Tag Archives: british home guard

Old Man of the Watch

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80 years ago today.

The official caption of this photo essay via the Imperial War Museum (Catalog # IWM A 17028-32), taken by Photographer Pelman, L (Lt),: “Veteran guardians of the Channel Coast. 21 May 1943, Selsey, Sussex.”

The Auxiliary Patrol of HM Coastguard is one of the oldest bodies of men in the armed forces of the crown. Over 400 of them have been enrolled to assist the ‘regulars’ in the constant watch which has been kept along the southeast coast of England. Their average age is well over 50, the oldest is 76, and they are mostly retired business, professional, and servicemen who have made their homes by the seaside.

“Five veterans learning the tricky art of bends and hitches from the Station Officer, himself an old Petty Officer.” Note they all seem to be wearing Army uniforms with Coastguard caps and HM Coastguard cap badges

“The dawn patrol sets out along a lonely mile of beach.” Note the STEN MKIII gun at the ready

“Daylight flag signaling to a ship at sea.” Note the “Coastguard” flash

“The Station Officer at his post, surrounded by his instruments for communication, alarm, and taking bearings.” Note the “Coastguard” flash and STEN gun at the ready

“The Watch turns over”. The relief faces a long vigil. The relieved set off home for a well-deserved breakfast and sleep.” Note what appears to be a Canadian Ross MKIII rifle.

“Station officer William Atkinson, who is in charge of a strip of coastline, examines a distant vessel through his telescope.”

With a mandate that stretches back to 1822, while His Majesty’s Coastguard came under Admiralty orders in both the Great War and WWII, today it is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and coordinates all maritime search and rescue (SAR) operations in the UK.

King Charles III is the Honorary Commodore of HMCG and the backbone of the force is some 3,500 volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers (CROs) located in 300 coastguard rescue teams around the country.

They respond to some 30,000 calls per year in recent years, few of them involving the Germans. 

Testing the Bhojpure

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Matt Easton of Schola Gladiatoria has been cleaning and testing a relic Bhojpure kukri (khukuri) from the large collection of original 19th century Nepalese Government military stores that IMA and Atlanta Cutlery scored back in 2003. Of course, he is a little late to the party as I picked up one of these a few years back and found it to be just a remarkable edged weapon. Truly excellent once you got the yak grease off.

Here is Matt testing it:

Speaking of Gurkas, this year’s intake at Infantry Training Centre Catterick has gone off swimmingly.

However, with Nepal still in COVID-19 lockdown, the 2021 Intake could be delayed, which could mean some uncertainty in the manning of the Brigade of Gurkhas, the Indian Army’s seven Gorkha regiments, and the Singapore Police Force’s Gurkha Contingent.

Kukri update, and a companion patch knife

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A couple months back I posted about the Nepalese Gurkha Kukri Bhojpure fighting knife that I bought to go with my semi-cleaned Nepalese 1878 Martini-Henry Francotte pattern short-lever rifle and bayonet as created by Gen. Gahendra Rana’s “kami” cottage gunsmiths in the 1880s (more on the rifle and bayonet here.)

Like the Francotte and its bayonet, the $89 Bhojpure Kukri came from IMA/Atlanta Cutlery’s 2003 purchase of the entire Royal Nepalese Arsenal, then located at the semi-ruined palace of Lagan Silekhana in Katmandu.

Well, that post got picked up by The Truth About Knives, which is cool. Maybe it resulted in some people saving some of these old knives.

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I’ve continued to work the blade and, thanks to a tip from a reader (thanks, Robert!) picked up a new replacement sheath for the old man that fits it like a glove. It currently shaves forearm hair (knife fighter mange) and shreds paper with no problem.

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However, at Atlanta I also found this bad boy:

They list it as a “Gurkha Officer’s Patch Knife” for $25 (!) and bill it as “most likely carried in kukri pouches by the elite Royal Guard of Bhimsen Thapa”– Nepal’s military minded prime minister, in the early 19th century– the chap that owned Lagan Silekhana.

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The knife came without a scabbard, is 7.5-inches long with a 3.75-inch slightly drop point carbon steel blade, one-piece carved bone handle and brass furniture.

Like the rest of the Katmandu stash, it had sat in a wooden palace for generations open the elements and was covered in a thick layer of soot, yak butter, and Nepalese flotsam. It was in unissued condition and the blade had never been used (or sharpened– it was a total butter knife).

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This is what it looks like after a good TLC with Ballistol, green pads, and the like, with the brass parts touched up with Brasso.

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Patina on a weapon means it’s seasoned, right? I mean this little pot sticker is 150~ years old, or so the story goes.

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I had to do a small repair on the butt cap as it separated from the handle during the cleaning process, but some replacement brass nails and epoxy corrected just fine.

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I used water stones with a 1000/6000 grit to get first a bevel, then a fine edge– though not so thin that the edge would roll. You can trim fingernails with this bad boy now.

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I intend to use a strop to keep it fine. A generic leather patch knife sheath ($10, eBay) fits it like a glove.

All in all, not a bad blade for a total of about $40 and a half-dozen hours of sweat into it. I rather like it and may pick up a few more just to have. A few more years in storage probably won’t hurt them.

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That dang Kukri obsession

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I really dig old military arms of all sorts, ever since I was a kid. I guess you can say I am just a big, 42-year old kid these days.

One of my latest edged weapons is a Nepalese Gurkha Kukri Bhojpure Fighting Knife that I bought to go with my semi-cleaned Nepalese 1878 Martini-Henry Francotte pattern short-lever rifle and bayonet as created by Gen. Gahendra Rana’s cottage gun smiths in the 1880s (more on that here.)

Like the Francotte and its bayonet, the $89 Bhojpure Kukri, came from IMA’s 2003 purchase of the Royal Nepalese Arsenal, which was located at the palace of Lagan Silekhana in Katmandu.

As spears and the Kora sword were being replaced by firearms, the kukri was the weapon of choice for hand-to-hand combat.

The Bhojpure region kukri was typically produced at the turn of the 19th century and after. This style is a somewhat down scaled version of the Victorian Long Leaf kukri. It appears these saw service from the 1880s through the first quarter of the 20th century when they were withdrawn from service and placed in arsenal storage. With that in mind, the blade is anywhere from 90-130 years young and has spent most of that time “on the shelf.”

It came covered in… who the frack knows what. Pureed leaves, cosmoline, dirt, tar, yak grease I don’t know. It was horrible. Of course, it was as to be expected though, as it has been in arsenal storage for probably a century, and the Francotte came similarly dressed.

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Cleaned via Ballistol and elbow grease, it is very nice, measuring out to just a hair over 17 inches overall with 13 of that being a rat-tailed steel blade almost as thick as my pinkie finger (around 3/8″) at its fullest point. This kukri was handmade; the steel was smelted, forged, shaped and hammered in Nepal by individual Kami blacksmiths. As such it is very dirty impure century-old steel that is kind of soft when compared to modern steels.

Still, it’s a great piece of history.

Check out how thick this beast is when compared next to the same length of modern Ontario 6420 OKC Kukri which uses 1095 carbon steel.

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It’s also rather sharp and has seen a good bit of service, but the wood, though dark, is solid.

The yak butter was such a good preservative that there doesn’t seem to be hardly any rust or patina…

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What is the blade notch for? Some say its to represent the god Shiva, which doesn’t make sense because the Kora– a Nepalese sword of the same period– doesn’t have the same notch. Some say it is for capturing an enemy blade in a knife fight, or as a “blood notch” which is even goofier. I think that it is meant to be a tool notch of some sort (to be used, for example, in removing nails, etc) as the kukri is something of the multitool for the Nepalese of all working castes.

I also have a set of chakmak and karda blades; a sharpening tool and small secondary knife usually stored in the sheath of the kukri. They have a great patina on them as they did not get the yak butter treatment so I will keep them as is.

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Here is the cleaned Bhojpure compared with my much more modern Ontario Kukri in an ode to the Brigade of Gurkhas cap badge.

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I still would like to buff out the blade with Flitz, strip and refinish the handle with boiled linseed, and maybe touch up the edge a bit. Overall, I think the old soldier has a lot of life left in him.

This is what I think I look like with it:

From the Illustrated News of London Feb. 22, 1908.

From the Illustrated News of London Feb. 22, 1908.

But this is probably closer to the truth:

British Home Guard display an array of close-combat weaponry at a training session, 1942. including kukri.jpg

British Home Guard display an array of close-combat weaponry at a training session, 1942. including kukri.

The Improvised Smith Gun

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In the first part of World War 2, stuff did not go too good for Great Britain. The island country found it for a large period alone and isolated, with the armies of Hitler just a channel away from their shores. To further complicate the matter, the Germans had tanks and the Brits had few tank-killing guns. This case of military heartburn led to the invention of the Smith Gun.

Looking like a cross between a hot dog cart and a baby carrage, the improvised direct fire mortar was good against German tanks at 50-yards.

As long as the shell didnt blow up inside the barrel.

The Smith Gun has to be one of the very few guns ever made that was designed to fire on its side.

Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk.com
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