![]() Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian who served as a brigade surgeon for an Allied artillery unit, spotted a cluster of poppies that spring, shortly after the Second Battle of Ypres. As Chris McNab, author of “The Book of the Poppy,” wrote in an excerpt published in the Independent, the brilliantly colored flower is actually classified as a weed, which makes sense given its tenacious nature. But in the warm early spring of 1915, bright red flowers began peeking through the battle-scarred land: Papaver rhoeas, known variously as the Flanders poppy, corn poppy, red poppy and corn rose. From the devastated landscape of the battlefields, the red poppy would grow and, thanks to a famous poem, become a powerful symbol of remembrance.Īcross northern France and Flanders (northern Belgium), the brutal clashes between Allied and Central Powers soldiers tore up fields and forests, tearing up trees and plants and wreaking havoc on the soil beneath. The Great War, as it was then known, also ravaged the landscape of Western Europe, where most of the fiercest fighting took place. ![]() I would imagine your chances of actually finding a unit marked rifle to a specific unit are very slim indeed.From 1914 to 1918, World War I took a greater human toll than any previous conflict, with some 8.5 million soldiers dead of battlefield injuries or disease. I have one Australian unit marked enfield and several with numbers only (which I assumed were rack numbers) I'll post a few pictures if I can get to them. Somtimes these discs were removed and the gap plugged with a wooden disc. This is a small brass disc with a screw through the middle. I am not sure what you mean by "Butt Cap" (brass buttplate?) - if so I have not seen unit markings there but there are sometimes Brass discs inserted into the side of the butt-stock upon which unit marks are sometimes stamped. The most comprehensive reference for stampings and marking etc I know of is Skennerton's "The Lee Enfield Story" both of these have information on unit marks I thoroughly reccomend Skip Strattons information (he has authored three very useful guides on the No1, No4 and Pattern 14/M1917.) There is much material and several links to other sites. The webmaster states the this comprehensive was created for collectors, shooters, and fans of the Enfield rifle, a rifle which in its various forms has seen duty for over 150 years as a main battle rifle, a home guard and constabulary weapon, a competition target rifle, and a game hunting rifle on five continents. The site is ordganized under the following: Part One - General History, Part Two - Technical Information, Part Three - Rifle Pages, Part Four - Sub-Caliber Training Rifles, Part Five - Sporterized and Commercially Made Enfields, Bayonets, Links Page, Basic Enfield Identification and the Facts about Serial Numbers, Parker’s Rifle Shot’s Register. ![]() This site was created to provide basic information on the many variations of the Lee-Enfield rifle, with particular emphasis placed on pictorial references. ![]() Here are two websites which might provide some additional leads and should put you into contact with some experts on the subject.
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