German Armor/Vehicles/Weapons Used By Other Nationalities

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#1

dearest gentlemen and ladies!

hope you all enjoyed a relaxing christmas with your families.

some days ago, I saw a movie on TV where a ranking of the best tanks was made. during watching I just thought about this:

which armor/vehicles and firearms of the german army were used AFTER WW2? okay, a lot of material was destroyed, and if not by the allies, then the crews, soldier etc. did that to their military-stuff. USE: I mean not as a collector`s item, I mean in combat use or at least in real duty.

[b]I know that the panther was used by the french some time after kriegsende and the new bundeswehr (1955) used a lot of weapons like the walther P-38, MG-42 and others.

the syrian army used old PzKpf. 4 against the israelis. on the other hand, the israel air force had a variant of the ME Bf 109, built by the czechs - the AVIA S199 (?).

the czech and the swiss had a modernized variant of the panzer 38(t) hetzer.

old BMW-motorcycles can be found even today in russia and in greece, but only for civil use. [/b]

so, which from the above mentioned “systems” were used and in what kind? what do know about those tanks etc. are there pictures? google will not put out so much stuff imho, so I relay on the experts here. :wink:

if there was/is such a thread please delete and I will apologize asap.

jens

#2

I don’t know anything about systems, but I think that the Israeli Army used K98k rifles after the war.

JT

#3

yes, right, the KAR98 was used widely, I think the yugoslawian army had also some and rechambered them to more common calibers.

jens

#4

Israel bought German rifles from the Czechs, and later, in the 1950s, rechambered them (the rifles, not the Czechs:D) to the Nato cartridge, 7.62x51 (.308 Winchester).

The M1948 98k rifle was manufactured in Yugoslavia after the war on German machinery. It was always chambered for 7.92x57 (8mm Mauser).

JT

#5

I remember watching a documentary in high school.
There was an armoury in england keeping and selling german weapons to every african county that could not afford new weapons. These included MG-42s, MP-40s, rifles, ammo, even helmets. Lots of these ended up in south america too.

#6

Other post-war users included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia. For instance see this: http://www.achtungpanzer.com/articles/bulpanth.htm

#7

Hi Dani,
it’s amazing, the article in the link mention that they were buried as bilboxes at the frontier when no longer needed. And I read yesterday that a panzer IV was stolen from there, with the help of bulgarian officer.
see the link:
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/life_and_style/7099/

#8

Amazing indeed! I wonder if the Bulgarians might want to unearth those relics “pillboxes” since both Turkey and Bulgaria are now part of NATO.:wink:

#9

*The French used some Panthers until the mid 50tys.
*The Polish used those too (there are some nice Photos of those vehicles)
*The Swedish Army buyed 2 (?) Porsche Königstiger from the French after WW2
*Denmark used some modified Pz III with improvised minerollers to clear the beaches etc of mines
*The swiss used some Hetzers which they modernized e.g. with Muzzlebrakes which they used until the 70tys

And by the way i hear the Luftwaffe sent some planes to Iraq in 1941 to support the Resistance against the British - those planes had the Markings of the Iraq - i wonder if the yhad been in use after the insurgent actions had been stopped.

#10

Spain used the Me 109 for many years after the war. The Swiss may have done also, I’m not sure when they got rid of theirs.

The StG 44 was used by some eastern European and South American countries for a long time (ammo for it was made in S America) and it stayed in the Yugoslav inventory until the 1980s, I think. You will still see them from time to time in photos of insurgent groups in the Middle East and in Africa.

#11

i know some k98’s (along with some enfields) went to the afghans to fight the soviets in the '80s

#12

Those K98 rifles made many journeys over the years, some more than half way around the globe. In Ball’s Mauser Military Rifles of the World, he tells of Lithuanian contract vz24 short rifles (Czech made K98s) that were captured by the Germans, and then by the Russians, who later supplied them to the Viet Cong, from whom they were captured by Americans and brought to the U.S. as war trophies.

That’s called “I Get Around.”

JT

#13

I think that, like the French, the Red Army had some units equipped with the Panther after the war…

I could be wrong though.

#14

Bf-s were used in number of countries after the world war2. It was still beeing produced by Hispano Suiza in Spain and in Czech republic after the war. In fact one of first fighters of Israel were czech version of Bf-109-s. Also were still used in some numbers after the war in Yugoslavia,Turkey,Switzerland,…

Stugs were widely used almost everywhere. I have seen some photos of Bulgarian stugs in mid-60-s on sort of an exercise. Also my father was in Yugoslav army in 1977 and he got MP-40. Alot of ww2 era weapons were still used. In Yugoslav wars for example there were examples of MP-40-s from ww2 era used,even seen helmets. Also some ww2 era guns were used (88mm AA guns in croatia near Sibenik are still in use as coastal guns) also some ex-soviet artillery was widely used. Few german ww2 artillery guns were used too. Alot of surpluss weapons after ww2 were massively sold to arab countries and so one. And were used alot in conflicts there (there are loads of these captured by Israel after first wars with arab neighbours)

#15

The MG 42 is still in use in many armies re-chambered for 7.62 x 51 mm as the MG 3. this includes Germany and Denmark. The Yugoslavs also used it in the original chambering, and probably still do.

#16

Thats correct. Although manny machineguns look exactly like tha originall were producet by number of countries after the war. Even in germany. In Yugoslavia, i think czech republic too…then by beretta in Italy,…

#17

I belive that in Russia there is still some panzers to b found in the like of rivers,bogs and marsh lands which the germans left there as they had no time to recover them. Love to follow that up when i win the lotto Have you seen the German captured t34 being pulled out of a lake by a dozer real cool video on u tube.

#18

anybody know if theres any MP44’s in use?

#19

Yes, photographs occasionally appear which show them in the hands of irregular forces in Africa and the Middle East.

#20

I ran into a pic of weapons captured from Iraqi insurgents found mp44 there will try to find it and post.

Also in war in Jugoslavia saw K98 sniper rifle beeing used. There were soviet ppsh submaschineguns too,thompsons,grease-gun,…etc