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British Army WW2 Small Arms Training Pamphlet 21


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Last month, I discovered another copy of the 1955 reprint of the 1944 edition of Pamphlet 21, identical to the one above with the blue colour cover, but this one is printed in Sept. 1956.

 

Another interesting discovery was a well worn copy of The Palestine Police Force, 'Close Quarter Battle' pamphlet published in Oct. 1943. by the Government Printer, Palestine.

 

CQB Palestine Police.jpg

 

It covers revolvers, automatics and near the end of the pamphlet, sub-machine guns.

 

P1130556.JPG P1130557.JPG

 

P1130558.JPG P1130559.JPG

 

P1130560.JPG P1130561.JPG

 

Stay safe

 

Richard

Edited by rpbcps
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This morning, I have added a fourth, dated, version of the Gale & Polden booklet 'TSMG Mechanism Made Easy', which was brought to my attention by 'John Dillinger', cheers Paul, to post #19

 

Stay safe

 

Richard

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Absoloute top drawer post Richard your detail & knowledge on the subject is second to none.

This is such a great reference tool to fledgling pamphlet/booklet collectors like myself.

Edited by John Dillinger
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It has taken me a long time, but thanks to a colleague in Italy, I have been able to add an example of the Italian language, 'Fascicolo 21' pamphlet to my collection.

 

Fascicolo 21 Thompson.jpg

 

Patience sometimes pays off.

 

Stay safe

 

Richard

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On 2/12/2018 at 3:04 PM, rpbcps said:

As part of my collection I have two other British commercially produced Thompson Submachine gun Manuals, which were well circulated during WW2, one of which you'll all be familiar with, as David Albert uses it as his Avatar, "Know your Weapons No.1 - Tommy Gun Rifle and Bayonet", published by Nicholson & Watson. The second book is "The Thompson Submachine gun Mechanism made Easy" published by Gale & Polden.

 

In my collection I have two variations of the "Know your Weapons: No.1", both versions have the same date in them, First Published September 1941, so there is no way of knowing which was the first edition. However, although the contents of both editions are the same, but in one, pages have been reduced, by removing the first title pages and changing the font, so they can fit more words on a page. So I guess, like the 2nd version of the 1940 edition of the Small Arms training Pamphlet 21, war time shortages were impacting the printing of the pamphlets / Manuals, resulting in editing to save paper.

 

Tommy Gun V2 cover.JPG Tommy Gun V2 Title.JPG Tommy Gun V2 Title Page.JPG Tommy Gun V2 Contents.JPG Tommy Gun V2 Part 1 & Hand written notes.JPG

 

I love the versions with hand written notes it adds character to them.

 

The 2nd version with less pages and change in font:

 

Tommy Gun V1 cover.JPG Tommy Gun V1 Inside Title.JPG Tommy Gun V1 Contents.JPG Tommy Gun V1 Part 1.JPG

 

The Ultimate Thompson Book also shows a picture of the cover of an Australian / New Zealand version of the Nicholson & Watson book, published by Whitcombe & Tombs Limited, on page 681.

 

It is always amazng what you can find in searches of old posts on the forum and the other night I found a post entitle 'Thompson "paper" On Ebay....' started by john on the 5th Sept. 2005. The last post in the thread was by David Albert and I was interested to read the following:

 

“At the TCA show, I purchased yet another version of that manual that was printed in New Zealand. It looks very similar in color to yours, and was printed by Whitcombe and Tombs Limited in cooperation with Nicholson & Watson, who was the publisher of your version in London. This new version I found is part of a different series of manuals, and is labelled "Military Manual No. 12" instead of "Know Your Weapons: No. 1." It is 59 pages long, compared to the 48 and 63 page versions of the N&W manuals. Some day, I will compare them all side by side to see what the major differences are.”

 

Here is the picture copied from that post:

 

NZ Version.JPG

 

David informs me there are in fact four different versions of the Tommy Gun Manual.

 

Like the Nicholson & Watson book, the Gale & Polden Thompson gun editions are not individually dated to work out when they were published, but one version in my collection has less photos in it. One version has 14 photographic plates and the other 17, with some of the photos being changed between versions and the publishers foreword changing.

 

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Cover.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Inside cover.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Foreword & Contents.JPGThompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Firing from Shoulder.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Loading.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Firing from Shoulder2.JPG

 

In this version this firing position is referred to as firing from the hip. In the 2nd version, with different photo, it is referred to firing from the waist.

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Firing from Hip.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V2 Firing from Hip front.JPG

 

The second version with 17 Photographic plates:

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 cover.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Inside cover.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Foreword & Contents.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Firing from Shoulder.JPG

 

The second version has two additional pages entitled The Use of the Cocking Handle in Aiming with a line drawing of a German Paratrooper in the sights.

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Aiming centre pages.JPG

 

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Loading.JPG

Firing from the 'waist', rather than the 'Hip'

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Firing from Waist.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 Firing from Shoulder2.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V1 rear inside cover.JPG

 

The third version of the Gale & Polden book in my collection, is identical to the 2nd version with 17 photographic plates, but the books listed for sale in the front and rear covers are different, indicating another printing at least of the same publication.

 

Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V3 Cover booklist.JPG Thompson SMG Mechanism made Easy V3 Rear Cover booklist.JPG

 

Added on the 30.01.20:

Our new board member, John Dillinger, has been kind enough to inform me that there is a fourth version of the Gale & Polden booklet, which is dated 1942, on the foot of the last page. I don't have a copy myself, so at the moment I am unable to confirm if that is the only difference, although I noted that this version also has 17 photographic plates.

G&P 1942 and advert.jpg G&P 1942.jpg

 

Added on the 30.12.18: Another nice addition for my collection is a sales flyer for the Gale & Polden book:

P1120868.JPG P1120867.JPG

 

All versions of the Gale & Polden and the Nicholson & Watson books show pictures and discuss the use of the British Recoil Spring Stripping tool

Gale & Polden, item 24 on page 11:

G&P Stripping tool.JPG G&P Stripping tool 2.JPG

 

Nicholson & Watson:

N&W Stripping tool.JPG

 

On Page 25 of the Gale & Polden book with 14 photographic plates and page 27 of the versions with 17 photographic plates, there is a doctored photo of Colt Thompson Model of 1921 (8) SN 3386, which according to Volume 1 of Gordon Herigstads 2 volume book set, became a 'star'. It was not only is it featured in the Gale & Polden books, but was also featured in the "Army Services Forces Catalog ORD 9, (Standard Nomenclature List A-32), 1943 and in Tracie Hills book "Thompson: The American Legend". According to the entry in Gordons book, 3386 was once owned by the Movie property supplier, Bapty & Company of London, like another example in my collection, so it has also probably been a 'star of the silver screen' in its lifetime. It was later deactivated and sold in the UK, so one to look out for to add to my collection, if it ever comes up on the market.

 

Mechanism Made easy Colt.JPG

And here we have the actual Thompson mentioned above, S/N 3386, deactivated and for sale in the UK, with an optimistic price tag.

https://www.dandbmilitaria.com/deactivated-old-spec-home-guard-colt-thompson-m1921-smg-sn-3386-sr

Watching to see how long it takes to sell.

 

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2 hours ago, Mk VII said:

It's been on sale before, some years ago, I think I saw it.

Indeed, as I stated above, it is in Gordon Herigstads book set, were he states 3386 was once owned by Bapty & Company of London. Gordon informed us it was deactivated when Bapty sold it in the UK, the book does have the date of the sale, but I don't have the books on hand, being away from home to confirm it.

I also said "so one to look out for to add to my collection, if it ever comes up on the market". However at £20,000 , it is well out of my budget for a deactivated firearm, even one as famous as 3386 😉

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From the horse's mouth... According to Gordon's records, S/N 3386 was in the collection of Malcolm Fisher aka Regimentals; it was for sale at the War and Peace show in July 2003.

Not sure if it has been on the market since then.

Edited by rpbcps
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FWIW I was able to obtain a PDF copy of the hard to find Admiralty manual for my Lanchester machine carbine from the Royal Armouries library.  The cost was nominal, £5 IIRC.  They might prove to be a source for copies of other documents

https://collections.royalarmouries.org/#/library

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