A little-known sidelight in the history of the U.S. Cal. 30 M1 Carbine during WWII is an impromptu “Carbine Match” that was precipitated by Great Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He was an avid firearms enthusiast and owned several carbines, including a pre-production prototype.

On March 24, 1944, General Eisenhower, General Bradley and Prime Minister Churchill were conducting an inspection of the 2nd Armored and 9th Infantry Divisions at the huge US training base at Tidworth in Wiltshire, England. General Omar Bradley reported in a memoir, “….Churchill confessed to an itch to try out the new American carbine. Targets were promptly put out for Churchill, Eisenhower, and me. Mine was handicapped at 75 yards, Eisenhower’s at 50 yards. The Prime Minister’s was placed at 25 yards. We each fired 15 rounds in rapid succession. Manton Eddy (Commanding General of the 9th Infantry Division) wisely hustled us away before we could inspect the targets.”

Winston Ramsey, Editor of After The Battle publications in London, discovered the itinerary sheet for that day’s events, as well as a number of additional photos at the Imperial War Museum, and by comparing the background terrain, woods and ridgelines from the various photos, was able to pinpoint the location as Perham Down “B” Small Arms Range, still in use today by the British Army’s School of Infantry.

Military firearms enthusiasts will be interested to know that, in addition to the carbines available to these VIPs, they also fired the M1928A1 and M1 Thompson submachine guns, M1903A3 and A4 Springfield Rifles, and the M1 Garand. Presumably in the interest of Allied solidarity, the results of these competitions were never made public!

For those readers with further interest in this event, the After The Battle magazines are available through the US distributor, RZM Imports, phone (203) 653-2272 or http://www.rzm.com. The applicable issues are #22 and #100.

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