Churchill's Bodyguard

imjin138

imjin138

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I have been watching a BBC documentary titled 'Churchill's Bodyguard' it is a 10 episode history channel program about H. Walter Thompson Churchill's bodayguard from the 1920's to the end of WWII.

It is rather interesting, in it Churchill's personal favorite pistol was a 1911 Colt.45 and apparently was a very good shot. According to this he had very few bodyguards and mostly just this Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard.
 
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I read an article in a collector's gun mag., Man at Arms, about Churchill's pistols. Had many good photos, allowed by the present Lord Churchill. The 1911 was a .45 that he bought to carry in France in WWI, after being deposed as First Sea Lord (?? on the title) at the Admiralty. (His non-political background was as an Army officer.)

The CBS TV series in the 1950's, THe World at War (?) also showed his .38 Webley MK IV, a Thompson SMG, and a Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5mm carbine. He kept these nearby all during the war. One well known photo shows the outline of the .45 under his white suit jacket. That Colt seems to have been his favorite. In the early '50's, Colt presented him with a .45 Commander. He had formed the Commandos and insisted that they carry Colt .45 autos as their standard sidearm, and far more of them had sidearms than in ordinary Army units.

Did the series say that this one man, Thompson (?) had been his bodyguard since the 1920's?! I didn't realize that he had a bodyguard until he was elected Prime Minister in 1940.

Churchill was a remarkable man. Had some flaws, as when he proposed the Gallipoli landings in WW I, but better than anyone we'll encounter in our own elections this fall. (I hope I can say that here.)
 
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I seem to remember an article wherein it noted that Churchill carried a Broomhandle Mauser in South Africa prior to WWI. He supposedly had special permission to carry it instead of a saber because of an injury to his right arm as a youth. I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it but I sure can't recall where I read it.\? Keep shootin'
 
he was apointed as the bodyguard in 1921 and stayed with Churchill until 1931 and then in 1937 When Churchill again was in Government until the end of the war.

He is shown with the Webly .38 nd the 6mm Manlicher, according to the program Churchill was keeping the last round for himself just in case. The bodyguard carried Colt Detective Special and 1911s, in almost all the newsreels and photos he has his hand in his right pocket at all times.
 
Churchill described using his Broomhamdle Mauser at the Battle of Omdurman, said he shot at least one Mahdist.
The First Lord of The Admiralty is the UK equivalent of Secretary of the
Navy, the First Sea Lord is more or less their Chief of Naval Operations.
Churchill was far from a ceremonial First Lord, he was constantly accused of usurping the admirals' authority and not listening to them.
I read a book entitled "If Britain Had Fallen", it mentions the case of a young lieutenant in charge of a works platoon (maintenance to us) in 1940. His men had to turn in their rifles and even he had to hand over his revolver for use elsewhere.
 
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