Earlier in the week I found a document from Mid 1941 listing weapon and Ammunition production for British anti-tank weapons. As it included some oddities (such as the 18-pounder AP, or the 75mm SAP) I posted it up, at which point someone spotted the Boys ammunition entry.
The table:
A requirement of a whopping 11,000 guns and 9million rounds of ammunition. A requirement that was utterly missed. Well, I had some other stuff on that situation, and as I had nothing planned for today, here it is.
At the Start of 1943 Churchill starts to question why in the hell are we still producing Boys Rifle ammunition, especially when we have the PIAT. Surely we could cut production and save resources?
Nothing happens for a while, until a gentle reminder is sent out, stating it's been six weeks since the initial enquiry. Well he gets a situation update from the War Office, on the 2nd of February.
Then on the 24th of February the entire story comes out:
Yes, you are reading that right, we were producing 15 million rounds per year! Particularly perplexing when we had some 10 million rounds in stores, and were only using 2 million per year. I think in this case Churchill was right, perhaps we could stop production. Especially as we have the PIAT in service by this point.
Of course there are reports of the Boys kicking about and turning up in some odd places as a heavy Anti-material rifle, so the ammo stockpiles do make sense.
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2 million rounds expended per year? On what! I don't recall any memoirs or anecdotes from North Africa ever mentioning the Boys being used, because it was so obviously outdated as an A/T weapon. Unless all this ordnance was used in the Far East?
ReplyDeleteThe reference does include Tobruk in its use, but I would suspect that amount includes training as well as combat use. And there's smattering of accounts of them being used as anti-material rifles.
DeleteNot sure if anyone else reading this is old enough to get the Thin Lizzy reference, either
ReplyDeleteI do try to make references/jokes in the titles. Its rare anyone gets them.
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