January 25, 2007    

Enfield-Stuff
            A web site about Lee-Enfield rifles and the men who carried them.
     
 
 
 
Enfields In Queue: Papua New Guinea
 
 
Rifle 133
SMLE, No. 1 Mk III*. Lithgow, 1921. Marked on the receiver flat “N.G.V.R.” – New Guinea Volunteer Rifles. The NGVR was an archetypical “Planter Rifles” volunteer unit formed in 1939 from planters and civil servants in the Australian administered territory of Papua New Guinea. After a brief – but bitter – attempt to stop the Japanese at Lae and Buna in February 1942, the remnants of the regiment retreated across the Owen Stanley Mountains to Port Moresby. In April 1942, the regiment was disbanded, with most of the personnel either joining the Coast Watching Service or being transferred to the Intelligence Corps of the Australian Army where they continued to serve throughout the New Guinea campaign. Overall 85% finish. Bore sharp and clean. Wood VG with good Lithgow cartouching in buttstock. Matched. No import marks. A really exotic piece.