Acrers and acrers of surplus(does it exist?)

[John R.]

Then, I guess that all those stories about the Russians having tons of K-98s, cleaned, re-blued, and cosmolined, as well as Thompson .45 full autos, in caves, must be urban myth also...

Or maybe this is where some of those urban myths started...

That squire is NO "urban myth" as you put it.The Russians and the Chinese have NEVER been ones to throw ANY usefull small arms into the melting pots.

Russia captured literally MILLIONS of German small arms like Mauser 98k's and the whole gamut.All were rebuilt and refinished as needed and then prepped for long term storage.Russia received hundreds if not thousands of Stuart Tanks(which they quite LIKED for recce and scout purposes)These tanks were ALL shipped with the crew's self defence weps packed INSIDE, in this case THOMPSONs both Model of 1928s and M1928A1's as well as M1s and perhaps M1A1s.It made NO SENSE to complicate their log problems re yet another pistol calibre ammo req't(OR rifle calibre wep,M1919A4's and M2 fiftys were ALSO included in the tanks EIS) so they were never issued BUT stored instead.A LOT of these weps were in the Ukraine which is "tank country" and they sold them off a few years ago to German dealers.LOTS of Type L fifty rd drums mags were ALSO included along with the slings and cleaning equipment for the Thompsons.

Russia supplied THOUSANDS of tons of WWII German small arms to client states like China and NORTH Korea post WWII and even the Viet Cong were supplied Lugers,K98s,MP40's and MG 34s and MG 42s in the early days of the Vietnam War.

A little reading of the HISTORY BOOKS would show you that these stories about the literally MOUNTAINS of captured/surrendered (Stalingrad,Kursk and finally BERLIN)German small arms are only too TRUE.I have no doubt that they haven't run out of them yet either.

In 1977(January) I was driving to work past Rand Central Airport in Germiston(a suburb of Johannesburg) and did an eyes right to see what was on the ramp in front of the hangars.HOLEY SHEEPSCHITT what do I see but the prettiest C-47 Dakota that I have ever seen STILL PAINTED DICHROMATE green with a 1944 tail number in YELLOW on the vertical stabilizer.I did a 180 and went back,made a left turn and entered the airport gate.Drove around and up to the hangars and got out.I was thunderstruck,this was a BRAND NEW AIRPLANE made in 1944.Up comes the mkulubaas(foreman) and asked me what was up? I told him that I had a few jumps out of Daks and he laughed."Kom man,let's have a look then".We climbed in and walked up to the "front office".NO SCUFFS on the deck below the rudder pedals,UNwrinkled leather seats(just like a brand new M1916 .45 holster) and nary a mark,cigarette burn NADA.Just flat brand new.THEN he told me that the SAAF had 23 of them STILL in the crates at Waterkloof AFB in Pretoria that had been in long term storage since arrival in South Africa in 1944.Due to the bush war in Angola etc they decided to put them together and use them.The company at Rand Central had the contract to PAINT them so they had been flown(20 minutes maybe) from Waterkloof to Rand Central and were being painted in that WWII earth brown and green upper with sky blue lower camo paint job all as per WWII.only difference was the SPRINGBOK roundels on the fuselage and wings.

Rhodesian Air Force ALSO used Daks and one day I made no fewer than FIVE jumps while on Fire Force duty.My only problem with Daks is that I am six foot five and have to crouch down if I stand up in one.Hercs are NOISIER by far but at least I can stand up straight .

LOTS of neat stuff is still stashed in storage; but I would think that Russia would be the best place by far to go looking.(NOT as if they would let you of course)There are also LOTS of other countries with thousands of tons of WWII gear rusting away in storage but they are so corrupt that you'll never get any of this lovely gear on account of everyone there is determined that only THEY will pocket the proceeds and as a result NOBODY gets anything.Venality LIVES in third world military institutions I promise you.How would you like to see UPWARDS of 300K GARANDS rusting away in a big hangar with a leaky roof during a monsoon rainstorm ?No,don't give me this CRAP that they all BELONG to the CMP either because they do NOT and never will.The country in question OWNS them and all the officers who control them scheme about selling them but can't agree on WHO get the loot and never will.So they will just keep on rusting away.......JR