MAUSER IN CHINA

The Second Sino-Japanese War outbroke on July 7 1937. At this point, China domestic rifle production amounted to 80000 pieces a year. Huge loss of weapons and machinery forced China to acquire extra small arms from Europe. Within 6 months after outbreak of the war more than 150000 rifles having been ordered from FN and ZB. 1938 Chinese K98k Contract Although China did not award first order to Mauser until February 1938, Chinese government requested German government to provide 100000 rifles right after Japanese full scale invasion in July 1937. In early 1938, the quantity further increased to 300000 rifles which request had never being fulfilled. German government’s reluctant to provide rifles to China compelling Nationalist government to seek a commercial contract. Chinese official Tan Boyu ( 商務專員處專員譚伯羽 ), the Representative of Chinese Commercial Office in Berlin, was deputed by Central Military Committee of Nationalist Government to negotiate a rifle contract with Mauser Company. Th...

 

  I went through several posts on GB about Japanese K98k contract, I'd like to provide some information from Japanese documents. I am not sure if somebody else has done similar job or not, hope I am not repeating. Japan ordered three contracts of Mauser rifles. The very first one ordered in 1938, Japanese reported 8000 "Original Mauser rifles" ( オリヂチル · ﾓｰｾﾞﾙ) were ordered in October 1938. In 1937/38 Mauser sold only 185443.69RM weapons to Japan and 31037.25RM weapons to Manchukuo.  This contract recently has been confirmed by Mr. Jon Speed's Mauser Archive research that 8000 Standard Modell were sold to Japan.  Be aware alongside Mauser rifle is Type I rifles bought by Ministry of Army and were not specifically for Imperial Navy though many of which were sent to Navy and Marine forces. (My writing about the history of Type I rifle:  History of Japanese Type I Rifle – Surplused ) Here's Japanese records of first contract. The second contract were ordered in early ...

 Some articles and books in English have already discussed the design of the rifle itself. This article is going to discuss the history of Japanese Type I rifle, which has not yet been realized by western collectors. Japanese named the rifle after Italy as “イ式小銃” or more formally as 伊太利製改造小銃 (Italy made modified rifle) which abbreviates to 伊式小銃. There’s a story circulating out there said these rifles were bought for Japanese Imperial Navy which land troops were hardly to acquire small arms from the Army controlled arsenals. I have to say this is not true though  IJ Navy and marines were main users of these rifles. Italian rifles alongside K98k from Mauser were parts of Trio Pact that Japan-German-Italian exchanges military technologies and weapons for balancing trade deficit. Japanese archives show that the rifle contract was processed by Japanese Ministry of Army under the term of Japanese-Manchuria-Italian Pact. Japan initially ordered about 130,000 Italian rifles (seems lat...

The Second Sino-Japanese war outbreak on July 7 1937, Chinese domestic rifle production incapable of fulfilling enormous demands of rifles as the number of the Army growing fast. Meanwhile, many arsenals and weapon deposits were lost to the Japanese. Nationalist Government had to purchase more than 300,000 Mauser rifles from Mauser Company, FN, A Gavage and CZ between 1937 and 1939. From 1937.7 to 1939.4,  Nationalist Government Military Affairs Commission ordered 322,000 Mauser rifles from Mauser Company, FN, A.Gavage and CZ. This number dose not include local orders, taking over orders prior to the war and other government agencies orders.   Part 1: Chinese Banner Mauser K98k Part 2：Ceskoslovenska Zbrojovka Model 24 CZ was another important source of Mauser rifle to China at the beginning years of the war. CZ supplied 100,000 Model 24 rifles to China between 1937 and 1939.  The first Nationalist Government contract of 50,000 Model 24 was signed in July 1937 in Lond...

毛瑟在中国：M1904步枪合同 Mauser in China: Model 1904 rifle by Aaron J. Zou      This article studies the contract of Model 1904 rifle that Mauser Company sold to China in 1907 and probable commercial sales of Mauser Model 1904 rifles and carbines to China. It first appeared on Chinese language magazine  Small Arms  ( Qingbingqi , 《轻兵器》) of  January 2023. The English version in the title of Mauser in China: Model 1904 rifle has been printed by BANZAI of  Issue 492 (June 2023).      《毛瑟在中国》(Mauser in China) is a series of articles studying the contracts of rifles and pistols that Mauser Company sold to China between 1880 and 1939.

Months ago a friend in china sent me a picture of this Ludwig Loewe made Russian S&W No.3 revolver, which belongs to his college's reference room collection.  This reminds me of some archives I'd read about  China acquisition of Ludwig Loewe manufactured S&W No.3 revolvers.  In 1878, LI Hongzhang asked China Embassy in Berlin to buy 200 pistols for his army. The ambassador visited Ludwig Loewe Company in Berlin twice in 1878, Ludwig Loewe presented Chinese ambassador S&W No.3 revolver which they were producing for Russian contract. A letter from Berlin Embassy to Tianjin Arsenal stated some opinions of the ambassador about the revolver. He said this "very delicate revolver" disassembles into 66 components and does not suit for Chinese soldiers. This letter also mentioned that t he unit price is 60 Marks and Loewe Company had an top break design revolver which costs 42 marks. Li Hongzhang The ambassador sent a broker named Muller from Diers...