On the morning of June 6, 1944, Lt. Col James H. Batte of the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France. Moving inland as the beachhead expanded at the beginning of “The Great Crusade” to liberate occupied Europe, Batte and the 87th continued until “about noon on D-Day when a large number of gliders of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division carrying men, artillery, ammunition and various other supplies arrived in support of these two divisions and the 4th Infantry Division already on the ground.”

Batte described the thick trees and hedgerows where he and his men took up position, which was also a drop zone for follow-on American Airborne forces. “One glider landed a few yards distant from the position and I observed a 75mm artillery piece, which had been secured in the tail area, break loose on impact with a hedgerow and spew men and cargo out of the front, thereby killing or wounding many personnel aboard. Upon close examination, I found that all the personnel had been killed. I unstrapped a carbine from a paratrooper’s leg and carried it throughout the ensuing five campaigns in the ETO until VE Day—8 May 1945.” Batte, later a brigadier general, carved his initials in the stock as “many individuals wish to have such a short length 30 caliber rifle that would fit nicely between the two front seats of my jeep.”

That is about as good as “provenance” gets. With modern military arms it is virtually impossible to link a specific gun with a specific battle, let alone to an Airborne gun on D-Day. So when the gavel came down at the James D. Julia Auction in March, Batte’s M1A1 carbine, serial number 45457, made by the Inland Division of General Motors with a barrel of date “6-43,” the “Holster Assembly, Parachutists” (known as a carbine “jump scabbard”) and supporting documents, the bid was $20,125. It was the highest realized to date for a U.S. M1A1 carbine…

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