Model of 1917 Enfield Rifle overseas

[dustin]

Here is something many may find very intriguing, the 1917 Enfield in the combat theater. This is a US army private in North Burma, February 1944. He and other allies are working with Kachin scouts.

[Lsparks]

Nice!


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[tthen]

Dustin, outstanding picture. On a side note, is it me or does that rifle look short? M1917 rifles are 46 plus inches long.

[Story]

5 minutes ago, tthen said:

Dustin, outstanding picture. On a side note, is it me or does that rifle look short? M1917 rifles are 46 plus inches long.

 

A possible answer - 

 

Quote

 

With the closing of the Burma Road the supply of foreign rifles ended until the U.S. could begin rearming the Chinese Army in India.

For the rebuilding of the CAI, the British provided the Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk I, and the US allocated M1917 rifles, which was the British Pattern 14 rifle of WWI adapted to fire the US .30-cal. cartridge. The M1917s had been in storage since the end of WWI, and some had been sold to Britain and others used for training in the US. An initial shipment of 20,000 of these rifles was made in 1942 and they were quickly issued to 22nd and 38th Divisions and army troops. These were to be cut down in length to accommodate the shorter Chinese soldiers. This was accomplished in India, although some rifles were issued unmodified in late 1943 in order to fill out unit holdings

 

 

From 

Kangzhan: Guide to Chinese Ground Forces 1937–45

Leland Ness, Bin Shih Published - August 2015

https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYQwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257&lpg=PA257&dq=chinese+troops+with+us+m1917++rifles&source=bl&ots=daFYlyWA0o&sig=l0eFTROvh3Ii8M2dZDfj-XDZ4ls&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL5oCduqXXAhVs5IMKHap8CFAQ6AEIZjAM#v=onepage&q=chinese troops with us m1917 rifles&f=false

 

See also https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=47555

[Linedoggie]

5 hours ago, dustin said:

Here is something many may find very intriguing, the 1917 Enfield in the combat theater. This is a US army private in North Burma, February 1944. He and other allies are working with Kachin scouts.

Seems to have been slightly shortened, ala Bushmaster 1903 

[dustin]

That was a great observation and interesting information and would agree it is a cut down 1917. It also explains why we see the rifle in Burma. Thanks all for the input.

[Doctorofwar]

Comparison of CBI cut down M1917 to a full length one.  Good eye- as these are harder to spot than the M1903 “Bushmasters”.

[Doctorofwar]

Another Burma pic, this time I believe them to be Pattern 14 rifles due to the characteristic British marking disks on the stocks.  I’ve seen other pics of (unmodified) P14/P17 rifles in the CBI, a bunch were apparently used in that WW2 backwater.

Dustin- thanks for sharing the pic of the deployed cut down rifle, I hadn’t seen that before.