Panzers in China

[Logan Hartke]

Does anyone have any pics or at least info on the sale of 10 PzKpfw Is and SdKfz 221 & 222 armored cars to China in 1935?

I found a bit...

10 of these German vehicles served with the 3rd tank battalion in 1937 at Nanking. Vehicles received from Germany in their dark grey delivery scheme. While at Nanking most were marked with the Kuomintang sunburst national insignia, but tactical markings were carried by this unit.

...but that's about all.

Logan Hartke

[Robert Hurst]

Hi Logan

I was looking through a book of mine last evening and I came across the following photo.

Regards

Bob

[Logan Hartke]

That's neat, thanks.

Logan Hartke

[Kurt_Steiner]

Are the soldiers wearing the German-like helmets German soldiers or Chinese members of the Kuomintang? Too small to be Germans, I think. Perhaps I'm saying non-sense

Best regards

[Eden Zhang]

Are the soldiers wearing the German-like helmets German soldiers or Chinese members of the Kuomintang? Too small to be Germans, I think. Perhaps I'm saying non-sense

Best regards

I think the Chinese army back then did make use of German style helmets. At lostbatallions.com they make a comparison between their helmets, original helmets and Chinese ones.

Though I may be the one talking non-sense

[Kurt_Steiner]

Thanks for the info. I hope both of us are not making a fool of ourselves talking non-sense.

Best regards

[HKC01]

I am a chinese as well, so I can give some info related to it.
It was heard that Chinese nationalist army did purchase a series of weapons from Germany, including 88mm AA guns, 150mm Horwitzer and noticably the Mauser rilfes and Mauser C96 pistol~~~in Chinese it was nicknamed as "BOX-SIZED CANNONs". A small no of MP28 were purchased by Chinese as well.

The M35 helmets were supplied by Germany, it was heard that Chinese Elite division equipped with M35 helmets even earlier than their German counterpart. Chinese did duplicate the Mauser rifles, C96 pistols, M-35 helmets and many of them.
Undoubtedly, the German-made weapons caused a huge casulty upon the japanese invaders. Japanese gov did repeatedly make a series of protests against Germany for this practice.


Actually many experienced German officers worked as the advisors of Chinese nationalist army from 1920s to 1930s, which was approved by Hilter initially until 1938.

[Eden Zhang]

HKC01, those pictures don't work for some reason.

Also, I'm not calling you a liar, but do you have any sources for your claims?

[Sander D]

Came a cross it on this site:

http://members.tripod.com/~France40/temp/chinese.html

Regards

Sander

[Armchair_General_WYF]

AFAIK, there are mainly two books in English about Sino–German relation in the 1930s :
Fox, John P. (1982). Germany and the Far Eastern crisis, 1931-1938: a study in diplomacy and ideology, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982（《德國與遠東危機1931—1938》）
Kirby, William C.(1984). Germany and republican China, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
However, there are much more books and articles about this issue written in Chinese.

Regarding the questions, there are indeed extensive cooperation between Germany and the Republic of China starting from early 30s to the April of 1938. A large amount of German armaments was traded in exchange for tungsten ore and other natural resources. Weapons ROC bought includes 105mm Howitzers, tanks , 150mm sFH 18, HS 123 planes and a lot more.
In 1937, an experimental armour regiment(陸軍裝甲兵團) was established, it was commanded by Yuming Du(杜聿明) ​and supervised by Tingyao Xu(徐庭瑤)("the father of Chinese mechanized forces "). Its 3rd company was armed with German tanks while the other two were armed with British tanks. In 1934, Chinese government ordered 36 Pz Kpfw I Light Tank from Krupp, which were used to equip the 3rd company, the company was also equipped with 17 SdKfz221 armoured vehicles, these German tanks saw action in early battles such as the Battle of Shanghai and Nanjing.

[G, Y?]

Are the soldiers wearing the German-like helmets German soldiers or Chinese members of the Kuomintang? Too small to be Germans, I think. Perhaps I'm saying non-sense

Best regards

In the '30s Germany sent Hans von Seeckt and von Falkenhausen along with others as military advisers to KMT. They were training an 80k strong KMT army. The Chinese adopted German equipment including the stahlhelm and a tunic similar to that worn by the Reichswehr. Chaing Kai Shek's son also served briefly in the Wehrmacht and may be seen in a Hauptman's uniform. He also work a marksmanship cord on his right shoulder.