Rifles of World War II
From 1910 to 1945, Korea was under Japanese military occupation. Japanese military education was complete and thorough. I learned how to operate their Arisaka Type 38 infantry rile, without live ammunition, when I was 9 years old. Let us see how the rifle works.-
Arisaka Type 38
with 6.5mm ammunition. This machine was introduced in 1905
and used by Japanese troops during the Russo-Japanese war and during
the early phase of the Sino-Japanese war.
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Arisaka Type 99 with 7.7mm ammo was introduced in 1939.
Japanese soldiers fought with these rifles during World War II. I was
trained to operate this rifle during the period January-July of 1951,
while my middle school in Seoul was occupied by communist troops, and
I was enrolled at another school in a southern city of Chinhae. I
indeed went though an excellent military training during my childhood.
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Mauser Kar 98K was used by German troops in World War II.
Germany produced 14 million copies of this rifle, but I was not
able to touch any of those.
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Mosin-Nagant rifles were used by Soviet troops during
WWII. In June 1950, the North Korean army stormed the South with
these rifles and Soviet-built T-34
tanks. When NK troops retreated, they left behind many of
their Mosin-Nagants. I picked up one of those, and learned how to
operate it.
- Garrand M1 was used by American troops during World War II and the Korean War (1950-53). The Korean army was also equipped with those M1 rifles. This gas-powered semi-automatic rigle was invented by a French Canadian engineer named John C. Garrand in 1920, and was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1936. About 6 million copies were produced until 1957. I am quite familir with this beautiful machine.
This page is maintained by Y. S. Kim, with home page