American rifles....

[big_buddha]

There are many examples of senior oficers carrying whatever arms they liked, Lord Lovat carried a hunting rifle. The British special forces could request just about anything from the weapon inventory, Churchill intervened to allow this as the Commandos were his brainchild and in the dark days from June 1940 to 1943, the Commandos carried the fight to Germany more than any other British units.

As for the Springfield, I can't remember the exact figures, but over a million of them were retained in stores and all of them issued in late 1941, early 1941, there were not enough Garands by far until much later. I will dig up the book with the info if anyone wants specifics.