over the STEN MkII(s), was marginally quieter, and the carbine's bolt action was quieter than the cycling of the STEN's bolt. An order for 500 was placed with the Sterling Engineering Company with production beginning in the Summer of 1944. The carbine had a 7.45 inch barrel, 2 inches of which were placed inside the Lee-Enfield's action. The bolt was therefore shortened and a new .45 ACP extractor was added; a new magazine housing was also developed to take Colt 1911 magazines. The suppressor tube was fashioned from steel and was made up of an initial expansion chamber followed by 10 or 13 baffles making up a continuous spiral which were aligned using two rods either side of the bullet channel (see patent diagrams below). Despite the order for 500 carbines just 130 were made before the order was cancelled in December 1945. The De Lisle was a niche weapon with relatively few required while the suppressed STENs also proved to be cheaper and easier to manufacture and better suited to more general issue for clandestine operations.
Captain Robert Brown firing a Military Armament Corporation 'Destroyer' a 9mm carbine similar to the De Lisle carbine. (source: Silencers, Snipers & Assassins - Truby)
The majority of the De Lisle carbines had standard wooden stocks while Sterling also developed a version with a folding stock intended to be more compact for use by paratroops (see example above). Only two of these paratroop De Lisle’s were produced.
Despite the small number of carbines made they were used by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Northern France prior to D-Day and were also used against the Japanese in the Far East. Accurate at up to 200 yards, with no muzzle flash and extremely quiet they were used to kill sentries during infiltration missions. It was in the 1950s during first the Korean War and later the Malayan Emergency that the De Lisle saw renewed service. Deployed during the British Army's counter-insurgency operations against Communist guerrillas in Malaya.
In 1970, the Military Armaments Corporation developed a 9mm carbine called the 'Destroyer' inspired by the De Lisle, however, suppressed pistols and submachine guns proved more popular with special forces.
Sources:
Image Sources: 1 2 3 4
The De Lisle "Commando" carbine, Rifleman.org (source)
The British De Lisle Commando Carbine, Small Arms Review, F. Iannamico (source)
De Lisle Commando Carbine, IWM, (source)
Improvements in or relating to means for silencing firearms United Kingdom Patent 579168-A (source)
Modern Small Arms, F. Myatt (1978)
