Long Lee Enfield remains, Ardennes offensive

[huntervixen]

Morning all,

After stumbling on this interesting site http://www.thetroubleshooters.com/80th/ ... s0010.html

I was going through the images of recovered US/German weaponry and stumbled on what appears to be a Long Lee Enfield !

Among the assorted German/US recovered kit in the picture you can identify loaded Garand en block clips, MG42 barrels, assorted loose .30-06 and 7.92 ammo etc ... plus a Long Lee, what on earth was it doing there!

[TomH]

Leftover from WWI? The site is dedicated to the US 80th Infantry Division and although it mentions some remains are from the Ardennes Offensive, might they have dug other battlefields that the 80th fought over? They aren't clear where the finds are from.

Why not email them?

[450 Martini]

It most probably is from another battlefield, Long Lees were pretty much phased out of front line service by late 1916.
I have a few bits and pieces I have found while walking or have been given by a very generous French Farmer. I have a few fired cases that i found in the fields in front of Mametz they were all Kings Norton Metal company 1915. From the position I found them they must have been dropped on the first of July 1916.

[huntervixen]

That Long Lee looks way too good to have been in the ground for 99 years, although, if it was deposited in clay or peat, they both preserve very well I suppose..

The MG42 barrels and the K98 bayonet also look to be in a very good state of preservation for that matter.