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The old tale of men being charged an killed when and enbloc clip went "ping" just got wilder!
While anything is possible in war and it's a certaintly that some have been killed or captured with an empty rifle, the ping story simply doesn't hold water, especially that one.
Think a moment; how likely is it that any "whole group" of soldiers would all get low on ammo at the same time, all would fire off any remaining rounds at the same time, the noise level would be quite enough - remember, we must assume the other side was still shooting - and our guys would been sufficently concentrated so the collective "pings" could get them shot or captured at the same time? NOT bloody likely! In fact, it's beyond any rational belief.
The major advantage of the enbloc clip was that a rifle could be reloaded in half the time it could be done with a stripper clip. The ping was too soft to be heard from much distance and it would get lost in the noise of combat. No enemy could, or would, expect to charge into an unknown body of troops in the wild hope that the enemy had all gone ping at the same time.
Such conjecture and silly arguments fall into the realm of gun weinies wishing to sound intelligent on something they know nothing about. The Garand was, and remains, the best battle rifle ever fielded, partially because of the eight round enbloc clip.
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