tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227462771455532543.post5427653359421303958..comments2024-02-10T09:31:27.930+01:00Comments on BLITZKRIEG!!: Los Kachin y sus fusiles Springfieldcharlie furilohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06880386394806125668noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8227462771455532543.post-84152074156189043982014-11-20T02:17:26.425+01:002014-11-20T02:17:26.425+01:00Eighteen years ago I saw a copy of a declassified ...Eighteen years ago I saw a copy of a declassified WWII memorandum dated 15 May 1943sent by Colonel Frank Merrill on behalf of General Stillwell, to the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff stating critical supplies and personnel needed for the OSS. One of the five items requested was 500 muzzle loading .69 caliber rifles that were to be sent by sea transportation. The copy of this memorandum appeared in “The L-4 Grasshopper Newsletter #60 of November/December 1996. The L-4 was the military version of the civilian Piper J-3 Cub aircraft that was used in the US military for adjusting artillery from the air and also for general liaison purposes.<br />I read in Troy Sacquenty’s The OSS in Burma: Jungle War Against the Japanese that the Katchins were outfitted with Springfield rifles. On page 102 of that book there is a photo of some Katchin tribesman, with one holding a 3 band muzzle loading rifle that is said to be a Springfield [muzzle loading ] rifle . The photograph is not sufficiently clear to determine if indeed it is a Springfield, rather than a rifle of a similar design such as British .577 Pattern 1853 rifle.<br />It appears that the War Department was unable to provided 69 caliber rifles and instead procured Civil War .58 caliber Springfield muzzleloaders.<br />It makes sense that 1860 era .58 caliber Springfield rifles would be more readily available in the US than .69 caliber muskets since the last US produced 69 caliber musket was manufactured in the 1840s.<br />I would be very interested to know where you were able to find the information on the Springfields that you discussed in your blog.L-4Hpilothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10921147995951506286noreply@blogger.com