The trouble with this bloody hobby is that it’s just too easy to pick away at the siderails and going squirreling off into the forest. Primarily I collect Axis infantry weapons but when you have been going as long as I have then you start getting to the end of the list. Just recently I bought my first US infantry firearm, this perfect 1937 date M1903. Look upon my works ye mighty and despair.
Here’s a less common rifle. Once the China War got really going the IJN found it increasingly difficult to get small arms as all of the domestic Japanese production was going to the Army. In response they sent a mission to Europe to buy a battle rifle. They were on a budget, they found the Czechs, Germans and Swedes too expensive so they settled on an Italy Carcano rework. Note that it is visually very similar to the Type 38 long rifle and was chambered in the same round, 6.5 Arisaka.
Because I am getting to the end of the German small arms I decided to grow my US & British groups. Luckily this one came past me as it kind of fits in with both countries. This rifle, made by the Stevens subsidiary of the Savage Arms Company was intended for supply to the British through the Lend-Lease program. It’s dated 1941.
The latest addition to my Axis small arms collection and just about the last SMG I was missing. This is a 1934 manufactured Bergmann BMP-34. Not to be confused with the Steyr MP-34 here. This gun was produced under license by Walther for the Danish manufacturer Bergmann and the design later saw life as the MP-35, supplied in some number for the Waffen-SS. The low serial on this one makes me think it is either from the original company or one of the licensed copies made by Shultz & Larsen. It has the early 200mm barrel.
This piece of ordnance came as an Andrew dropping. It’s a 3.7cm HE round designed to be fired from the BK-3.7 aircraft cannon as fitted on HS129’s or Ju87-G’s. It was also used in a range of 3.7cm FlaK.18/36/37/43 auto cannons.
The fuse is a 3.7-cm KOPFZUENDER ZERL. PV self destroying timed type. On acceleration the igniferous detonator in the displaced recess sets back on the striker. The flash from the detonator passes through the flash channels to the powder pellet in the radial channel and to the lower end of the delay filling in the first of the vertical channels. When the pellet in the radial channel disintegrates the bolt is thrown out-wards by centrifugal force leaving the striker held off the detonator in the magazine by the creep action resulting from deceleration.
On impact the striker is driven in by the hammer and pierces the detonator in the top of the magazine. During flight, the burning of the delay composition in the first vertical channel is transmitted by the gunpowder in the traverse channel to the delay composition in the second vertical channel. When direct action does not occur before the composition burns to the base of the second channel, the disk of gunpowder confined in the top of the magazine adapter is ignited and explodes and thus initiates the detonation of the magazine.
The fuse was manufactured by BLW, that is Gritzner-Kayser AG in Karlsruhe-Durlach in 1943. The casing is marked as manufactured in 1940 for a Flak 18.
This has been sitting unloved in my closet for a few years, I forgot to put it up here when I first got it. It’s the holster for the German 1934 model flare pistol, here. This example is made primarily from a material called prestoff, which is a kind of treated, pressed paper pulp. The only leather on it is the parts that were likely to be flexed repeatedly. It’s well stamped but illegible.
A fairly simple bit of kit this, it’s a canvas action cover for the Enfield No4 Rifle. This particular example was manufactured in Canada by The Dominion Regalia Company of Toronto.
A few months ago I was finally able to get hold of a Czech VZ-24 with clear signs of German issue. I then went looking for the correct bayonet for it. The frog is marked for Friedrich Schäfer Ulm/Do. 1940. This bayonet has had its muzzle ring removed before reissue, a typical German standard.
An almost lost group here to Leading Aircraftsman R.Birchall (1155198) in the RAFVR. The group came with a Welsh Regiment cap badge so I assume he was originally enrolled in that unit before transferring to the RAFVR. He was awarded an MID oakleaf in June 1945.
This is the bar issued to French service members who served in the Atlantic Theatre between September 3rd 1939 and May 8th 1945. It was intended to be placed on the Commemorative Medal of the 1939-45 War, like this example here.
Nice simple item here. This is the ammunition box that was carried inside vehicles mounted with an MG34 or MG42, like the SdKfz 250/251 Halftracks. This is a nice early one dated 1939 and manufactured by Franke & Co GMBH, Machinenwerke in Leipzig.
This is a nasty little piece of work and the third of my German Luftwaffe bombs. This is a 1kg Elektron-Brande-Bombe. It was originally filled with 680g of thermite and was dropped in conjunction with HE bombs. The HE bomb, like this one here, punched a hole in the roof of the building and this little shyte burned the building down. Obviously dewat but still a bit of fun.
This bayonet is the Yugoslav M1924/30 model, used by the Germans as the S109(j). It is intended to fit the M24 Mauser pattern rifle to be seen here. This one was manufactured by Vojno Technicki Zavod and has their triangular ricasso stamp with BT3 inside.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbour, American capitalism and racist jingoism met and fell in love. Their offspring was a flood of dime-store tat that was fed to the public in an ultimately successful attempt to stir feeling enough that they were prepared to spend whatever it took to defeat the Empire of Japan. Here is an example from my collection of a postcard printed for that purpose.
Here’s a second variation on the sheet music for that classic agi-prop song, “We’re gonna have to slap the Dirty Little Jap”. The other one I have is here, and the record is here. The lengths the US Government had to go to get the US people fired up for war were pretty extreme at times and resorted to gross caricature and racism in most cases.
Here’s something you don’t see every day. This is a German 50kg General Purpose bomb. I can understand why people don’t collect these things. It’s huge and its almost fallen over on my foot a couple of times. This is the third aerial bomb I have collected, after an SD-2 here and an incendiary BD that I haven’t posted yet. These things aren’t really my core focus but how many aerial bombs do you get offered?
A few years ago I picked up a Haenel manufactured MP41 Machine Pistol. These are pretty rare because they only made about 20,000 of them before Erma forced them to stop due to a copyright issue on the MP40 design. This is the magazine loader, also made by Haenel, for the MP41. Even more rare that the gun I would expect.
This is a French medal awarded to all participants in recognised formations, fitted with a range of bars depending on the type and theatre of service. In this case the bar is “Extreme Orient” for operations (including in the Indian and Pacific oceans) between 7 December 1941 and 15 August 1945.
This is a French medal awarded to all participants in recognised formations, fitted with a range of bars depending on the type and theatre of service. In this case the bar is “Mer Du Nord” for Naval Operations in the North Sea between September 3rd 1939 and May 8th 1945.
This is a French medal awarded to all participants in recognised formations, fitted with a range of bars depending on the type and theatre of service. In this case the bar is “Mediterranee” for Naval Operations in the Mediterranean between September 3rd 1939 and May 8th 1945.
This is a French medal awarded to all participants in recognised formations, fitted with a range of bars depending on the type and theatre of service. In this case the bar is “Mache” for naval Operations in the English Channel between September 3rd 1939 and May 8th 1945.
This rifle, a VZ24 manufactured by Brno in 1940, is a great example of a German issue G24(t). It’s fully matching down to the stock. Still has all of its dirty birds intact. The only downer is that fact that Bubba has sanded the stock lightly at some point. Shame, but since these are terrifically hard to get in Canada in any state, I am prepared to ignore this. This brings me one step closer to having a full collection of German long guns. The ones I have missing at a G29/40 Radom and a G41(m).
After picking up the M43 Mauser below I went looking for the correct bayonet for it. Interestingly the M43 has two bayonet lugs on it, one that will fit the standard M36 and M43 Spanish bayonet and the other to fit the M41 Bolo bayonet. I found a nice M41 matching to the sheath and bayonet and marked for the Fábrica de armas de Toledo factory.
In 1941 the decision was made by Franco’s regime to replace the 1898 M98 Mauser in 7×57 with a variant of the German K98k in 7.92×57. This resulted in the M43 Mauser which remained in service until the late 1950’s. These got imported in bulk into Canada about ten years ago and I felt the urge to own one grow as the supply of Axis weapons started to dry up. Here’s where I have ended up, an Army marked M43, all matching and in generally excellent condition.
This M24 Mauser came to me untouched from it’s journey post-1945 and complete including matching serials, King Peter II cartouche and original sling mounts.
With the First World War over, the newly formed country of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia) decided they wanted a standardized rifle for their front line troops. After a brief trials, they came up with an almost exact copy of Germany’s K98k rifle – the biggest difference being that the action was 1/8 inch shorter than Germany’s standard infantry rifle. The first 100,000 rifles came from FN, and the remaining examples (which were produced through WWII) were built at the Yugoslavian national armory. There were three main configurations of this rifle: two carbines and one rifle.
This example is marked BOJHOTEX.ЗАВОД – Крагујевцу (Military Technical Institute 1932-1941) on the sidewall indicating a Yugoslav arsenal origin.
Kiwi Medals 