Issued small arms?

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Fisto
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:10 pm

Re: Issued small arms?

Post by Fisto »

As for the finns using the M37:

The finns never acquired the swedish copy directly (they had more than enough industrial capacity to produce the original M/31) The only possible way these weapons could have arrived into Finland (and i consider this extremely dubious FYI) is with the swedish volunteer SFK during the winter war. After the war they left their weapons for the finns, but some of them were returned to sweden during the continuation war.

From this we can conclude that the finns may have ended up with a couple of dozen M37 smg:s some of which (if not all) were returned to sweden.

As for the germans in finland using M/31:

The finnish HQ donated 120 brand new model I Suomi SMG:s to the germans in 1943 and as far as i know those are the only weapons used by them.
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rudz
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Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 12:38 pm

Re: Issued small arms?

Post by rudz »

André wrote:Here is a list of Finnish Army's small arms from autumn 1939 (just before Winter War).

- 250 028 rifles
- 19 252 pistols
- 4 963 SMG's
- 4 872 LMG's
- 2 479 MG's
- 150 000 handgranade
- 156 000 000 rifle ammunition

Civil guard had:
- over 114 000 rifles
- 1 500 SMGs
- 700 LMGs
- 550 MGs
.... 88 000 weapons were given to Army.

Finnish bought weapons during the Winter War especially from these countries: Sweden, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Italia, Switzerland and Hungary.
Because most of these countries were preparing to war in Middle-Europe, the weapong deals were very tricky.

Most common weapons bought were:
-Swedish 6,5mm Mauser rifles M/96 (52 000 pcs.)
-Swedish 6,5mm Mauser rifles M/21 (25 000 pcs.)
-French 8mm Chauchat -LMGs M/15 (5 000 pcs.) (these were free gifts)



Finnish army got a lot of pillage weapons though from Soviets. Here is a list:
- 33 637 rifles (mostly Mosin-Nagants)
- 3 012 automatic rifles (SVT-38)
- 88 sniper rifles
- 398 pistols or revolvers
- 239 SMGs
- 3 079 LMGs
- 1 768 MGs
- 20 Anti-aircraft MGs
- 149 mortars (82mm and 50mm)
- 149 anti-tank guns
- 160 cannons

Here is a list about number of weapons included in Finnish and Soviet infantry division (in optimal):

Finnish infantry division:
- 14 200 men
- 11 000 rifles
- 250 SMGs
- 250 LMGs
- 116 MGs
- 0 riflegrenade equipment
- 18 mortars
- 18 anti-tank guns


Soviet infantry division
- 17 500 men
- 14 000 rifles
- 0 SMGs
- 419 LMGs
- 200 MGs
- 261 riflegrenade equipment
- 40 mortars
- 48 anti-tank guns

88,000 weapons are given by the army???
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Pirkka
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Re: Issued small arms?

Post by Pirkka »

No, were given to the army (by the Civil Guard).
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