Before and during World War II, Nazi Germany had close industrial cooperation with its ally, Imperial Japan. In that cooperation, there was also the exchange of weapons. Therefore, the appearance of German weapons in the hands of the Japanese soldiers in the Pacific War was widely recorded.
In 1941, Japan occupied Indochina (including Vietnam) to make it its second-largest military base after Japan itself. In 1945, after the defeat of the Japanese fascists, the Vietnamese people waged an uprising, seized power, and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The number of Japanese troops at that time in Indochina amounted to about 150k people, and after the Japanese surrendered to the Viet Minh (September 1945), the number of weapons left behind by the Japanese army was a huge fortune and quickly served in two Indochina wars over the next 30 years. Among those weapons are German-made guns.
Also, the Eastern Front was considered the most devastating part of World War 2. Tens of millions of people on both the Soviet and German sides were killed or wounded. During and after the war, the Soviet Red Army captured large quantities of German weapons and then aided its ally, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Here are some of the Nazi-made weapons used in Vietnam:
- Kar98k rifle:
This name is too familiar to anyone who has ever learned about World War 2. After defeating Germany on the Eastern Front, the Soviet Red Army provided a vast amount of Kar98k to the Viet Minh forces to fight against the French army, and even after 1954, Kar98k still appeared in large numbers and were often brought back by the Americans as trophies or as souvenirs. After the ammunition ran out in the 1970s, it has not been seen since.
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| North Vietnam militia shooting at US aircrafts with Kar98k rifles (a PPsh-41 is visible on the hand of the standing soldier on the right) |
- MP40 Submachine gun:
French soldiers during the Indochina war used a lot of MP40s captured from German soldiers from WW2. Viet Minh soldiers also received a considerable amount of these guns from their allies. Viet Cong guerrillas are also noted to have used many of them.
- MG34 and MG42:
The North Vietnamese air defense forces were widely
equipped with these machine guns until the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 and
throughout the 1980s. By the late 1980s, these guns were too old to be used and
they were no longer used.
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| North Vietnam air defense force soldiers with an MG34 |
- Stg44:
It was noted in significant numbers in South Vietnam during the 1960s. After the Tet Offensive (1968), it was less seen but reappeared a lot in the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979).
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| A US soldier testing an Stg44 which was captured from VC force |
- FG42:
Surprisingly, only one of them was recorded in Hanoi (1947) during the Indochina war. During the Vietnam War, the FG42 made a very limited reappearance in the US military. Anyway, in WW2 it was still the rarest submachine gun.
- Flak 88:
Equipped for the North Vietnamese air defense force. All ammunition was made in Germany before and during 1945. After the ammunition ran out, they were turned to scrap metal.
- Pak 40:
Used by the North Vietnam army in a considerable number, and also Viet Cong guerrillas in southern Vietnam in some minor battles with American patrol ships. One of them is now on display at the Artillery Museum in Hanoi.
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| North Vietnam army marching with Pak-40 |
Those are some of the Nazi weapons that appeared in
Vietnam. Which weapon do you know the most?