Captured WW2 Weapons in Vietnam

[Calif-Steve]

The Kar98's in RVN largely came from Russia. They had a pile after WWII and hung on to them. I never saw any ammo, either. The French also had many Kar98's but not the quantity we captured. Russia fueled the war with China shipping in lots of equipment as well. All of the AK's I saw were Chinese and my own SKS is Chinese. But the Russians were fueling the war.

[boltaction]

A similar situation could/may/nearly or did happen with Finland because in the early part of the war we (U.K.) were allied to them but they switched their allegiance to Germany. There may have been a very brief period when we were both alien to Finland?

It is politics at its best. Prior to WWII Russia was the big bad wolf, and the non-aggression pact with Germany and invasion of Poland definitely placed them on the Allied blacklist. The Finns, fighting the Russians, were viewed as heroic good guys. Then, when the tables turned and the Germans invaded Russia, Russia suddenly became allied with the West ("the enemy of my enemy is my friend") and the Finns, still fighting the Russians and now on side with Germany, became the bad guys. Then they switched again near the end of the war. I remember my Mom saying how confusing it was, growing up during the war in small town Saskatchewan; all those different European immigrants around and whether they were to be trusted or not switched frequently

One can see photos of Finnish soldiers carrying Boys antitank rifles, Mosin Nagants, and Rosses..........

Ed

[mrclark303]

The politics involved in these things, then (as now), have everything to do do with Geo Political, National strategic aims and very little to do with doing the "right thing"..

A very sad fact unfortunately.

You only have to see the living hell and sea of human misery that Syria has turned into, to see this is still very much a fact.

[Flying10uk]

I use to work with a chap whose father was Polish and came to the U.K. in the early part of the war. This was partly to escape the Nazis and also he wanted to fly with the RAF in order to fight the Germans. When I was chatting to this work mate, on one occasion, about his father and Poland I was surprised when the chap turned to me and said that the place where his father came from is no longer part of Poland. Since the end of WW2 it has been part of Russia.

[TomH]

I use to work with a chap whose father was Polish and came to the U.K. in the early part of the war. This was partly to escape the Nazis and also he wanted to fly with the RAF in order to fight the Germans. When I was chatting to this work mate, on one occasion, about his father and Poland I was surprised when the chap turned to me and said that the place where his father came from is no longer part of Poland. Since the end of WW2 it has been part of Russia.

That was down to Winston Churchill if I recall correctly. I suppose to limit the size and hence power of a future Germany he proposed, that the Polish Western Border was moved 100miles west into German territory and the Polish Eastern Border was moved 100miles West ceding Polish territory to the Russians.

[Frederick303]

TomH

Ahhh...no. what occurred is Good old Winston Churchill sold the Poles down the river. In exchange fro the UK recognizing the Curzon line as being Poland's eastern border, England got Russia to agree that Greece would remain in the UK zone of influence.

One can understand this, except one of the reasons Poland went to war in 39 was the explicit guarantee by the UK that Poland border would not be negotiated away. If you look at the negotiations with Col. Beck, it was on this basis the Poles told Germany to pound sand. Churchill knew what he was doing when he traded the recognition of the Curzon line for Greece. The sad truth is Poland might have gotten a better deal by yielding west Prussia and Danzig.

In fairness to Churchill, since the Soviets occupied Poland there was not much the UK could do, they were bankrupt, and no one was in the mood to fight another war over Poland. So the Poles were screwed.

[Flying10uk]

One mustn't forget the thousands of Prisoners of War who were in the hands of the Western Allies at the end of WW2 and who were sent back to the Soviet Union, to meet their fate.

[burb1989]

It seems like the good majority of foreign weapons were either manufactured by Russia and China or supplied to the NVA/VC by the Russians and Chinese. Then there are the odd balls like the French firearms left over from the Indochina colony days, the arisakas left by the Japanese, US weapons stolen from ARVN encampments, and on occasion crude copies of other firearms made in country along with poorly made single shot rifles also made in country.