Malcolm Atkin Military Research
.22 Rifles of the Home Guard
and Auxiliary Units
Cinderella Rifles
In 1941, the Bisley shooting champion A.G. Banks, in a 1941 article entitled ‘Calling All Senior Home Guard Officers’, described .22 rifles as the ‘Cinderellas’ of military service, whose capabilities were ‘neglected, completely and utterly’.
The .22 rifle was never intended as a combat weapon during WW2 - although it was initially recommended as an option for guard duty in the early months of the Home Guard. It was then quickly relegated to its traditional role in providing initial firearms training but became an important focus of Home Guard social activity on the ranges. In a curious anomaly, in 1942 silenced .22 rifles were issued to the Auxiliary Units, even as their role was moving away from covert action. This was essentially a morale-boosting exercise rather than a serious attempt to provide a sniper rifle. The only known active service use of a .22 rifle during WW2 was as a'survival rifle' for silent small game hunting behind enemy lines, used in the later war period by SOE in the Far East and US aircrew in north-west Europe.
The study highlights the often difference in perception between local Home Guard and the War Office on the latter's priorities as well as the occasional manipilation of the auxiliers by their Intelligence Officers. It also reveals the often-forgotten role that the Society of Miniature Rifle Clubs (SMRC) played in maintaining the Home Guard by supplying range facilities and ammunition,
Further information is contained in the forthcoming Cinderella Rifles: the .22 rifle in Home Guard and Auxiliary Units service and see also the invaluable Historic Arms Resource Centre.
A high percentage of the Home Guard .22 rifles were traditional British Martini action rifles such as the Martini Model 12. Most bolt-action .22 rifles bought from the USA through the British Purchasing Commission and then Lend-Lease were assigned to the regular forces. (courtesy of The Rifleman)
Remington Model 341 (here with the popular pairing with Lyman 422 'Expert' telescopic sight. This was one of the first imported bolt-action rifles issued to the Home Guard in 1941. It was only in April 1941 that these imported rifles began to outstrip the numbers of privately-owned .22 rifles in the Home Guard. by the end of 1942 the Home Guard still had only c.24,000 .22 rifles, held largely as pool training rifles between c.1,660,000 men.
War Office issue .22 ammunition. This was notoriously under-powered as it was only designed for indoor 20yd shooting ranges and was also not subject to the same quality controls as other ammunition (being only intended for training purposes)., It was issued in cardboard boxes containing 100 rounds.
From late 1944 the new standard M51 crate was used to transport .22 ammunition. Each wartime crate contained 370 boxes of 100 rounds.
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The manufacture of British commercial .22 ammunition was heavily restricted during the war (largely intended for agricultural purposes until 1944) and was produced in plain packaging.
To fill the gap in domestic supply, the Home Guard was able to avail itself of commercial US ammunition imported by the Society for Miniature Rifle Clubs until 1943. The cartons contained a warning 'Dangerous within one mile', indicating the risk of stray shots rather any suggestion of accuracy at this range. This was the source of the myth of the Auxiliary Units being equipped with .22 rifles that were lethal at this range.
In June 1941 Northern Command briefly authorised qualified Home Guard to wear a Marksman badge of the SMRC. This was soon countermanded by the Director-General of the Home Guard - not least because the Women's Home Defence Corps was also using the badge - but the SMRC qualification remained until 1947.
The SMRC played a key role in providing range facilities and ammunition for the Home Guard. It also provided branded range targets for the LDV and Home Guard.
It was only in March 1942 that the War Offcie issued a contract to Parker Hale to supply silenced .22 rifles to the Auxiliary Units - even as their role was changing away from covert sabotage to being reconnaissance units for the Home Guard. The initial batch had telescopic sights but these were almost immediately dropped as being unreliable. (Ministry of Supply Ledger entry for 13 March 1942)
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Winchester Model 69 with telescopic sight and silencer. There was no attempt to select the best possible option for an accurate .22 rifle for the Auxiliary Units and they were issued with a miscellany of models. The Wnchester Model 69 may have been the most common, with it being the only type of .22 rifle specifically documented int he Auxiliary Units record (courtesy of Jeff Abendshien) .
Silencers (and telescopic sights) were commercially available prior to WW2. They were not, therefore, inherently 'sinister as David Lampe inferred in his influential, but flawed, 1968 book The Last Ditch. (Parker Hale catalogue, 1939). Critically, the silenced rifles could only use sub-sonic ammunition with less range than high velocity rounds (made worse by the reliance on the underpowered service .22 ammunition..
MODERN CONSTRUCT!
In 1991, confusion was caused by the publication in the USA of an illustration of a silenced Winchester 74 with No.74 telescopic sight, in the style of an OSS manual - saying that this combination was also used by SOE. Although clearly stated by the author to be a modern construct, this has been widely circulated as the basis of the legend that the Winchester Model 74, fitted with a No.42 telescopic sight, was a standard Auxiliary Units rifle.
For further information see Winchester 74 page.
In 1940 Home Guard units created their own SMRC affiliated rifle clubs in order to avail themselves of SMRC rifles and ammunition. By the end of the war, one quarter of SMRC rifle clubs were former Home Guard units.
Many Home Guard Rifle Clubs continued post-war as an imprtant focus of maintaining Home Guard comradeship and collective memory.
Cinderella Rifles: the .22 rifle in Home Guard and Auxiliary Units service is the first detailed account of the use of the .22 rifle in WW2.
To be published late 2024