A Proud War Record - Royal Enfield Books

At the end of WWII, Royal Enfield produced a beautifully bound 44 page book about its work during the conflict. The book was designed to show the strength and diversity of the company, promote sales of its new peacetime products and encourage investors to buy shares in the Redditch-based manufacturer.

A Proud War Record shows motorcycle production and the deployment of these machines amongst the wartime services. It also highlights other products the company made, including bicycles, oil motors, generator sets, two-pounder armour piercing shells, anti-aircraft gun predictors, gyroscopic sights, air cooled diesel engines and fire control instruments. Finally, there are views of the four Royal Enfield factories, the work force, production and an outline of post war developments, including the new motorcycle range.

We have reproduced this fascinating book along with additional photographs of Royal Enfield motorcycles in use by the armed services, period photographs of the War Department motorcycles (Models D, C, CO, G, L, J2) and the very rare 1940 sales catalogue, which shows the full range of civilian machines that never went into full production due to the outbreak of war.

To illustrate how the company viewed its contribution to the war effort we have also included over 60 stunning period advertisements for Royal Enfield motorcycles, many of which show the machines in use.