Gallipoli bayonet ?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Last week in Turkey I found a Lee Metford bayonet, Date stamped 98 and Y.L.I.

Being a bit of a Boer war buff I thought an 1898 stamp and a YLI stamp would place it in South africa... I am sure it was.

I was a bit intrigued as to how it landed up in Turkey.

The blade also has a 15 (1915) stamp.

At the turkish war museum they have a case of artifacts dug up at Gallipoli, included are the rusted remains of 2 lee metford bayonets.

Does anyone knoe which units were issued Lee metfords at Gallipoli? There are no Aussie stamps that I can see on it.

On the side of the tang there is a "FD" as well.

All the best

Chris

[michaeldr]

Chris,

In Len Sellers’ “RND” magazine Issue No.7, Dec 1998

there is an article by Martin J. Brayley which refers to the RND in 1915 as “armed with the Long Lee Enfield rifle and its short double edged 1888 bayonet.”

Was this 1888 pattern the same as your 1898?

Regards

Michael D.R.

[Who could probably spot a Lee Remick, but that’s about all!]

[Guest Richard Knight]

I have an 1888 pattern bayonet that was given to me last year from a friend who went out to New Zealand. He found the bayonet in a junk shop. It had a lable on it stating that the bayont was used at Gallipoli and was found on a Turkish soldier who was using a Long Lee, it was taken from the POW by an ANZAC soldier.

Richard

[Chris Boonzaier]

The bayonet is indeed the 1888 pattern, 2nd model.

The 98 is the year it was made, the YLI used it (probably in South Africa) and the 15 is the year it was reissued.....

I had thought the lee Metford had been out of service by 1915....

[Captain Dave]

NZ tps were issued the Lee Metford rofle for the Gallipoli campaign. They were not issued the SMLE until they deployed to the Western Front in 16.

The obvious disadvantage being the lack of a charger bar meant that reloading was a slow affair in comparison to the Turkish Mausers.

There are also storys of NZ tps going into no mans land to retrieve SMLEs from Australian casualties as they were a far superior rifle.

[Chris Boonzaier]

SWould they have been issued old British equipment? as mentioned, the bayonet in question has Boer war era Y.L.I. stamps.

No reason why they should not have recieved reissued stuff, it was just as good then as 15 years before.

[Captain Dave]

A lot of the weaponary they deployed with was Boer War era equipment. The NZ Army had been reorganised only four years before and it was only then that there was a universal issue of eqiupment organised. Prior to this it was a bit hap hazzard and volunteer units could wear pretty much what they wished.

The SMLE had not been adopted in NZ and was retained as a training rifle for the duration of the war. A whole heap of them were purchased from Canada in 1914 and were most likely ex Boer War rifles also.

As a footnote, the first couple of NZ contingents to South Africa were issued with the single shot Martini before the Lee Metfords could be purchsed by the Govt. Like the Austalians, we retained the SMLE for the whole of WW2, only swapping to the No 4 .303 for a short period before the issue of the SLR.

Historicaly, were pretty slow on the uptake of new weaponary!