大象传媒

One of the worst crimes in any of the Services is to discharge your weapon by accident.I must plead guilty,not once but three times have I fired a weapon un-intentionally.This is how the first came about.I was a Lewis gunner.I was concerned with defending the heavier guns from attack by low flying aircraft.On this particular morning I had been in action against a DORNIER 17.When the All Clear sounded I removed the magazine from the top of the gun and asked permision to leave my post to clean the gun.I took the gun down to my bed space,intending to boil out the barrel.This was normal procedure after firing any weapon.I noticed that the gun was "cocked" and to release the springs (once again normal practice)I pulled the trigger.To my surprise the gun fired! Luckily I had pointed the,once again did not eccochet gun away from any other person.The bullet hit the concrete wall a few feet away,and did not recochet,which it could well have done as the room was a concrete bunker having been built in the 1800s.I am still puzzled as to why this happened.By-the-way,I had had no training on the use of a Lewis gun merely been told to "go on the Lewis" .Which was typical of the 1940s.The second time was when I was in IRAQ in 1942.I had been on guard and had for some rreason or other put one "up the spout but kept my Lee-Enfield rifle on "Half-Cock".This enables you to bring the rifle ready to fire without making a noise as the bolt does when you load the rifle. It is over sixty years ago now and it is difficult for me to remember the exact procedure,however with alarm which caused me to load my rifle past,and at the change over at the end of my shift,while talking to my relief I rested the rifle bayonet boss on the soleof my boot which projected a quarter on an inch from the toe of my boot and eased off the Safety Catch,as I did so the round in the chamber fired.I have since been in touch with the Armoury at Leeds and there tell me of the happening only once before but cannot account for it.Any ideas? the third time was while assessing the calibre of a Spandau 32 while in the Western Desert.I had some ammunition but wasn,t sure if it was the right calibre.So I eased one into the chamber and slowly let the bolt forward (you could do this on a Bren gun or Lewis gun as it was the force of the bolt going forward that fired these guns.However,un-beknown to me the Spandau had a different action.As you allowed the bolt to go forward the firing pin was being drawn back so that when the bolt was completely closed the pin automatically fired the round in the breech.In all the instances quoted I followed the basic maxim "never point your weapon at anybody. However there was one occasion when a weapon was accidentaly discharged with fatal consequenses.Fortunately I was not personally involved.A party of Allied troops had been formed to assist the partisans in various Occupied countries.I and my comrades of the Raiding Support Regiment together with a number of Americans had marched across central Greece and were then resting before attempting the hazardous trek across to the Pindus Mountains,our future Oporational Area.We stopped beside Greek monastery "Mon Romanou".we were equipped with "two-man Tents.While I was cleaning mine out I heard a cry,it sounded just if if somebody had hit their thumb with hammer but ominously this had been preceeded by the sound of a shot.My tent mate Sam Tolman said "Hullo,it sounds as if somebody has shot themselves".Unfortunately this not quite true for some body been shot but by somebody else.one of the Americam GIs had been cleaning his .45 automatic pistol and shot and killed my pal Percy.It came about like this and to undetand the sequence of events you must know something of the mechanism of the Colt '45" Automatic Pistol.The ammunition was contained in the pistol grip,loading it meant that you simply pulled back the slide on top of the pistol,release it and it would fly forward under the influence of the cocking spring concealed under the barrel.This would force the top round out of the magazine and into the breech and the gun is now ready to fire.The procedure adopted when cleaning the pistol was FIRST-- to remove the magazine.THEN withdraw the bolt to look up into the chamber to check if their was already a round in the breech.The GI did this the other way round he looked up the barrel saw nothing in there and let go the bolt,and in doing so put one up the spout.He then withdrew the magazine and pulled the trigger,shooting Percy in the back the number of offences and rules the GI broke during this operation are legion so I won,t go into all of then here but this is what happens when a person owns a gun.No matter how well trained they are there is bound to be an accident some day.

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