WW2 China guerrilla area made gun

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xikang
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Joined: 22 May 2004, 10:20
Location: Shanghai, China

WW2 China guerrilla area made gun

#1

Post by xikang » 22 May 2004, 12:13

The Sino-Japanese War is called as Anti-Japanese War in China. During the 8 year war, there are some simple weapons made in guerrilla area. Here is one very closed to mortar, but much more simple structure and easier to produce. Which is used to launch detonator bag to attch Japanese pillbox. And later it is used by PLA army to fight in the China Civil War.
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gewehrdork
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#2

Post by gewehrdork » 22 May 2004, 17:39

Another neat example of chinese ingenuity in the face of shortages. The chinese manufactured large quantities of arms of all types in myriads of small blacksmith shops to semi offical "armories". They cloned many a mauser and similar bolt rifle in their fight against the japanese and rival chinese warlords. The vietnamese did alot of the same during the long french/american vietnam conflict.
There is an excellent book out there by Dolf Goldsmith titled "Arming the Dragon". It is an excellent work on chinese arms. A must have if you want soem accurate arms references of a chinese flavor.


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David Lehmann
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#3

Post by David Lehmann » 22 May 2004, 18:10

Not really related to guerilla but a little story about the French Brandt 120mm Mle 1935 mortar and China.
This heavy mortar had been adopted by the French Army and a squad of 2 mortars should have been issued in each regiment in 1940 but very few had been delivered before the armistice.
This mortar was also manufactured in Russia under the name "120mm Polkovoy Minomyot Obr.1938g". The Russians used it extensively and modified it and later produced their totally own mortars (that's why it is often thought that this 120mm mortar is a Soviet conception) and it has later been copied by the Germans for their "120 mm Granatewerfer 1942".
Brandt sold the Kuomintang regime two 120mm Mle1935 mortars and 275 rounds of ammunition in 1938, and these were delivered in March 1939 via Rangoon and the Burma Road. With the fall of France further purchases became impossible and the weapons were turned over to the 21st Arsenal for reverse-engineering. In the meantime, the 50th Arsenal was working on their own design and a competition between the two was held in 1943/44. The 21st Arsenal (Brandt-derived) mortar was chosen in 1944 (hence the designation 33 = 33rd year of the Republic). In any event, none were actually built until 1945. Production appears to have ceased around 1946, with probably about a hundred built. The main differences between the Brandt version delivered to China and the Type 33 was that the 21st Arsenal shorted the tube slightly to reduce weight and replaced the spring-carried pneumatic tires with simple wooden spoke wheels.

Regards,

David

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