Joe, That may well have been the case but it's too far outside my primary areas of interest to make any judgements. Like a lot of guys, Joe Buffer dealt in multiple items. With one of my friends who has his own considerable expertise, he never spoke ill of Joe, so I have to assume that he was OK at least as far as their dealings were concerned. For myself, I never spoke to him about the Drillings and just offhand don�t recall the other conversations - except for one. With the one I do remember, he was waaay ahead of the curve. And was right when so many other guys were wrong.
With so few (or none at all) photographs for many items it�s very hard sometimes to find definitive answers. But there is a DAK/tropical uniform period photograph. Very likely posed, with what looks like an uncased Drilling, an aircraft MG, and 98K rifle. All loosely stacked along with some other gear beside a Stuka. But it�s focus is more of a maintenance/housekeeping setting - so its hard to judge just what is going on. And there could be a shovel and/or machete stuffed into one of the larger bags, but none is visible.
Looking at some of the known serial numbers for the quantities of Drillings made. As compared to aircraft losses (bombers, Stukas, reconnaissance). If 1941 was going to be an indicator - supply officers had their work cut out for them very early. Unfortunately for them, 1942 was even worse. And trying to acquire replacement equipment for the men that they were responsible for must have been a very unenviable assignment. Best Regards, Fred
