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The Karabiner 98 Kurz is a 5-round (7.92 mm x 57 mm)
bolt-action rifle. It was adopted as the standard infantry rifle in
1935 by the Wehrmacht, and was one of the final developments in
the long line of Mauser military rifles. During World War II, the Soviet Union captured millions of Mauser Kar98k rifles and re-arsenaled them in various arms factories in the late 1940s and early 1950s. These rifles were originally stored in the event of future hostilities with the Western democracies. Most of these rifles were eventually shipped to communist or Marxist revolutionary movements and nations around the world during the early Cold War period. A steady supply of free surplus military firearms was one way that Moscow could support these movements and states without giving them the latest Soviet infantry weapons until these movements and states gained the trust of Moscow to warrant the supply of modern Soviet infantry weapons. A considerable number of Soviet-captured Mauser
98k rifles was provided to the Viet Ming during the Indochina war
alongside other "old" rifles like the Soviet Mosin-Nagant. |
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Viet Minh in Hanoi in 1954. |
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| Captured Mausers |
