Yolume 12 Issue 139

Published by
-': : :-crishrng Ltd
: -:-:s3ace Publishing Ltd 1986

Ltd

Managing Editor: Stan l\4orse

Editorial: --'sna Paimer
a:.is Bishop
l^r s Chant
:- )rury
Design: -:: feasdale
Colour Origination: mago Publishing Ltd,

Tvpeetting: SX Composing Ltd

F m work: --:cise Litho Ltd

Consultant Editor: Major General Sir
Jeremy Moore KCB OBE MC, Comman-
der of British Land Forces during the
Falklands campaign.

Picture acknowledgements
Distribution and marketing offices: Cover photoglaph: MARS Lincs 2?61: David Donald,/Edward Rasen. 2U62i MARS Lmcs/SH 2?64:
Orbis Publishing Ltd lmpenal War Museudlmpenal War Museum 2766: Imperial War Museun/lmperial War Museum 2?681
Orbis Hors-^ Associated Press. 2??0: MoD. 2771r MoD/MARS Lincs 2l72tT I 2773tT I lT'.J. 2?t5: Imperiat War Museum.
20-22 Bedfardbury 2776: Imperral War Museum. 2Z?7: Imperial War Museum. 2778t Imperial War Museurr{Js Air Force/
London WC2N 4BT Imperial War Museum. 2?79: ECP Armees. 2?80: T.J. (in): US Navy/MARS Lincs.
Telephone: 01-379 6711
We are gratelul to the Pattem Room Collechon Royal Ordnance Factory Enfield and to the Weapons
$ubscription Manager: Christine Al en Circulation Manager: Brian Anderson Museum School of Infantry Warminster for their kind permisston to photograph weapons ftom their
aAaa 72666 Marketing Manager: Paul Stelb collections

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un ess stated.
The 1950s were a significant era in the design of infantry
weapons as gun designers absorbe d, or in some cases
ignored, the lessons of WorldWar II. Some weapons
introduced. dwing this pertod anticipated those in seruice
tod,ay, while othersturned. outto be unsatisfactory
compromises between old. and. new.
The small arms ol the 1950s were an interesting interim between the
weapons of World War II and the sieek, efficient designs of today, In part
they were produced as a result of the combat lessons learned the hard
way during World War II, whrlst at the same time the conservatrve streak
tnherent in nearly all mrlrtary structures ensured that in many ways little
was changed Some weapons even ignored the tactrcal and manufactur,
ing innovations of World War II and thus went back to the days before
i939, while other weapons demonstrated the way ahead to the extent
:hat they (or their influence) are with us still
Thus thrs study is a collectron of dinosaurs as well as of the modern.
Dinosaurs such as the odd Soviet Stechkrn (APS) machtne pistol can be
The guard at Lenin's mausoleum retain SKS rifles to this day; madern r;:l=s
-cund, while the AR-10 and Stoner 63 System were on hand to indicate
-.','hat might be superior weapons, but have not been popular wiih drill instruc.o::
was to follow. Weapons such as the SIG sub-machtne gpns ignored from Moscow to London. TheSKS was designed duringWorldWar II ic j-:e a:.
:he cheap and raprd production methods used durrng World War II and interme di a te pow er c ar t r idge.
sullered sales losses accordingly, though their Danish Madsen equiva-
ients, with simplicrty and cheapness built in, surprrsingly drd lrttle better tt wrll be felt for years to come, yet as will be outiineC ::-:. :.=:-.,__-_
3un makers drd their best to rgnore these 'stamped steel' weapon resulted in a wronq choice at a time when the Soviets -r,-er3 :_:.-,: :
=;
Cesigns but in the end they were overcome by the requirements ol very good one with their 7,62 mmx39 cartridge. The resr-s:_ .--,.=
lcw-cost mass production decisions and designs are with us still, so this study has ::-:l: .:_--
Although lrttle-mentioned in the main text, the main small arms design passing tnterest to all who study small arms,
:rend of the 1950s was the conflict between the conservatives and the
requrrements of modern combat. During the 1950s the conservatives During the Vietnam War the Long Range Reconnarssancepafrols or LRRp s
(pronounced 'Lurps') used an incredible mixture of kit, weaponry often ber;
"von, but only for a while. This was particularly true in the case of NATO a matter of personal choice. Here LRRPs examine a Soviet AK-42 and a Cari -
ammunition standardtzation whrch made such an rmpact that, even now, GustavSMG.

. rt.+:Ye.t :., ,.::-:::=::.,..:.,r I . ,=:

 CETME Modelo 58 assault rifle
The CETIVIE Modelo 58 has a long his-
tory stretching back to the German
Sturmgrewehr 45 (StG 45) of World War
IL This was an attempt by Mauser de-
srqmers to produce a low-cost assauit
rrfle that incorporated a novel system
using a system of rollers and cams to
lock the bolt at the instant of firino
After the Al[ed victory the nucleus 5f
the StG 45 design team moved to
Spain, via France, and established a
new desiqn team under the aeqis of
the Centro de Estudios Tecnicos de
Materiales Especiales (CETME), just
outside Madrid.
Wlth CETME the roller lockrng sys-
tem was gradually perfected at
leisurely pace, The resultant assault
rifle looked nothing tike the StG 45
starting point but the original low-cost
manufacturing target was met. The
assault rifle produced by CETME was
made from low-grade steels and much
of it was stamped and shaped usrng
sheet steel. An automatic flre capabil,
ity was featured, and in overall terms
the weapon was slmple and basic.
It was 1956 before the ltrst sales
were made to West Germany, Thrs
involved a batch of only 400 rifles, but
the Germans decided that some mod-
fications to the rifles were required to
meet their requirements and by a
series of licence agreements (be-
tween a CETME licence production
offshoot in the Netherlands and Heck-
ler & Koch) the CETME nfle ended as
the Heckler & Koch G3, though the
Spamsh appear to have grained lrttle
from the deal
In 1958 the Spanish army decided to
adopt the CETME rifle in a form known
as the Modelo B, and thrs became the
Modelo 58, The Modelo 58 flred a sne-
cial cartrrdqe outwardly identicai to
the standard NATO 7,62-mm (0.30 in)
SWITZERLAND
SIG sub-machine guns
The sub machine guns produced by
the Schweizerische Industrie-Gesell-
schaft (SIG) in the penod after 1945
were scarcely amonq the most suc-
cessful of that company's products.
The first of these desiqns was the SIG
MP48 a weapon that was the flrst truly
all-Swiss sub-machrne gun to reach
production, and although it was made
in the usual SIG way (i e. wrth great
attention to detail, superb flnish and
high quality materials throuqhout), the
MP4B was a commercial flop.
SIG had noted the World War II pro
duction trends towards cuttrng comers
in manufacturinq weapons of all types,
but instead of makingr use of stampings
and welds for mass assembiy the Swiss
decided to make use of precsron casl-
ings whrch would reqlre a mrnimum
of machrning Further savlngs were
made in omittrngr any form of safety
mechanrsm lnsread the magaztne was
made to fold forward when the
weapon was not rn use , this saved
space while ar the same l me remov,ng
the ammunitron feed lrom the gun.
Otherwise there was httle remarkable
about the MP4B and the world was not
impressed, The MP4B drd not sell in a
market already sated with vast stock-
piles of cheap World War II weapons.
One small batch was sold to Chile,
The SIG desiqners returned to thelr
drawtng board and came up with the
MP3I0 in 1958. In many ways thrs was
srmilar in overali concept to the MP4B
2762
a Above: The core of the Mauser team
which designed the German
Sturmgewehr 45 decamped toSpain
after thewar and developed a new
assault rifle based on its layouL It is
made of low-grade steel and is built
with the emphasrs on cheapness and
reliability rather than looks.
cartridge but using a hgrhter bullet and
propellant charge. This made the rifle
much easier to fire (as a result of re-
duced recoil) but also made the car-
tridqe non-standard as far as other
NATO cartrrdge users were con-
cerned. In 1964 the Spanish adopted
the NATO cartrrdqe in place of their
own less powerful product and rifles
adapted or produced to flre the NATO
round became the Modelo C,
The Modelo 58 has since been pro- Specification The Spanish army adopted the
duced in a number of versrons, some ModeloC CETME as its standard rifle in 1958,
wilh blpods. some wirh som--aulomalrc Calibre:7.62 mm (0,30 in) initially buying the Modelo B,
mechanisms and others with folding Weisht:4.49 kq (9 9 ib) chambered for a unique, Iight,
b:tts and there has even been a snrp Lenqths: overall 1.016 m (40 in); barrel 7.62 mm round. In I 964 Spain
er version fltted with a telescopic sight. 450 mm (17 7 in) decided to adopt the more powerful
The latest version is the Modelo L Muzzle velocity: 780 m (2 559 ft) per 7.62-mm NATO cartridge, and
chambered in 5,56 mm (0 219 rn), but second CETME modified their design
the basrc Modei 58 is still available Rate offire: (cyclic) 600 rpm accordingly tomake the Modelo
from CETME Feed: 20-round box 58 C.
and featured the same folding maga- Specification Specification
zine system, However, the MP310 was MP48 MP3lO
made to bo sold a' a much .ower pnce Calibre:9 mm (0.354 rn) Calibre: 9 mm (0.354 in)
than the MP4B. More use was made of Weisht: empty 2,92 kq (6 44 lb) Weisht: 3, 15 ks (6.94 lb)
cheaper plastics and other low-cost Length: stock extended 7l L mm Length: stock extended 735 mm
maleriais. dnd a two-slage l,ggar (28 in); stockfolded 570 mm (22 5 in) (28.95 tn); stockfoided6lO mm(24 in)
mechanism was tntroduced: a slight barrel 196 mm (7,75 rn) barrel20O mm (7 83 in)
squeeze of the trigger produced sing- Muzzle velocity: 38 I m (1 250 ft) per Muzzle velocity: 365 m ( 1, 198 ft) per
le shots, whrle more pressure pro- second second
duced fully-automatic fire. The MP310 Rate of fire: 700 rpm Rate offire:900 rpm
used the same telescoping butt Feed: 40-round box Feed: 40-round box
affangement as the MP4B.
The MP310 was slightly more suc-
cessful than the MP4B, but even so only
about I 000 were produced Small
batches were sold, mainly in South
America and the Far East but all the
time the MP3lO suffered from the same
factor that had affected the MP4B: the
potential markets were still working
thetr way through the stockpiles of
World War II surplus weapons.
The MP3l0was another new design
which suffered from the effects of the
post-war surplus of small arms,
despite tfte use ofplastics and
precision castings, instead of
expensive machined components, to
keep the costs down.
 Post-War Infantry Weapons
ilc'"sault rifles
The Swiss were rather slow to work
therr way round to designing an assault
rifle, but when they did produce one t1
tumed out to be one of the best of tts
time It had its ortgins in a weaPon
known as the Sturmgewehr Modell 57
or (StuGS7) that took advantaete of the
delayed-blowback roller breech
locking system pioneered bY the
Spanish CETME nfles. Thrs rtfle was
produced by SIG for the Swiss armY
calibred for the national7.5-mm (0.295
in) rrfle cartridge, and even carried
over the fluted chamber of the CETME
nfle,
At flrst sight the StuG57 looked odd
and awkward In use it was qulte the
opposite. As always the high standard
of SIG manufacture made lt a qood
weapon to handle and the Swiss sol-
diers liked the rntesral bipod and gre-
nade launcher, However, the use of
the Swiss cartridge hmited sales so
SIG went one stage further and de
veloped the SIG SG510 series of rifles,
desiqned to fire more internationaily
accepted rounds In many waYs the
SGS10 was identical to the StuGS7 and mm (0,30-in) NATO cartridqe. The folding wrnter tngger. The bipod (fold- SIGproduced one of themost
carned over the extremely hiqh stan- SGSIO-2 was a lishter version of the ing up over the barrel) was retained unusual post-war rifles, the AK 53,
dards of workmanship which, in their SG510-1. The SGSI0-3 was produced and both had provision for fittinq optic- whichused a stationary bolt and a
turn, meant that although the weapon to frre the Soviet 7,62 mm short car- al sighrs Ior night v-sion or sniprng. moving barrel, reducing the overall
was a soldie?s dream it was very ex tridge used on the AK-47 The SGSl0-4 The StuGS7 and SGSIO can stili be length of the gun. The disadvantages
pensive, Consequently international was another 7.62 mm NATO round found hanqng on the wails of many of this operation include potential
sales were few, The Swiss army purch- model and there was also a sinqle Swiss army reservists, and numbers of cook-off and a tendency to jam.
ased the larger batches but some went shot only sportinq version known as the SG5l0 are still in use in Bolivia and
to some African and South Amertcan the SG-AMT whtch was sold rn large Chile. lengths:overall 1 016 m(40 in); barrel
nations numbers to Swiss target-shooters 505 mm (19.8 in)
Thrs was not for wa.nt of trying on the The SGSIO-3 and SG510 4 had some Specification Muzzle velocity: 790 m (2,592 ft) Per
part of the SIG designers TheY Pro- extra features. One was an tndicator on scsI0-4 second
duced several versions: the first was the maqtazlne to show how manY Calibre: 7 62 mm (0 30 rn) Rate offire: cyclic 600 rpm
the SGSI0-I chambered for the 7.62 rounds were left and another was a Weisht: 4.45 kq (9 B 1 Ib) Feed: 20-round box

teretta BM59 rifle

In 1945 Beretta started the ltcence pro
duction of the Amencan Ml Garand
rifle for the italian armed forces, and
by 1961 about 100,000 had been made,
some for export to Denmark and ln-
donesia The introduction olthe NATO
7.62-mm (0,30-in) cartrrdge meant that
these rifles would have to be replaced
as they fired the American World War
Ii 0.30-in round, for a simPle
rechamberinqi of the ltahan Garands
would have meant that the Italian
armed forces were saddled wtth an
outdated rifle design for years to come
The Beretta designers had for some
time before 196l been contemplatlng
a revision of the basic Garand design
to produ"e a selee ttve fir^ oulomo ic
wedpon usino the exis ino mernan.sm
to as qreat an extent as possibie. The
result was the BerettaBMS9, which was
the Garand at heart but modifled to
provide the requtred automatic-fue fe
ature It fired the NATO standard 7.62-
mm cartridge. A 20 round detachable
box magazine replaced the old eight-
round maqazine and some other sliqht
alterations were introduced, but basr model for mountain troops had a fixed Nrgeria planned to produce the BM59 TheBMS9 is based on the US M j
cally the BM59 was (and sti1l rs) a grerdde-louncher -hese wo vars-ons as well, thougrh the Biafran War put Garand selfJoading rifle, which
'breathed on Garand. both had folding skeleton butts and paid to that project. The one drawback Beretta was producing under licence
Almost as as soon as the BM59 was light bipods. On the BM59 Mark 4 the to the BM59 compared with many con- when NATO adopted the 7.62 -
placed in productton for the Italian brpod was a much more robust ptece temporary designs was (and still is) its mm x 5 l cartridge. Bere tta modifie d
of equipnerr lor In.s /'.rclon wos jn- worgn , and rne need lor ext^nsLVe the M 1 design to accept the new
armed forces a number of variants be-
qan to appear The base model was tended for use as a squad flre-support machinrng during manufacture For all round"
the BM59 Mark l, issued to most of the weapon. The Mark 4 also had a heavier that the BM59 is a very robust and reh-
Italian army. Then came the BM59 barrel and a butt strap to allow tt to be aol^ vr eopon hat s r | -as some setvice
used for rts fire-support role. life ]eft to run Lengths: overall 1 095 m (43. I in)
Mark 2 wrth a pistol griP and a light
The BM59 proved to be an excellent barrel490 mm (19.29 tn)
brpoo ho nexl 'wo va'ranTS wara vlr-
'1
modrficatron of an existing design and Specification Muzzle velocity: 823 m (2,700 ft) per
tually rdenticalr the BM59 Mark 3 Para-
cudisti for use by airborne units had a 1t is still in use by the ltahan armed BM59 Mark I Ital second
removable qrenade-launcher at the forces It was built at one time under Calibre:7.62 mm (0.30 in) Rate offire: (cycllc) 750 rpm
muzzle, whtle the BM59 Mark 3 AlPini licence rn Morocco and Indonesta, and Weight: unloaded 4 6 kg ( l0 14 lb) Feed:20-round box

L,a :
Hunting fhe lvlau t'lqu
The British Army found itself fighting a wea,risome succession of bush wars during
the 1950s, and the four-year campaign against the Mau Mau terrorists in Kenya
presented its own problems. Itwas a low-intensity war, fought by isolated small
units patrolling vast areas of bush in search of an elusive enemy.

There rs a theory that much of the UK's success
in counter-rnsurgency warfare lies in the sim-
pie fact that her armed forces are not as well
equipped as, for example, those of the USA.
Certainly the lack of the type of massive fire-
power enjoyed by the Americans has meant
that the British have had to develop a more
flexrble approach Lo counter-insurgency war-
fare (to every kind of warfare, actually, though
that is really another story).
What is sure is that successful counter in-
surgency warfare relies on we]l trained and
motrvated soldiers imaginatively led, and that
the mrlitary should co-operate iotally with
police and politicians, under a unified com-
mand, One of the classic examples of a suc-
cessful counter-insurgency operation was the
campaign against the Mau Mau terrorists ln
Kenya that took place between 1952 and 1956.
But before looking at how this campaign was
won by the soldier on the ground, it should first
be emphasized that insurgents do not, in the
first stages of their campaign, try to take on the
military direct: their aims are not in fact military
but politicai, and to achieve these atms it is
easier to locus their attentions on civilians, in-
deed on their own people, When soldiers are
attacked it is as much for propaganda purposes
as for anything e1se.
There were two ostensible reasons for the
Mau Mau terror compaign, First was land hun-
ger, caused in part by the fact that the Kikuyu
tribe had qrown from 50,000 to more than a
million during Kenya's half century of Brrtish
colonral ru1e, Since the Kikuyu were tradi-
tronally farmers, this resulted in demands for
more land than they had aiready been allo-
cated, The British were accused of having
stolen the Kikuyus' rrghtful land from them,
However, many Kikuyu had in fact left their
farmlands and drifted into the main towns and
Nairobi, expecting to flnd well paid jobs, The
fact that there were few, if any, jobs did little to
soothe their grievances.
The second ostensrble reason for the Mau
Mau revolt was the colonial government's
opposition to the practice oi female circumci-
sion, The practice had been frowned upon for
many years; but by and large the qovernment
hoped that continuing education would ulti-
mately see the practice's end. So for the most
part it was tolerated, if not ignored, However, The pursuit of the Mau Mau terrorist gangs
in 1951 a missionary from the Church of Scot- involved patrolling through dense bush. This I I 53
land denounced the custom in no uncertain photogrraph shows several men of the Buffs, who
terms, Kikuyu leaders claimed that this was yet developed a system of six-manpatrols, whichwas
adopted by most of the security forces.
another example of unwarranted interference
in their own affairs: the Mau Mau terror cam-
paign began in earnest,
It is a fact that the Mau Mau attacked mostly
The old and the new: one soldier carries the FN
other Kikuyu who were either loyal to the gov- FAL, and his comrade is armedwith the oldNo.5.
ernment or who were uncommrtted rn either Although theFN has proved apopularweaponin
dlrection, Their stated aim was lor an indepen- British service, the 7.62-mmxS I cartridge was just
dent Kenya led, naturally, by the Kikuyu who a compromise between full- and intermediate-
were the domlnant tribe, The Mau Mau's re- powerrounds.

volting system of blood oaths was designed to
ensure that all who took them ccmmitted him or
herself totally to the cause of 'liberty', and also
completely isolated themselves even lrom
their own tribe .
The Mau Mau operated in small gangs. At
nrght they would terrorize, murder and maim
other Kikuyu and the very, very occasional
rnhite settler, By day, they holed up
1n the dens-
est bush, Inrtially, Mau Mau were to be found
more or less throughout west central Kenya,
except of course in other tribes land; the
Masai for example, took a certain pride in
huntrng and killing them, But as time went on,
as more stringent security measures took
effect, the Mau Mau were broken in the major
towns and really only existed as a major irritant
in the Aberdares, a mountain range 100 km (60
mrles) long that includes Mount Kenya.
There were two types of military formations
that proved most effective against the Mau
Mau: the first was reqtular army six-rnan patrois,
and the second 'pseudo' qangs. These were
composed of ex Mau Mau terrorists and ioyal
Kikuyu drawn from the police, and were led by
white settlers wrth dyed skin, Therr aim was to
infiltrate the Mau Mau camps by posing as
fellow terrorists.
JunEle Warfare School
The six-man patrol system was developed
by the lst Battalion The Buffs, I:et us assume
that you have been posted to Kenya to joln B
Company, lst Buffs; the year rs 1955 and your
first acquaintance with the task at hand takes
place in the lungle Warfare School at Nyeri, to
the north of Nairobi. (The British believe that
terrain acquarntance schools should be situ-
ated in the relevant country if at all posstble; by
contrast the US Army did not establish a jungle
. campaign
'i Lee:-Enfie\d No.4 with a shortened barrel, which
:' 'lhat the British Army would adopt the EM-Z
warfare school rn Vietnam until the final year of
conflict, by which time it was too late, ) Here you
have been issued with jungle greens floppy
hat and junqle boots, You may not be too sure
about the boots because you have heard
alarming stories of how they make your feet rot,
but at leasi you do not have to poltsh them, You
are also trained on a variety of weapons, since
the school has no way of knowrng which one
will become your own personal weapon tn the
fleld silenced Stens, the new Patchett (soon to
be known srmply as the SMG, Sterling), Bren
guns and Lee Enfleld rtfle. At first you are a
little surprised lor with the exception of the
srlenced Sten you have trained on all of these
back 1n the depot,
But as you are to find out, there is a world of
driierence be'ween managlng a weapon prop-
erly in England and in Kenya, particularly as
the mountainous area rn which you will be
operating ranqes from the hot lush troptcal to
hiqh-altitude sub-arctrc. Both you and your
weapon will have to be effective wlthin all con-
drtrons.
You will also learn fieldcraftr how to use your
'gollock' or ;ungle knile correctly, so that you
can clear a path through the densest bush easi-
ly and srlently, You learn about dangerous flora
and fauna and how to avoid them, You cannot
know it all at the end of the course, but you will
know enough to stand a good chance oistaying
alive until the more experienced members of
your platoon have managed to knock further
sense into you.
You arrive at Company HQ. If you were ex-
pecting parade ground efflciency, you are dis-
appointed Actually, it is a little hard to see
Company HQ, since it has been extremely well
camouflaged, There, you are issued with your
personal weapon. To ypur delight, you see that
rt is the silenced Sten. The Sten Gun Mk 6 is
basically the Mk 5 plus a silencert it has a
32-round box magazine, fires 9-mm (0 354-tn)
ammunition at 305 m (1 000 ft) per second, is
857 mm (33 75 rn) 1ong, weighs 4.32ks (9 5 ]b)
has a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute, and
is provided wrth fixed srghts, a pistol grip, plus
ABritish soldier inKenya during the Mau Mau
is shown armed with the No. 5 rifle, a
proved unsatisfactory.In 1951 itwas announced
automatic ri{le, butUS opposition stopped it.
Post-War Infantry Weapons
Desperately short of weapons, the MauMau
manufactured their own. These crude weapons
could prove as dangerous to the firer as to the
target.
wooden butt and brass butt plate, Gas holes
have been drilled in the barrel of the silenced
version to reduce velocity and thus avoid the
sonic boom, Slnce the silencer gets very hot, a
canvas guard rs wrapped around it, Bursts are
not fired from it except in extreme emergen-
cies
So what exactly is the silenced Sten for? The
answer is that essentially lt 1s a weapon of sur-
prise, to be used when you particularly do not
want the enemy to know that an attack is about
to take place, or as a means oldemoralizing the
enemy, or ol being able to kill an enemy lead-
er, say, without giving your own position away.
A srngle shot flred by a silenced Sten has an
extremely good chance of going unheard in
1ungle, It is thus an excellent weapon for taking
out sentries (the Mau Mau drd not guard their
camps at mght) or the rear man of an enemy
gang. The Sten Gun Mk 6 is not in this respect
an automatic weapon at all; better to think of rt
as a very high-powered, accurate and reliable
(and very large) automatic pistol, plus silencer.
You are assigned to your patrol: live men
plus yourself under the command of an experi
enced serqeant, You discover that you will stay
wrth that same patrol for your entire tour of
duty, unless you are kilied or wounded B Com-
pany's commander believes that a patrol's
effectiveness increases in direct proportion as
to how well iis members know and trust each
other,
The Aberdares have been surrounded by a
1,6-km (1-mile) 'access belt', in whrch hmrted
civilian movement is allowed, The mountain
range itself is prohibrted territory, Your patrol's
main ;ob is to patrol the access area and the
lower slopes, You find that you quite enjoy
these lower slopes, Podo (quiver tree), wtld fig
20 m (65 ft) tall,
and cedar trees Qrrow up to
forming a dense canopy of branches and
creepers that all but blot out the sun complete
ly, You walk on a soft carpet of humus; there is
some undergrowth, but nowhere near as
dense as the Malayan jungles you have heard
about, Nor rs it as stickily, clammily hot as the
Malayan ;ungles.
Your patrol receives regular briefings from
fleld intelhgence teams, run jointiy by the army
and Special Branch, Your basic role is to try to
intercept food carriers, local Klkuyu who take
food to the Mau Mau camps far higher up the
2765
Huntingthe MauMau
mountainside, You learn how to walk silently,
and how to be concerned only with your own
area of sight and not to continually look all
around you, You are number two in the patrol,
walking some 30 m (33 yards) behind the num-
ber one, You all travel extremely lightly, with
ammunition and water your major burdens. But
you do sweat; you have learnt to smear vaseline
under your arms and between your legs to stop
chafing, You have also learnt not to sit on the
ground unless you are positive that there are no
leeches around, Over the past few weeks, you
have become more concerned about the local
wildlife than the Mau Mau themselvesl
(During one patrol mounted by the Inniskill-
ings, a soldier found himself facing a herd of
charging elephants, Figuring that he was prob-
ably going to be trampled anyway, he let out an
Irish war cry and charged rlght back at them,
indeed right back and through them, and then
through a very surprised gang ol Mau Mau who
had started the elephants charging rn the first
p1ace, The Inniskilling dld not stop; he subse-
quently spent three days alone in the jungle
before managrng to find his way back to his
patrol,)
Your patrol manages to capture only three
food carriers, young teenaqers who seem
almost relieved to be caught. It is obvious that
the Mau Mau are close to being defeated, So
your patrol is twinned with another, and taktng
rations to last three fulI days, you set off for the
upper slopes of the Aberdares, Intelligence
thinks that it has pinpointed the existence of a
Mau Mau camp. The l2-man patroi is to locate
and destroy it, if necessary, you can be resup-
piied by the Kenya Air Reserve flylng US-built
Piper Pacer aircraft.
These are superb machines that have
proved invaluable in the higher altitudes
where helicopters find rt difficult to operate.
Lately, they have been converted to carrying
grenades, machine-guns and even light
bombs, so they will be able to do conslderably
more than merely resupply your I2 man patrol,
You set ofl To begin with the route is com-
paratively straightforward, leadlng as it does
through the primary forest, As you begin to
The enemy: aMau Mauwitch doctorwith
implemenls described in a Britishpress release as
'childish apparatus'.ln fact the Mau Mau
conducted a campaign of Conradesque barbarity
against loyal members of the Kikuyu tribe.
climb, however, the forest gives way to bam-
boo, tall, thin and densely packed. It is impossr
ble to force your way through. Cuttrng and
slashing at it becomes a nightmare, The only
thing ls to follow animal tracks, trying all the
time to stay roughly on course,
At about 3350 m (11,000 ft) above sea level,
the bamboo gives way to moorland, but moor-
land with a difference. Giant heathers and
lobelias, some over 4 5 m (15 ft) htqh can pro-
vrde easy hiding places for the enemy. lt prom-
ises to be cold at night, too,
The Piper Pacer flres in with fresh suppl-es,
and your patrol settles down for the nrght. The
patrol commander has chosen a triangular
perimeter and posted his Bren quns accor
dingly. You have to know exactly where that
perimeter is, because if you manage to stray
outside it (say in searching for the latrines ai
night) you are liable to be shot: anything out-
srde the perlmeter is fair game,
The next day the patrol contrnues in earnest.
You spend the next week combing the upper
slopes, without any result, The forecast Mau
Mau camp rs found, but has obvlously been
abandoned several weeks ago, Eveniually, you
all return to base, Strll, going back down is
considerably easier than going upl
But as your company commander continual
ly tries to drum into you, a patrol does not have
to kill someone to be successful. It is enough
that the enemy knows that you are (some-
wherel) in the area, that you are well trainei
and motivated, and that the peaceful Krkuyu
have come to trust you. In short, by your very-
presence you are denying the ground to the
enemy. Counter-insurqency warfare is not won
by flre fights, It ls won in the hearts and minds oi
the civilian popuiation who will ultimately sup
port the side that offers them the greater mea-
sure of protection, andwhich appears to be the
stronger and better organized,
Postscript
On 7 October 1956, 'pseudo gangs' operating rn
the Aberdares managed to wound and capture
the last major Mau Mau leader. 'Freld Marsha.L
Commander-in-Chief Dedan Krmathr, of the
Kenyan Land and Freedom Armies, Knight
Commander of the African Empire and Prime
Minister of the Southern Hemisphere'was sent
enced and hanged for murder,
The total Buffs tally for the emergency was
290 Mau Mau killed, plus I94 taken prrsoner. At
no time were there more than a few thousand
Mau Mau on full{ime active service against the
authorities and against their own people. it took
four years and approximately €30 million
(1950s value) to destroy them.
Samburu spearmen and bowmen assrsted lhe
British forces in the hunt for Mau Mau terrorists,
their tracking skills being of gteat importance in
hunting down the enemy. The sheer brutality of the
Mau Mau counted against them as the campaign
wenton-
 Fusil Automatique moddle 49
The Belgian Fusil Automatigue mod-
dle 49 was known by several other
names to some rt was the Saive, to
others the SAFN (Saive Automatigue,
FN) and to more as the ABL (Arme
Belgique Legdre), The weapon was
actualiy designed before World War II
but the arrival of the war sheived the
pro;ect, ready for it to be revived once
peace arrrved aqain, The weapon was
desigrned by one D J, Saive who
moved to the UK when the Germans
arrived in Belgium in 1940 and spent
the war workrngton small arms designs
for the British, In 1945 he offered his
pre-war design to the British army,
which tested lt and turned down the
offer, Once back in Belgrum the rifle
was actually produced by FN (Fabri-
que Natronale d'Armes de Guerre) at
Herstal, near Lidge The company
made a lot of money out of it,
By whatever name it was called, the
modele 49 was rn basLc oestgn a gas-
operated selfJoading rifle The bolt
lockrng was achieved by usrng cams tn
the srdes of the receiver causing the
bolt to tilt at the correct instant, This
action was thus strong and could
ffi [nn-z assault rifle
The EM-2 story is one of politrcal con-
srderations taking precedence over
milrtary requirements for although the
EM-2 was an excellent weapon rt was
never accepred tor servrcc.
The British army learned some hard
lessons durinqr World War II one
being that its time-honoured 0 303-in
(7,7-mm) cartridge was well outdated.
It was too powerful and used cordrte
whrch had been overtaken by more
elf,cient propeliants Thus aiter 1945
the army rnitiated a senes of trials to
flnd something better and came up
with a short-cased cartrrdge known as
the 0 280-in (actually 7-mm/0.276-in)
type. A rifle was devised to flre the
new round thougrh the flrst attempt
known as the EM-l, was not fully de
veloped as it was deemed too compli-
cated.
Then a new desiqn team came up
wrth the EM 2. For its day the EM-z
(Enfield Model 2) was a novelty, for it
used a 'bullpup' layout wrth the maQla
zine behind the trigqer qroup. This
made the weapon short and handy
wrihout makrnq the barrel shorter the
recerver being rn the butt, Gas opera-
tion was used and the weapon fired
from a closed breech. A selective-flre
mechamsm was rntroduced and there
was something then completely new
permanently-flxed optical siqhi,
The EM 2 proved to be extremely
reliable durrng trials and in 1951 rt was
announced that the EM-Z would be
adopted by the army as the Rifle, Auto-
absorb a great deal ofhard use, but it
meant that the entrre rifle mechanism
had to be very carefully machined out
of hiqh-quality materials This made
the weapon rather expensive to pro-
duce, but when the moddle 49 was
placed on the open market rn 1949 it
sold surprisingly well. This was partly
due to the fact that the modele 49 was
ol lered rn a variel y of calLbres ranging
from 7 mm (0.275 in) and 7 65 mm
(0,301 in), both established Continen-
tal calibres, to the then widely used
792mm (0.312in) and the Amertcar'
0.30rn (7,62mm). A11 these calibres
were for the well established full-pow-
er rifle cartrrdgds.
The moddle 49 was sold not only in
Europe but to Venezuela Colombia
and Indonesia. One of the largest sales
batches went'to Egypt where the
moddle 49 remained in use for some
time (and may still be encountered).
But perhaps the most important Impact
made by the ABL was that it was used
as the desrgn startlnQl pornt for the FN
FAL, the Fusrl Automatique Legere,
desrined to be one of he most rmpor-
tant rifles within NATO and elsewhere
matic, 7 mm No. I Mk I All seemed
well until politics intruded. The Amer-
icans announced that they did not con-
sider the Brttish round powerful
enough and since the newly-formed
NATO alliance was supposed to intro-
duce ruthless standardization a confer-
ence was held to determine that all
new weapon and ammunition de-
velopment should cease until a new
NATO round was determined Thts
duly emerged as the American-based
7.62-mm (0,30-in) cartridgre stili in use
today. There was no way the EM-2
could be usefully engineered to
accommodate this more powerful
round so the decislon to adopt the EM-
2 was reversed and the British armY
a
for the following decades,
Specification
modele 49
Calibres: 7 mm (0.275 in), 7 65 mm
(0 301 in), 7 92 mm (0 312 in) and
0,30 in (7 62 mm)
Weisht:4.31 ks (9.5 lb)
Lengths: overall 1, I 16 m (43.94 in);
barrel S9O mm (23,23 in)
Muzzle velocity: dependent on calibre
Feed: l0-roundbox
Right:Weapons produced to ahigh
s tandatd often Jose sales fo cft eaper
weapons, butFN managed to sell
their mle 49 to several different
armies, offering it in many calibres.
This Egyptian soldier carries the
7.92 mmmodel.
Below:The FN mle 49 is the ancestor
oftheFN FAL, desigmed before the
war by Dieudonn6 Saive, who
escaped to Britainwhen the
Germans overran Belgium. While in
England he continued to develop his
designs, and after the war the mle 49
was sold toEgypt and LatinAmerica.
got the Belgian FN FAir instead. Weight: loaded with shng 4 78 kg
For a short while the EM-2 was re- (i0.54 rb)
tained as a research tool to determine Lengths: overall BB9 mm (35 in);
an 'optimum cartridge despite the overallwith bayonet 1.092 m (43 in);
NATO decision, but that project was bawel622 mm (24,49 in)
eventually terminated, A few rifles Muzzle velocity: 771 m (2,530 ft) per
were rechambered to accommodate second
some odd rounds (one was even cham- Rate of fire: (cyclic) 600 650 rpm
bered for the American Ml Carbine Feed: 20-round box
0.30-ur/7,62-mm cartridge) but gra-
dually the EM-2s were relegated to By the end of World War I I the British
museums where some strll remain to- Army needed anew rille and theEM-
day, examples of yet another intri- 2 automatic rifle would have been an
guing small arms 'miqht have been' excellent choice, but its 'bullpup'
Iayout was regarded with suspicion
Specification and the Americans opposed the
EM-2 small calibre (they have since been
Calibre: 0 276 in (7 mm) forced to eat their words).
2767
ffi USA

MI4 rifle
-
The rifle that was eventually to be the
standard Amerrcan servrce rrfle for
most of the late l95Os and 1960s had a
srmple oiigin but a most convoluted
development penod. When the Amer-
rcan mrlitary planners virtually im
posed their 7,62-mm (0,30-in) car
trtdgre upon therr NATO partners they
had to find their own rifle to frre it, and
quickly For various reasons 1t was de-
cided simply to update the existinq M1
Garand rifle design to fire the new
ammunition and to add a selective-flre
mechanism Unfortunately these rn-
novarions proved to be less than sim
ple to achieve, for the development
perrod from M1 had to progress
through a number of rntermediate T
trials models. Eventualiy, in 1957, itwas
announced that a model known as the
T44 had been approved for production
as the MI4 (a planned heavy-barrel Weisht: 3 BB kq (B 55 lb) Above: The M 1 4A I is the only variant Below: Once NATO had decided to
versron, the M15, did not materiahze) Lengrth: overall L12 m (44 in); barrel of the MI4 to be adoptedin any adopt a standard rifle cartridge, the
and the assembly lines began to hum 559 mm (22 in) numbers.The rifle is fittedwith a USAneeded aweapon tofire it. Most
involvrngr four different manufacturinqr Muzzlevelocity: 853 m (2,798 ft) per straight-line stock, pistol- and fore- other nations opted fot the versions
centres at one tlme, second grips and mounted on a bipod.lt of the BelgianFN, butthe'not
The M14 was basically an M} Rate of fire: (cychc, M14,A1) 700- /ooks and feeis like a light machine- invented here' syndrome reared its
Garand updated to take a new 20- 750 rpm gun but is hardly suited to the role, as head and the US Army received the
round box maqazine and a selectrve- Feed:20 round box it has no facility for barrel change. M14 -basically a modernized M1.
fire mechanism The M14 was a lonql
and rather heavy weapon that was
very well made, involvinq a great deal
of machininq and handling durinqr
manufacture at a time when other
wedpon desrqmers were n-oving away
from such methods But the Americans
could afford rt and the soldiers liked
the weapon, In seffice there were few
problems, but the selectrve-fire sys
tem that had caused so much develop-
ment tlme was usuaily altered so that
automatic flre could not be produced
the US Army had soon drscovered that
prolonged bursts overheated the bar-
rel ard thal dmrnunilion was .n any
event wasted f,rrng non productive
bursts.
Production of the basic M14 ceased
in1964, by whlch time 1,380,346 had
been made ln 1968 a new version, the
MI4AI, was introduced. This had a
pistol grip, a bipod and some other
chanqres and it was desiqrned for use as
a squad fire-support weapon produc
rng automatic bursts, but the bursts had
to be short as the barrel could not be
changed when hot. Also produced as
variants were experimental foldrng-
butt versions and a smper model, the
M21.
The Mi4 is still rn use with the US
armed forces, althouqh by now most
are with units such as the Natlonal
Guard and other reserve iormations,
As the M14s were replaced by M16s
many were passed to nations such as
Israel where they remained in combat
service until replaced by Gaiils. Even
now many cLvilran guards carryino
Ml4s can be seen around lsrael,
guardrng schools and bus stations.

Specification
M14
Calibre:7.62 mm (0 30 in)

Rebel Philippine soldiers open fire

on government forces defending a
W station during the last days ofthe
Marcos regime. Note the spent case
ej ecting from the M I 4 ; this weapon
fiasbeen supplied to otherAmerican
allies in the Far East, including
Taiwan and South Korea.

2768
ffi Hror,", 63 System
Eugene Stoner was one of the most
rnfluential and rnnovative weapon de-
srgners of the.195Os and 1960s, and hts
hand can still be discerned in many
weapons in use today His innovation
was such that at one point he was tn
volved rn developing a modular
weapon system that not surprisingly
became known as the Stoner 63 Sys-
tem.
Produced not long after Stoner left
Armaiite Inc in the late 1950s, the Ston-
er 63 System was formed from 17 mod-
ular units that could be assembled and
arranged to produce a whole sertes ol
weapons. The basis for the system was
the rotary lock mechanism first used
on the AR-10 and later on the AR-15/
M16 rifles. However the Stoner 63 Sys
tem used a different method of gas
operation based on a lonq-travel pis
ton. The only components common to
all weapons in the system were the
receiver the bolt and ptston the re
turn spring and the tngqter mechan-
rsm, To these could be added butts,
feed devices, various barrels and such
items as brpods or tripods to produce
weapons as tactrcal sttuations or re-
quirements changed.
Originally the Stoner System was
developed to use the 7.62-mm (0 30-tn)
NATO cartridge, but when it became
clear that the 5,56-mm (0.219-mm)
calibre was the future favourtte the
system was revtsed to accommodate
the liqhter round This made many ol
the components much hghter, and as a
result the weapons too were lighter
The basrc weapon was a carbtne
wrth a folding butt and then came an
Above: AStoner is shownmounted
on its tripod.The US MarineCorps
conducted exhaustive testing of the
Stoner system, which led to some
improvements being made. Several
armies acquired the weapon for
trials purposes, but in the event no
production orders materialized.
Right: Eugene Stoner produced
several innovative designs during
the late 1 9 50s ; the S toner sYstem,
manuf ac tur ed by C a d ill ac- G ag e,
consisted of 15 assemblies and a
tripod, fromwhich awhole range of
small arms could be constructed.
This is the M63AI ilfle.
assault rifle. Magazine and belt-fed
light machine gn-rns usinqr bipods were
next, while the addition of a heavy bar
rel belt feed
and tripod produced a
medium machine-gun It was even
posslble to produce a fixed solenoid-
frred machine-gun for co-axia1 use in
armoured vehicles.
The Stoner 63 System attracted a
great deal of attention. The system was
placed into small-scale production by
Cadrllac Gage. under whose aeg.s
Stoner had developed the project
Plans were made with a Dutch firm for
hcence production, but military in-
terest was not so forthcomlnq. The US
Marines carned out a series of trtals
and more were caried out in Israel.
The system performed well throuqh-
out all these trials bui nothtng resulted
Exactly why thrs was the result is not
easy to determine, but perhaps the
man reason was that for a set of com
ponents to be produced to perform so
many roles a number of the parts had
to be somethingt of a compromise and ;
thus less successful than a purpose'-'
burlt desiqn. The Stoner System gra- -
dually faded from the scene and ts now
no longer offered
Specification
Stoner 63 lassa*lt rtfle)
Calibre: 5,56 mm (0 2 19 tn)
Weiqht: loaded 4 39 kg (9.68 lb)
Lengrth: overali 1.022 m (40 23 in);
barrel50B mm 120 tn)
Muzzle velocity: about 1000 m (3,280 ft) .
per second
Rateoffire: (cychc) 660 rpm
Feed:30-round box
Above: The US Naw SEALs (Sea-Air-
Land) used the Stoner during the
Vietnam war. The SEALs performed
all manner of covert operations in
SouthEastAsia, many of which
remain classified. Their activities in
the IV Corps Military Zone (the Delta)
were particularly successful.
alcc
NATO's tosl Chance
In 1944 the Germans introduced a rifle
chambered for a new, lower-powered
cartridge, capable of fully automatic
fire. This'assault rifle' soon proved
superior to the pre-WorldWar I designs
which equipped most armies, and after
the war the British and Soviets produced
assault rifles of their own. The Soviet
AK-47 entered service in 1957 and has
sincebeen judged the most successfu/
post-war rifle, while the Britishweapon
was sacrificed to American prej udice.
AK-41 ossauf
Combat analysis of World War II infantry en-
gagements revealed the fact that the majority
of tactical fire-fights took place at ranges far
less ihan 400 m (437 yards), yet most poldiers on
both sides were issued with rifles and ammuni-
tion having range potentials of 2000 m (2,187
yards) or more. The Germans were flrst to see
that if llghter, less poweriul ammunitlon was
developed to be effective only up to actual
combat ranges, not only could a soldier carry
more ready-to-use rounds but his firepower
potential could also be vastly increased by the
introduction of selective-fire weapons as the
associated recoil forces would be much re-
duced. The German army took these lesson to
heart and introduced the Sturmgewehr assault
rifles and their innovative 7.92-mmx33 kurz
2770
receiver cover catch
fo ding stock
rifle
(short) cartridge. The first flgure denotes the
calibre, in this case 7,92 mm (O 312 in) and the
second the length of the cartridge case, i,e.
33 mm (L3 in), The combination of less power-
ful ammunition and assault rifle gave the Ger-
man infantry a vast increase in combat firepow-
er by the introduction of automattc flre for ev-
ery man. Once again the Germans had shown
the way ahead in small arms developments,
but they lost the war,
They had, however, taught the Allies an im-
portant lesson, Nearly every one of them was
using rifle ammunition that dated back de-
cades, and it was abundantly clear that such
ammunition would have to be replaced. For a
while the Allies were saddled with their ex-
isting mat6riel for the simple reason that they
recerver cover
bo t breec.
recoi sprlng (spring
return assemby)
au\ idry sear and spr ng
trigger and
hammer spring
catch
assemb V
change evel
safety sear
already had the manufacturing facilities to turn
them out by the million, and also huge stock-
piles that must first be consumed, To take on a
new type of ammunition would involve vast
outlays of money and materials, and few na-
tions were willing or able to envisagte such a
programme, The development of new
ammunition also took time, so it was not surpris-
ing that the major conflict of the 1950s, the
Korean War, was fought mainly with World
War Il weapons and ammunition.
There was little prospect of lhe Germankurz
cartridge berng adopted by any of the Ailtes,
but the Soviets were most impressed by it
having been on the receiving end on many
occasions, From the kurz carhrdge they de
veloped their own 7,62-mmx39 round and I
evolved ihe SKS and AK 47 rifles to frre it, The I
7,62-mmx39 round has proved to be one of the
best military cartridges of all time and certainly
one of ihe most used, for it ls strli in widespread
use to this day and seems set fair to remain so
for ages to come. Ii combines good lethality
and hrttrng power at combat ranges, yet is com-
pact and contains a load hght enough to enable
it to be flred from poriable selective-fire
weapons,
The Soviets were not alone in developing a
?he Sovjets /os t no time in adopting an
intermediate cartridge, but US insistence
preventedNATO following suit, forcing Britain to
cancel the EM-2 . Work continued with bullpup
desigrnssucfi a s this prototype IndividualWeapon,
but only in 1985 has the IW entered service.

gas cylrnder retarner
f .62 mm
Soviet M43 round
magazrne spnng and p attorm
new light cartridge. The Brttrsh used the years
after World War II to investiQtate new combat
ammunition to replace therr elderly 0 303-in
(7 7-mm) rifle round, a type loaded with tn-
efficient cordlte propellant and rimmed as
weil, making it awkward to use in automatic
weapons. After a series of trials a new rimless
round known as the 0,280-in (actually
mmx44) was produced, along with the EM-1
and EM-Z experimental rifles for potential ser-
vice introduction. The 0,280-in proved to be an
excellent cartridge, having a good combat
performance combined with light weight and
size, All seemed set therefore lor the introduc-
tron of the O,280-rn cartridge to the British army,
Weapons standardization
Then internatronal polittcs iniruded. The
0,280-rn cartrrdge arrived on the scene about
the time the NATO agreement was signed
(1949) and the participant nations were bound
by the terms of the treaty to adopt a program-
me of weapons standardization as far as possi-
ble, r,vith small-arms ammunrtion high on the list
of priorities. The rdea of using a common car-
tridge throughout the NATO made qood sense
but it also led to a wrong chotce for one basic
reason: the Americans were not impressed by
USNavy SEALs seen inVietnam, 1970, carry their
usual mixture of hardware including (on the Left) a
Stoner 63. This system proved another blind alley
foi small arms design, originally developed for the
NATO 7.62-mm round but revised because the
USA adopted 5.56 -mm caiibre with the M I 6.
cleanlng rod
the need for any change to less powerful
ammunition, and they certainly dld not
approve of the Brrtish 0,280-inwhich they castr-
gated as tacking power at long ranges (ignor-
lng the fact that the round had been deliberate-
ly designed to give of rts best at short combat
ranges).
Exactly why this lack of appreciation of tac-
tical lessons arose is difficult to determtne with
exactitude, but it no doubt stemmed in general
from the in-bred independence and frontier
lore that seems to colour so much American
behaviour and thought, Perhaps many soldiers
had been put off by the introduction of the odd
,30 Carbrne cartridge (based on a prstol round)
for the Ml Carbine that had proved so ineffec-
tive during World War 11. The US Army, im-
pressed by the German Sturmqewehr, called
for similar light automatic weapons but firing
powerful 'ful1-strength' ammunition, The two
requirements were incompatible, but Amer-
ican small arms designers drd their consider-
abte best to comply. It should be noted that
many Amerrcan designers were as anxious as
any to introduce lightweight ammunition, but
with no prospect of the US Army adopting any
such round the deslgners had to produce what
the customer wanted.
The then-current American rifle cartridge,
known as the ,30-06 (actually 7.62-mmx63),
7- was considered ripe for replacement as it
dated from 1906, but it was taken as the starting
pornt for a new American round, By cutting the
case down to 5l mm (2 in) the designers
appeared to go part-way to producing a shor-
ter cartridge, but the bullet remained much the
Post-War Infantry Weapons
foresight
same weight as before and the propeliant load
meant that overall performance was only mar-
grnally less than that of the ,30-06.
The US Army adopted the new 7,62-mmxSl
cartridge rn 1952, Thls meant in effect that the
rest of NATO had to do the same lor most of the
new NATO allies were in such a poor state
financially from the effects of World War II that
they had to accept that the USA would be foot-
ing many of Europe's defence bills for years to
come, This meant that in their turn the Euro-
peans had in therr turn io accept the American
7.62-mmx5l round.
The 7.62-mmx51 cartridge has been the
NATO standard ever srnce and, despite the
recent introduction cf the 5,56-mmx45 SSl09
cartridge, lt w1]l be around for decades to
come, It was not a happy choice. Assault
weapons produced to fire the new round
tended to be healnT and expensive, and were
often hmited to single-shot flre to keep within
manageable proportions the recoil developed
by the power of the propellant load, And on the
other side of the coin the NATO round remains
an lndifferent cartridge for use in longer-rang-
ing machine-guns. Soldters found themselves
still limited to carrying only as many rounds
(usually about 200) as their World War II coun-
terparts. Only the introduction of the 5,56-
mmx45 ammunition has permitted a return to
the type of weapons and flrepower potential
the GermanFrontschwein ('grunts') were using
at the end of World War IL Thus the adoption of
the 7.62-mm x 5 I cartrrdge was a lost opportun-
ity of great significance.
 Armalite AR-10 assault rifle
=
During i954 the newly-formed Arma-
lite Division of the Farrchild Engine &
Airplane Company started the de-
velopment of an assault rrfle firinq the
World War Ii 0 30-in (7.62-mm) rifle
cartrrdge. By 1955 Eugene Stoner had
joined the company and development
had swrtched towards using the new
NATO 7,62-mm cartridge though the
Armalite team greatly influenced by
Stoner, was not restrlcted to using
established small-arms design con-
ventions The team thus evolved an in-
novative 'all-rn-line' layout with stghts
above the weapon, but perhaps the
most important contribution to small
arms design was the reintroduction of
the rotary bolt locking system that has
now become virtually a standard on
subsequent assault rifle desiqns seemed to offer hope of sales and 1,500 and other batches went to Burma The ancestor of theM-16, theAR-10
throughout the world arrangements were made with a and Nicaragua, some vta the Dutch was a good rifle, better than most of
The rifle emerqed during 1955 as Dutch company known as NWM for NWM. Perhaps the greatest import' its competitors, and it deserved a
the Armalite AR-I0 This made great licence production of AR-10s but that ance of the AR- l0 was that rt paved the better fate. It appeared too late to
use of alumimum in construction and project all came to nauqtht despite a way for the later AR-15/M-16 rlfles, compete in the struggle for a NATO
steel was used only on the barrel, bolt great deal of preparatory work Production ceased in 1961. 7.62-mm rifle and so had little hope
and bolt carrier. This made the AII this was a pity, for the AR-10 was of major sales. Production ceased in
weapon liqht, too light really as its really far better than any weapon then Specification 196t.
tendency to 'rear when fired automati- in NATO use and far more advanced AR.IO
cally meant that a muzzle compensator thanmost. Itwasstmple easyto handle Calibre:7.62 mm (0.30 in) Muzzle velocity: 845 m (2,772 ft) per
had to be fitted to overcome this fail- and had plenty of potential, Some sales Weisht: loaded 4 82 ks ( 10 63 lb) second
ing. The cockrng lever was on top of were made, by far the largtest beinq to Lengths: overall 1,029 m (40.5 in); Rate offire: (cyclic) 7OO rpm
the receiver pro ec ed by a carrytno the Sudan. The Portuguese purchased barrel S0B mm (20 in) Feed: 2O-round box
handle that also carried the rear sights.
Originally it was planned that there
would be sub-machine gun and light
machine-qnrn varrants of the basrc AR-
10, but only prototypes were pro
duced,
The Armalite team found that
marketing its product was rather more
difficult than designing it Tooltng up
for production was slow and sales
were not helped by the fact that the
NATO nations had already made thetr
vanous new rrfle decisrons by the time
the AR-10 appeared. The Dutch

The innovative AR- I0 used

aluminium for most of its metal parts,
steei being used only for the barrel,
bolt and bolt carrier. Itwas a very
lightweapon which suftered from
pronounced muzzle climb when
fired fully automatic.

Vli*"t m/60 and ml62assault rifles

Although not a member of the Warsaw
Pact because of its proximity to the
USSR Finiand inevitably has to go
along wrth the Sovtet waY of doing
things in some matters. So it was when
the Finnish army decided to adopt a
new servrce rifle rn the late 1950s: not
surprisrngly it opted for the Soviet AK
47 assault rifle and rts ammunition, and
the country neqotiated a manufactur
rngt licence for both. Once the AK-47
desrem was in thetr hands, the ever-
actrve Finnish small-arms desrqners at
Valmet decided to make a few
chanqes and the result was the Valmet
m/60.
The AK 47 origins can be drscerned
in the m/60 but the enerqetic re-work-
rnq by the Finns resulted in a much

The m/62 has differentsigrhts to lftose

fitted on the AK-47 and introduced a
three-pronged fl ash eliminator, but
the selector lever and safety catch
are exactly thesame as on the Soviet
weapon.In addition to servingwith
theFinnish army, the ml62 has been
boughtbyQatar.

2772
Valmet m/60 and m/62 assault rifles (continued)
aetter all-round weapon. For a starl
''.e m/60 used no wood whatever in irs
:onstruction, the wooden furmture of
.le AK-47 being repiaced by plastrcs
:r metal tubingr. The tubular butt of the
r/60 was not only easier to produce, it
',vas also more robust and it carned the
3ieaninq tools and equipment The prs
rol grip and forestock were cast from
nard plastic, while the trigqer was left
-rirtually unguarded to allow qloves to
be worn when firing. dn rmporlanl
potnl gsn5ll91,ng I rnn.sh wlnrer con
ditrons.
Other changes from the AK 47 in-
cluded slightly altered siqhts, a three-
pronged flash hider at the muzzle and
a revised bayonet mounting bracket to
accommodate the Finnish bayonet,
whrch could also be used as a frghting
knife. Internally the AK-47 mechantsm
was left vrrtually unchangied apart from
a few manufacturing expedients, and
the curved magazine and rts housingr
were also left untouched to allow AK-
47 magazines to be used
A later model, the m/62, was virtually
the same as the m/60 apart from a few
Post-War Infantry Weapons
er:ira:cclilg rcles ln the forestock and
the :iircd:3trol of a vestigral triqtger
guari
The n 6C and m/62 are still t-sed by
the Filnish armed forces today. They
are excellent weapons that are ideally
suried io the rough conditlons that the
local chmate lmposes. In design terms
they are rated to be much better
weapons than the AK-47 from which
they were derled, but in ease of pro-
ductron they have been partially over-
taken by the lntroduction ofthe Sovlet
AKM.
Specification
rn/62
Calibre: 7 62 mm (0,30 in)
Weights: empty3 5 kg (7,7 lb) loaded
4.7 ks(10 36 lb)
Lengrths: overall914 mm (36 rn); barrel
420 mm (16.54 in)
Muzzlevelocity: 719 m (2,359 ft) per
second
Rate of fire: (cyclic) 650 rpm Them/62 is the Finnishvariantof the SovietAK-47.ltuses nowood in its
Feed:30-round box construction and has a tubular buttwhich, apart from being easy to
manufacture, has the added bonus of being able to carry the cleaning tools
andequipment.

Madsen sub-machine guns

Aimost as soon as the last Germans left
Copenhagen in 1945 the Danish Mad-
sen concern returned to rts pre-war
activities of designrng automatic
weapons. After a brief excursion tnto
an unremarkable sub-machine qfun
desrgn known as the m/45, the com-
pany produced a more successful
model known as the Madsen m/46
Thrs sub machine qun used the pro-
duction techniques pioneered by
weapons such as the Britrsh Sten and
the Amerrcan M3 'Grease Gun, but
allied them to a thorough rethinking of
basic desiqn concepts Thus the m/46
made much use of steel stamptngs and
these were formed into a remarkably
simple and sound desrgin.
For ali its rnnovations the m/46 re
mained a straightforward blowback
weapon, The butt was a simple rect-
anqular-shaped piece of steel tubing
that could be folded about a hinge to
resr agarnst the side oi the .eceiver a
piece of leather was wrapped around
the butt rtself ro provrde some vesttqe
ol comfo-rt for tne firer The recetver
was sguare in cross-section as was the
bolt, but the main rtem of note about the
weapon body was its construction, The
entire recerver was produced rn two
longitudrnal halves heid togtether by a
larger barrel nut, When this barrel nut
was undone the short barrel could be
removed to allow the two halves to
open up (around the butt hinqe) to ex-
pose the workrngs. This made the
workinq parts extremely easy to clean
and reparr, which no doubt added to
the weapons' reputatlon for reliabilrty,
a feature further arded by there berng
no sinqle-shot facility the m/46 thus
being capable of automatic flre only.
The m/46 was not a great sales suc-
cess, mainly because it was produced
at a time when the world small-arms
markets were stili awash with the re-
sidue of World War II The successor
to the m/46 was the m/50, and this was
rather more successful thouqh drffer-
ing from the m/46 only in detarl. An
even later version, the m/53, differed
ma nly rn
"s,no curved box
a magazrne
Lnstead ol the earlier s rarghr versrons.
and the m/53 could be fitted with an
optional barrel jacket that could carry
a bayonet
The main markets for the Madse:-
sub-machrne gmns were South Arcer-
ica and Asian nations such as Thailai:
As a resuit of their extremely so,;::
desiqn and construction the Madse::s
may sttli be encountered today.
Specification
m/50
Calibre:9 mm (0.354 in)
Weight:3, 17 kq (6,99 ]b)
Lengrths: stock extended 794 mm
(31.26 in); stockretractedS23 mrn
(20.6 in); barrel l9B mm (7 8 in)
Muzzle velocity: 390 m 1 I 280 f'; per
second
Rate of fire: (cyclic) 550 rpm
Feed:32-round box

Left: The Madsen endeavoured to

makeuseof wartimemass
p r o du c tion te c hni qu e s w ithou t
suffering the usual problems of
h as ti Ly- pu t toge ther weapons.

Right: The Madsen was used in

Vietnam by Special Forces, and it is
seen here in the hands of a Laotian
mercenary.

Below : The M adsen's receiver was

hinged, and once the barrel nutwas
removed the two halves could be
swung apart, exposing the
mechanism. This made the weapon
very easy to maintain.
t H"*or"ryadnyi l(arabin Simonova (SKS)
The semi-automatrc rrfle known as the
SKS was actually devised durrngr
World War Ii, but was not placed rn
production until some time afterwards.
The designer was Sergei Simonov,
wno was responsrble for manv rmpor-
tant Soviet smail arms but with the SKS
Simonov decided to piay thrngs safe
and stick to a relatively uninspired de-
s1qn,
The SKS was the first weapon de-
signed to use the new Soviet 7,62-mm
(0.30-in) cartndge derived from the
German 7,92-mm (A.312-in) kurz
round, The SKS used a gas-operated
mechanrsm with a simple tipping boit
locking system. So conservative was
the overall design that the SKS even
outwardly resembied a conventtonal
bolt-action rrfle, complete with exten-
sive wooden furniture, A fixed foldtng
bayonet was fitted under the muzzle rifle of the Warsaw Pact nations for havrng rs dilficult to determlne ln an The SKS carbine was desrgned
and the box magazine could hardly be years until the AK-47 and AKM arrived arms market where the AK-47 and its during World War II and produced
seen lt held only 1O rounds and was in sufficient numbers derivatles are al1 the vognre invast numbers after the war. The
flxed to the recerver. Loadinq was by The SKS is no longer in Warsaw Pact With so many SKS rifles produced it top rifle is a Chinese copy, the
chargers or lnsertlon of sinqle rounds; service other than as a ceremonial is not surprisrng rhat many remaln tn Type 56.
to unload the maqazrne was hinged weapon lor parades or'honour use throuqhout the Middle and Far
downwards allowing the rounds to fall gmards' However, lt may still be en- East. Many were encountered by US
free. In typrcal Soviet fashron the SKS countered elsewhere as enormous and South Vietnamese iorces durrng Specification
was very stronqly built, so strong that numbers were produced, not only in the Vietnam conflict, and from there SKS
many Western observers derided rt as the USSR but 1n East Germany and many have passed into irregular Calibre: 7 62 mm (0 30 in)
being far too heavy for the relatively Yugoslavia where it was known as the hands. Being srmple and robust Weight: empty 3,BS kg (B 49 lb)
light cartridge it fired, Despite this the m/59 The communrst Chinese sttil pro- weapons they are easy to use aiter a Lengths:overall 1.021 m (40 2 in).
SKS was well able to withstand the duce a slightly revised version of the mrnimum of trarnrng and the SKS will barrel 32l mm (20 5 in)
many knocks and rough treatment SKS known as the Type 56 and they be around for many years to come. Muzzle velocity: 735 m (2 41 I ft) per
likely to be encountered durrng set- are currently offering this versron for second
vice use and the SKSwas the standard expofi Exactly what success they are Feed:20-round box

m flt"nnoy Pulemyot Destyarev (RPD)

Sovlet desrgners have always been the USSR, the RPD was (and still is) throughout the Middle East, usually in Rate of fire: (cyc]1c) 700 rpm
conservative in machine-gun design wrdely issued throughout the Warsaw irregular hands. It has been observed Feed: 100-round belt
and when the RPD arrived on the Pact armed forces although no longer in actron rn Lebanon and is one of the
scene rn rhe early l950s he conllnua- as a frontline weapon as rt has largely weapons used by the PLO,
tion of a hne through the DP, DPM and been replaced by the later RPK. Else-
RP46 Lght machine guns was verv evt- where rt is still in the front line and may Specification Designed in 1943 to take the new
dent However the RPD didhave some be encountered tn armies as diverse RPD 7.62 -mm x 39 cartridge, the RPD was
innovations of its own and it has proved as those of Pakrstan Egypt and Anqola Calibre: 7.62 mm (0 30 in) introduced in the I I 50s as the squad
to be such a successful weapon that ln Chrna he RPD rs s-rll being pro- Weight:gun only 7. t kq (15 65 lb) support weapon to complement the
many remain in widespread use to this duced as the Type 56 and is betng Length: overall I 036 m (40.78 rn); AK-47. The Soviets have no illusions
day. offered for expod to all who will buy barrel 52l mm (20 5 in) about the standard of conscripts'
The RPD may be regarded as the There have been some takers, for the Muzzle velocity: about 700 m(2 297 fl) rifle shooting, and have always relied
squad support weapon equrvalent to RPD is now likely to be encountered per second on their machine-guns.
the AK-47 assault rrfle It fired the same
7 62 mm (0.30-in) short cartridge and
used a gas-operated mechanism that
had much 1n common with that of the
AK-47, Over the years many modifrca
trons have been made to the RPD and
rts mechanism to improve component
lrfe and overall accuracy, but tt has
always remarned a typtcal Soviet de-
srgn in that it is robust, simple and
efficient
The RPD uses a belt feed but the
problem of ammunition belts flapptng
around to pick up drrt or snag on any-
thing nearby has been overcome by
the lntroduction of a drum holding a
belt of 100 rounds ready to feed. The
belt rs held at the centre of gravity to
assist carrying, but the gas-operated
mechanism has a bit of a task to lift and
feed a fuily loaded belt and if the belt
or mechanrsm is dirty or even sltgthtly
damaged malfunctions can occur
Another potential problem carried
over from earher desiqtns ls that the
barrel is not removable for changtng
when hot, and the barrel can become
overheated after oniy a few prolonged
bursts. RPD gunners therefore have to
be trained to keep bursts short anci not
too fuequent to prevent jamming The
RPD can flre on automatrc only.
Although no longer in production rn

2774
The Glosters Lost Stand
In the spring of l95l , UN forces were AChinese soldier serving in Korea is
pushing back the Chinese army which seen armedwith anSKS carbine. The
h ad inv aded S outh Kor e a when the C hine se copie d m any S ovie t
C hinese counte r - attacke d in weapons during the I 950s ; Chinese
copies of the SKS are designated
overwhelming numbers: in their path TYpe 56, and canbe distinguished
were the 800 men of the I st Battalion the from the Soviet original by their
G lou ce s te r shir e R eg im en t. triangular fixe d bayone t.

On the morning of 22 April i951. a sma.i gnoup

of men lay behind the south bank of ']re fuver
imjin just beyond the ruins of the village of
Choksong, watching movements beyond the
farther bank. Some muttered conversation
among them was followed by instructions to be
passed back, then in due course a series oftlny
flashes and some puffs of black smoke, and the nized another heavy shelling, together with a
wrnd brought back the thumps of landing mor- pattern of mortar and machine-gun fire to over
tar bombs, the ambush party as it came back, It was still
'That ought to tickle them up a bit,' said one of dark when they had all reported in, but by then
the men, whrle the senior figure considered for another part of the Gloster's front was impertl-
a little longer and then issued orders for the led: A Company on the left flank on Castle Hill
laying of an ambush that night, The party then was now being attacked by a sizeable body of
withdrew beyond Choksong to the battalion enemy troops, who had apparently crossed the
headquarters. river to the west of Gloster Crossing. It prom
That niqht 16 men of C Company, Ist Batta. ised to be a busy mght, and, for Colonel Carne,
lion the Gloucestershire Regiment lay in dark a worrying one as certain long-suspected facts
concealment around the southern approaches were being borne out,
to the age old ford which they had recently The lst Glosters were a well-found battalion.
renamed Gloster Crossing, and eventually The four companies were up to strength wtth
heard what they had been listening for: the well-trained, professional soldiers, some
faint splashing of men wading up to their thighs young and eagter, some older and experi-
in fast running water, making their way to- enced; the battalion's administration services
wards them. were efflcient and keen, the liatson with gun-
Both parties were evidently composed of ners, with brigade intelligence and with air
well{rained men, The Glosters remained sl- their feet and came on yet agatn. And the support excellent; weapon and ammunition
lent and stlll, the oncomers moved confidently, magazines of the patrol, and their bomb stocks, stocks were hrgh; and logistics controlled and
their weapons securely held to give no be- were that much depleted when the next pause smooth, The battalion could therefore defend
traying clink, their voices silent, no coughs and came; and the next; and the one after, itself with expertise and courage against any
no heavy panting; but this care in movement Eventually lhe patrol commander spoke inlo reasonable offensive, and especially agarnst an
was not to save them. They were now into hrs radio and the message was passed to
shallower water (knee-ievel), and soon the Lieutenant Colonel James Carne, DSO, that the
The regimental aidpostwas situated by the river;
leader would reach the dry mud; but as he enemy were once more massinq in hordes to the hillin thebackgroundwas C Company's
lifted hrs foot clear olwater for the first time the force the crossing, and that the Gloster patrol position- Repeated Chinese humanwave attacks
rifles and light machine-guns flred, the echoes were almost out of ammunition, eventually overran the hill crest, forcing everyone
rang out along the rrver to east and west, seven 'Tell ihem to start withdrawtng in three mi- to fall back to 'G|oster Hill', where the battalion
Chinese soldiers fe]] back into the water and nutes,' ordered the colonel, and quietly orga- made its last stand.
were swept away, and behind them another 50
rose to thelr feet and rushed at the crossing,
yelling, screaming, frrrng their 'burp' guns wild-
}y across the river, intent on sweeping away the
ambushers by sheer weight of numbers. Now
all the flre was Chinese, for machine-gun and
mortar fire erupied irom the dead ground to
the north of the crossing, and the Gioster patrol
was silent for the time being, waiting,
But not for long: as the sound and fury from
the north bank rose in a crescendo, shelis hts
sed above them and burst with devastating
force and accuracy among the assembled
Chinese troops and their support weapons,
whose likely positrons had been carefully reg-
istered days before.
Some Chinese soldiers had reached the riv-
er and were now made hesitant by the thunder
behrnd them; the Glosters went rnto action
again with light machrne-gun, Sten gun and
rifle flre supported by grenades: some figures
in the river fell back and were swept away,
some near the northern bank turned back, one
braver than the rest tried to ral1y them until he
too was shol. and the river was empty again,
The patrol checked their weapons, counted
their grenades and looked thoughtful; and their
commander spoke into hrs radio,
The Chinese beyond the river massed for
their next attempt, the guns opened up on them
again, the noise and chaos were repeated; and
when the shelling was over the Chinese rose to
**--*i-
2714
 . re Gioueesters'Last Stand
Tak.ing cc>ver {rctm Chinese mortars in a shelter
irench: British traops in I(orea rvere equipped
much as they had been during World War I I. The
Cfijnese made profligate use of their apparently
inexhaustahle manpower to overrun British
positrons.

enemy so basicaily poorly equipped as the

_'l .n- ^ o.l,^r v.tht,- o o .-rr or[n- .o
shoes rougth and uncertain stick grenades
elderly rifles and burp' guns
But on the Imjin the Giosters faced one insu
perable problem. Had all the grenades and
mortar bombs shells and rockets Bren Sten
and rrfle maqazrnes, Vtckers belts and srgnal
flares been counted individualiy and added
up, and to them been added lhe numbers of
men and the nurnbers of -,r,reapons on the Glos
ters esiablishmenl, theto1al would not have
reached the number of Chinese soidrers the
enemy commander had at his disposal and
whom he was apparently quite prepared to see
krlled
First arnl:ush
I he Glosters s',ood on one ol the matn roads
back to Secul and Seoui rn'-as the pnze ior
which the Chrnese command was prepared lo
sacrrhce any number ol men Ancl on 22 Aprtl
l95l tliree larEe rnfantry dtvtsions (the l.87th
L88th and 189th) -ruere u,alttnq in the country to
the north of Gloster Crosslng potsed to remove
f&e #fa:i.qxese aJssed;im on f&e GJosders, f&e soff.q?d of fJreJt'&ugrJes eoaafd,-be .hea.ref
"1rr the 800 men t'rrho blocked their way The pat
,:
r i:a.rj]r&omr dfee B"n'dfd-s&poss'fdrpsa. S&oa"fJgrafferdaffrm D-E"urm-fi€ajol'Berssrose fo Jais
tern oi tha.t flrst ambush v,,as to be the pattern of
. eer in y,^faJdafdon"'Jre &egraff w:{fft.Resre:iLJe arzd fJaern 3eJayed sfeadx'fy f"8tx erug}a fids
ihe battle -,vhich follo,nred
repe-rfoa'.a,e, "&ef,aaaifers fo @f6cersffiress f,os$flm"rc'ea'aard.f"qeffE f.fue &asf Fosf fe,
.f,".&rat By da,rin both A Company cn Caslle Htll and
.]..r,{rfs Gc,cf. 9'}ie oraJgr eaJJ "fue ddd.qro$s,iaeff?d Mras -ffiedceaf' D Ccmpany lust casi of the road had been

at.:::.:t ":.. ":,.',..,,i

ll_ail!:. l-
=4.:e:1
, 'E-:::,:..
',1: ::
 Post-War Infantry Weapons

,:.ithough th'e USA provided the bulk of UN forces in

.'1orea, many nations provided contingents. The
.est attempt to refieve the Glosters was made by a
: ilipino battalion and the Bth Hussars. Here a
lurkish in{antryman takes cover behind a US tank.

--rCel atiack ior neariy slx hours the qround rn

::nt ol both ,"ryas littered wrth Chrnese dead,
:re companies themselves had sufl-ord tnevti
..rle losses and their ammunition boxes were
.:nptying fast A Company v,,as s.'vept off Castle
:ill al one time, but Lreutenant Phrllip Curtis
:rcuqh wounded hmped across open ground
: iob a grenade rnio a machine-gun nest lhus
,, lor'vrng some of hts men to qo back for a whrle
.,:d winning hunself a posthumous Victoria
-ross; but by rnid-inornrng A and D Ccm
1:anies r'vere being s-,ramped by ihe trde of
-:1-amy soldrers, the medrcs ai the legtmentaL
,rd post rn ere workrnq at full biast (a helicopter
:raire rn to lake ihe worst cases out) and Coi
-'le1 Carne ordered B Company to move care
-11y and unostentatrously back towards ihe
:ruge bulk ol Kamak san Hrll rrhich dominaied
jle area
Ali through that day (23 Aprtl) the whole had been drawn tighter anC Colonei Carne juclged therr lrrst assault and drove across at an
cattle area echoed and re echoed to ihe same was ponderng the latest nerrus Chinese had anqle (rr,rth even moie devastating casualties
patterrrs oi norse A perrod ol quiei follovrted by inllltrated through on bolh flanks anci had cut then ever) they soon corrected lhe dtrectron
l;t. Ot . rin,. h-r. ^Olo otO O o lt.n, the road behtnd hin-t and the nights battles began tn earnest. By
interspersed wtth mortar irre a gradual build What he nfas noi told then ,nias that the dar,vn they had drrven in betw-oen B and C
rp of heavy gunfire, the scr--amtncj and yelhng Chinese 1B7th Drvrsion had been so decimated Companres the bartalion adlutant had burned
:f the flnal charge tn a cltmax ol noise then by the action that day lhat it had been wrth the codebooks and the secret equlpment had
3radua11y quiet back again for a'irhrle then a drav,.n, its place beinql taken by both the L88th been wrecked and shortly after 07 00 :he coi
blast of artillery once lhe Chinese beq;an rnes and l89th Drvrsrons. onel hurrredly grabbed a rrfle and some gre
srnq agarn lherr quiet. Then the nring uroLrld By midnrght lhe Chrnese had lound ihe new- nades and personally dealt ,rlth a qtroup of
:tart ag'ain By nrghtiall the Gloster posiitot'rs pcsrtrons of B Company and althouerh thev rnis Chrnese who had crepl along a rtdge tc wtihtrr

,r 'g: :::l

==."*:::.

:: -.
The Gloucesters' Last Stand

attacking distance of the HQ. They mrght lack

warm clothing and first-class weapons, but the
Chinese had all the initiative, couraqe and eye
for concealment of excellent soldiers.
Later that morning news came over the radio
that a Fihpino battalion and a Centurion tank
troop of the 8th Hussars were breaking through
towards them from the south; later still the news
came through that both formations had been
biocked and beaten off by the Chinese who
held the roads behind them. The Glosters'
strengthwas now down to 400 men, there were
many wounded, they were short of ammuni-
tron, the radio batteries were weakening every
hour, and by dusk thirst was plaguing every
one, The colonel had by now withdrawn the
survivors into a tight circle around the top of
H111 235

Bugle battle
Most of the night was spent listening to the
same noises as before, but punctuated now by
raucous and incomprehensible bugle ca1ls
from the Chinese positions; shortly after dawn
the Glosters' drum major rose ma;estically to
his feet and blew every call in his repertoire Above: The most common weapon carried by
from 'Reveille' to 'Defaulters' wrth the exception Chinese infantrymen in Korea was the PPS and
PPSh series ofsub-machine guns. China directly
of 'Retreat', and after that the Chinese bugles copied these crude but effective weapons from the
were silent, At 09 00 the ad;utant threw out a Soviet originals.
purple marker, and a flight of US Lockheed
F-80s dropped a spectacular carpet of napalm
with prnpoint accuracy across the ground in
which the latest massing of Chinese troops was
taking place, then another over the marked
positions of ali Chinese machine-gun and artil-
lery posts, from which no more fire came. And
as the F-80s flew away, another 1,000, or 3,000
or maybe I0,000 cottonclad soldiers rose to
their feet beyond the scorched area and pad-
ded forward through the smoking scrub to
press again at the Gloster positrons,
Shortly afterwards, three transport planes
were seen flying towards the area and the
Glosters were split between hope that this was
the replenishment of their armoury and fear
that it would fall outside their now even further Above: The harsh mountainous terrain ofKorea Above: Russia supplied China with large numbers
constricted circle and into enemy hands. But made itpossible for smallunits to dominate awide of T-34s, which proved no match for US and British
area - provided they had enough bullets. tanks in their rare encounters.
the transports flew past them and larther east
long the line ol the river, where more United
Nations formations were in pressing need of
resupply and, rt was judged, more able to put it
to good use. Then came the news that no one
could get through to the Glosters, their gmn-ltne
was itself under attack and that every man
should endeavour to make hrs own way back.
Some 40 men and four officers of D Company
did eventually reach brigade; ironrcally thrs
was because they had been well out in front
and there was only one direction for them to
move: to the north over the river, then to circle
back, All the survivors of the other companies
tned to escape directly south: 530 of them were
taken prisoner, of whom 150 were seriously
wounded, But the Glosters had given ttme for
the regrouping of the UN I Corps, which was
eventually able to halt the Chinese offensive
before rt could reach Seoul,
Colonel Carne was later awarded the Vlctor
ia Cross, and the American Presidential Unit
Citation was awarded to the lst Battalion the
Gloucestershire Regiment.
The boot on the other foot: two Chinese soldiers
surrender to one of the Glosters. Note the typical
quilted cotton kit worn by the Chinese on the right.
After four days ofvaliantresistance, the surviving
Glosters tried to break out to the south butwere
compelled to surrender. Less than 50 men
escaped back to the Allied lines.

2778
il Hu,o**ticheskiy Pistolet Stechkina (APS)
The pistol known to the West as iae
Stechkin and to the Soviet bloc as rne
APS fell into the category known as
machine pistols. Although rl resem-
bled a conventional automatic pistol it
had a flre-selection mechanism that
allowed it to flre fully automatically, r.e.
Ln bursts, Machine pistols were much
in vogue in the year before World War
II, but operational experience soon
showed them to be somewhat less than
effect other than at extremely short
rangesr they were also very wasteful of
ammumtion This waste was caused by
rhe fact thar as soon as the trrgger was
pulled the recoil forces forced up the
muzzle away from the tarqet
It was therefore somethinq of a sur-
prise when the Soviets produced the
APS during the decade after World
War II. It seems that the APS was in-
tended more as a police than a military
weapon but many were used by War-
saw Pact front-hne forces. The APS
had a magazine holding only 20
rounds, a factor which Iimited any
burst that might be flred The round
used was the then-standard Sovret 9-
mm (0 354-in) automatic type used with
Soviet sub-machrne guns. These were
really too powerful for the APS's blow-
back system and made the vrolent re-
coil of the weapon even more pro-
nounced In an attempt to control the
recorl the Soviet designers intended
the pistol to be used with a bulky
F RANCE
Fusil Mitrailleur Moddle 49 (MAS 49)
The Fusil Mitrailleur Moddle 49 (MAS
49) was one of the first semi-automatic
rifles to enter servrce, and althouqh
resemblinq the bolt-action MAS 36,
and Lndeed usrng the same two-piece
sLock. l was not merely an automatic
version of the MAS 36 but a completely
new design. At over 4.5 kq (10lb) it ts
no lightweight but its strenqth proved
rnvaluable in the campaigns rn Indo-
China and Algeria.
The MAS 49 is a gas-operated
weapon, but uses no cylinder or pistor
instead, some of the propellant gas is
deflected into a tube and conducted to
the bolt carrier where it expands forc-
ing the carrier back. This type of sys-
tem ls qenerally eschewed by gun de-
siqners because rt can produce exces-
sive fouling, but the MAS 49 has not
suffered unduly. The breech rs locked
rn the same simple manner as on the
Fn mle 49 namely by tilting the breech
block Unusually the MAS 49 has an
integral grenade launcher, with a srght
fitted on the left hand side.
The MAS 49 was modifled in 1956 to
produce the MAS 49/56 which is still rn
service with umts of the French army
although it wrll eventually be com-
pletely replaced by the FA MAS. The
MAS 49/56 rs easily distinguished from
the earlier weapon; the wooden fore-
stock is much shorter and the barrel
has a combrned muzzle-brake/gre-
nade launcher with rarsed foresiqht.
The length of the whole weapon was
reduced by 90 mm and that of the bar-
rel by 60 mm The French obstinately
stuck with the 7 5 mm x54 M 1929 car-
tridqe, althouqh a few MAS 49/56s
were experimentally modified to flre
standard NATO 7 62 mm. Armour-
plercing ammunition was produced,
but has proved very unkind to barrels
Post-War Infantry Weapons
i:lsier actrnqi as a shoulder
-.".-ocde:- ASoviet tankcommander takes aim
b;r Tis rcisrer was almost identical with anAPS machine pistol. Thiswas
to iie cli broomhandle Mauser com- another attempt to produce a pistol
ponent v;hich no doubt acted as the capable of fully automatic fire: a
startrnq pornt for the whole APS de- shoulder stock like that of the Mauser
srgn, but the butt was bulky and awk- Military Modelwas provided to give
ward to use, even if it did allow aimed at least a hope of accuracy on
fire up to 200 m (219 yards) and contain automatic.
the pistol's cleamng tools and equip-
ment,
The APS had a relatively short
career in Soviet terms, It was rssued
througthout the Warsaw Pact armed
forces, but it was never hked and was
gradually relegated from front-line use
to second-line duties Today it rs still
around, but usually in the hands ofbor-
der qnrards and other such paramiltt-
ary forces. Many have found their way
into the hands of terrorists/freedom-
fighters who are often attracted by the
APS's volume of fire rather than its
combat efficiency.
Specification
APS
Calibre: 9 mm (0 354 in)
Weishts: empty 1,03 kq (2.27 lb);
empty with stock 1 58 kq (3 48 Ib)
Lenqths: overali 225 mm (B.BO in);
barrel 127 mm (5 rn)
Mrzzlevelocity: 340 m (1,115 ft) per
second
Rate offire: (cyclic) 750 rpm
Feed: 20-round box
Above:This MAS 49/56 was
presented to the Weapons Museum
at the School of Infantry, Warminster.
The MAS 49/56 gas-operated self-
Ioading rifle has served the French
army for nearly 30 years, although it
is now beingreplaced by the FA
MAS.
Right: Legionnaires of the 2nd REP
areseen armed with (left) a MAT-49
sub-machinegun and (right) a MAS-
49156 self-loading rifle, which can be
used as a grenade launcher. The
MAS 49 / 5 6 fires the F rench 7.5 -mm
< 54 cartridge. An armour-piercing
round is available as well as
standard ball and ftacer.
Specification
Fusil Mitrailleur Moddle 49
Calibre:7.5 mm (0.295 in)
Weights: (withoutmagazine) 3,9 kg
(8.6 lb); (loaded) 4.34 kq (9 52 lb)
Lengrths:overall LO10 mm (39.76);
barrel52l mm(20,51 in)
Muzzle velocity:BI7 m (2 680 ft) per
second
Feed: lO-roundbox
2779
 CZECHOSTOVAKIA

Samonabiject Puska vz 52
: :r a few years after the end of World ly innovative was the triggper mechan- By the time the vz 52s were deleted ified accordinqtly and late vz 52s ustngt
-,',
ar II Czechoslovakia was a com- rsm which was a drrect Iift of that used Czechoslovakra had been drawn into the Soviet ammunition were known as
;:etely independent nation and for a on the American Ml (Garand) rifle the Soviet sphere of influence The Ihe vz 52/57.
;;rrle returned to the rmportance of the Overall the vz 52 was rather heavy but Czech 7.62-mm vz 52 cartridgre had no-
:r?-war days when its armament in- thrs made it easy to flre as recoil was thing rn common wrth the Soviet Specification
i:stry was one of the leaders in limited. Even so the vz 52 took up quite equivaient, although both had been vz52
.urope One of the small-arms results a ]ot of manufacturtnq potential and oesrgned from the some starring point. Calibre:7.62 mm (0.30 in)
:i thls post-war perrod was a 7.62-mm was really too complex a weapon for The Soviet military authonties were Weights:empty4,28l ks(9 44 lb);
the penod. Only the Czech army took very strict reqarding standardrzatron loaded 4,5 kq (9.92 lb)
ii 30-in) selfJoadrng rifle known as the throuqhout the armies under their con- Lengrths: overall, bayonet folded
Samonabiject Puska vz 52 (vz far vzor, the vz 52 into seruice for a while, and
:r model) that followed many of the when other better weapons came trol, and the Czechs were thus forced LOO3 m (39,49 in); overali, bayonet
ciesign trends indicated by the World along (such as the vz 58 assault rifle) to abandon their cartridge and convert extended L204m(47.4 in) barrel
War II German automatic rifles. The the vz 52s were withdrawn and sold on to the Soviet equivalent. Srnce the 523 mm (20.6 in)
Czechs also developed a new short the rnternational arms markets, so Czech and Soviet short cartridges Muzzle velocity: about 744 m (2,441 ft)
some may still turn up in terronsVfree- were far from interchanqeable this per second
assault rifle cartrtdqte (also known as
the vz 52) based on Germankurz car- dom-flghter use, meant the vz 52 nfles had to be mod- Feed: l0-round box
rridqe experience for use in the new
rifle.
As always the Czechs followed their
own design paths and the vz 52 rtfle
had some unusual features, not the
least of which was a method of tippinq
the bolt to lock the mechanism. There
was also a permanently-hxed bayonet,
ano the l0-round box magaztne was
filled using chargers. The qas-oper-
a-ed mechanism used a gas pisron sys-
tem wrapped around the barrel, Hard-

In the brief inteilude between

Iiberation from the Germans and
take-over by the Russians,
c tion
C z e chos lav akia r esu med p r odu
of indigenous Iy des ig ned s m all
arms. The vz 52 fired a 7.62 mmx 45
cartridge.

E f'Jfr'ff-itulomet vz 52 and Kulomet vz 59

servtce today with
The Czech ZB 26 liqht machine-gun weapon. It is strlt 1n
was one of the major small-arm design the Czech armed forces and ts Pro-
successes of the years between the duced in a special co-axial tank ver-
world wars (it led to the Bren Gun and sron It has even been produced tn
iis present-day denvatives), so it was export form to chamber NATO 7.62-
no surprrse that once the Czech small- mm ammunition Fitted with a light
arms industry re-established rtself af- brpod rl ts used tn the I qh- mdcnlne
ter World War II the desiqn was used gnrn role, fltted to a heavy trrpod tt be-
again as the basis for a new weapon. comes a heavy machine-gun; the same
This emerqed in time as the LekhY 'ripod can be adapred forho anti-a.r'
Kulomet vz 52 (hqht machine-enrn mod- craft role. Various opttcal sights have
el 52) that carned over many features been produced for use wrth the vz 59.
of the pre-war ZB 26 wrth the addition
of a rather complicated belt or box Specification
maqazine feed system. The new vz 59
weapon retarned many of the pre-war Calibre: 7.62 mm (0.30 tn)
manufacturinql methods oi'machintng Weights: on brpod B 67 kg ( 19. I 1b); on
from the solid so that although the tripod 1924kq(42.4Lb)
weapon was reliable and robust it was Lengrths:wrth heaw barrel 1.2 i5 m
also difficult to make and correspon (47.8 in); with light barrel I 116 m
dinqly expensive. The vz 52 was pro- (43.94 rn); hearrybarrel693 mm Above : The v z 5 2 light machine-gun Below:Thevz 59 replaced thevz 52.It
(27.28 in),light barre]593 mm was the last Czech development of was a true general purpose machine-
duced to fire the Czech short 7 62 mm
(0.30-in) cartridge, but this had to be (23.35 in) the pre-war ZB 26, whichwas gun, with different barrels for the
changed to the Soviet equivalent once Muzzle velocity: heavy barrel 830 m developed into the British Bren gun. squad support and sustained fire
the Soviets took over Czechoslovakia (2 723 ft) per second; hght barrel B lO m Itwas a complicated gun to produce, roles. It is a simpler design than its
(2 657 ft) per second and after the Soviet take-over it had predecessor a nd is considerably
Weapons chambered lor the Soviet
cartridge wete known as the LehkY Rate offire: (cycltc) 7OO-800 rpm to be converted to fire Soviet easier to manufacture.
Kulomet vz 52"/57 Feed:50 round belt ammunition.
By 1959 the Czechs had leamed ihat
the complex belVmagazine feed sys
tem was more trouble than it was worth
and engdneered it out of the desrqn to
produce the Kulomet vz 59. The oppor-
tunlty was also taken to convert the
design from that of a light machlne-gun
to a Qleneral-purpose machine-gnrn.
This was done by the adoption of lnter-
changeable hqht and hear,ry barrels
and the introduction of a heavy tripod
for the sustained flre role, Another dif-
ference was the change from the short
cartridge to the more powerful Soviet
sro^ddrd ;62-mm rille cdrllloge.
Some alterations were also made to
manufacturtng techniques.
AII these chanqes made the vz 59
into a more flexible and Powerful
Armed Forces of the World
The island of Cuba is the largest (populatron 10.15
million) and most westery of the Greater Antilles
chain, and occupies a major strategic position be-
tween the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. lts
communist government came to power in January
1959 after Fidel Castro's guerrilla army entered the
capital, Havana. ln 1961 came the abortive CIA-
backed 'Bay of Pigs' invasion, which was followed in
1962 by the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviets
tried to lnstall MRBM and IRBMs on the island, and
so broughttheworldto theverge of a nuclearwar. ln
the period 1963-7 relations were strengthened with
the communist Chinese, but these were cooled
when Castro again became strongly pro-Soviet. ln
return for monetary aid and arms Cuban troops were
used as Soviet surrogate forces in the Angolan and
Mozambiquean wars of independence against Por-
tugal, and'in the Eritrean and Ethiopian-Somalian
border wars in the Horn of Africa. Since then Cuba
has maintained combat troops in these areas as
'advisers', those in Angola regularly coming into
contact with troops of the South African republic
and the Western-backed UNITA guerrilla organiza-
tion. ln 1983, during the invasion of Grenada by US
armed forces, a number of Cuban military personnel
and militia (together with a handful of Soviet Spets-
naz troops) fought on the side of the Marxist govern-
ment. Other Cuban officers can be found in a num-
ber of nations throughout Af rica and the Middle East
'n
similar 'adv sory' capacities.
The Army
The 25,OO0-strong expeditionary force in Angola
is the largest of these groups of Cuban 'advisers'
and has the status of an army, as has the 5,000-man
force in Ethiopia. The status of a third army is
accorded to the collective grouping of all the other
'advisers'deployed in other countries worldwide. ln
Cuba itself the country is divided into three geog-
raphical areas each garrisoned by an army. These
armies are further subdivided into a differing num-
ber of corps (each assigned a total of three infantry
divisions) plus a tank division and a mechanized
infantry division. The Central and Western Armies
have only one corps each. whilst the Eastern Army
has two. The lsle of Youth is treated as a separate
case and is classified as a distinct corps area with its
own infantry division. Of the 13 infantry divisions
only five are at full strength, whilst the others (and
two of the armoured divisions) require reserve
mobilization to bring them up to f ull strength. There
are also eight independent infantry regiments and
eight independent infantry battalions located
throughout the country in the static-defence role at
strategic posit ons. For deployment on special op-
erations the central army HO at Havana has an air-
borne assault and landing brigade with two regular
paratroop battalions, whilst to support the various
armies in the f ield it can assign one or all of the three
field artillery brigades of the sole artillery division
together with surface-to-surf ace mlssile battalions.
A f ull listing of units of regimental or smaller size
includes:
35 regu lar and 24 reserve infantry regiments,
eight independent regular nfantry battalions,
two regularand one reserve paratroop battalions,
''l
2 armoured and mechanized cavalry regiments,
1 0 independent armolred reconnaissance
battalions,
five regular and eight reserve motorized
reconnaissance battalions.
1B regular and nine reserve artillery regiments,
four regular and 1 9 reserve air-defence rgiments,
and
'1
0 engineer battalions.
Almost all the weaponry used by the Cuban
armed forces is of Soviet or Eastern block origin. A
full list of the army's weapons includes:
Armour: lS-3 heavytank (reserve); T-34l85, T-54,
T-55, T-62, f -12andf -14 MBTs; PT-76light
amphibious tanks; BRDM-1 and BRDM-2 armoured
cars; and BTR-40, BTR-60, BTR-'1 52 and BMP-'1
APCs;
Artillery: (towed) 75-mm {2.95-in) M 1 16 pack
howitzer, 76-mm (3-in) M 1 942 gun, BS-mm (3.35-in)
D-44gun, B5-mm SD-44gun, 122-mm (4.8-in)D-14
gun,'1 22-mm M1931/7gun, 122-mm D-30
howitzer, 122-mm M 1 938 howitzer, 1 30-mm (5.1-
in) M46 gun, 152-mm (6-in) M 1937 gun/howitzer,
'1
52-mm D-1 howitzer, l52-mm D-20 gun/howitzer,
M
:9*.1 i'
? effort to train and equip the Cuban forces. Here a
Cuba has the highest annual defence expenditure
in theCaribbean and CentralAmerica (f,150
million, I 984-5). The navy is the smallest of the
services but is well funded and quite efficient;
older Sovietvessels like this PG fast attack $aft arc
now being replaced by more modern ships,
p ar ti cul ar Iy s u bm ar ine s.
and 180-mm (7 09-in) S-23 gun;
(self-propelled)SU-100 SP gun (reserve and static
role);
(mortars) B2-mm (3.2-in) M41 , B2-mm M43,120-
mm (4 7-in) M3B and 1 60-mm (6.3-in) M43;
(MRLs) 122-mm BM-21, 140-mm (5 5-in) BM-l4
and 240-mm (9.45-in) BM-24; and
(SSMs) FROG-a and FROG-7 ;
Anti-armourweapons: RPG-2 and RPG-7 rocket-
launchers; 73-mm (2.87-in) SPG-g, B2-mm B 'l 0 and
107-mm (4.2-in) B-1 1 recoilless rif les; 'Sagger' and
'Snapper'ATGWs; and 57-mm M1943, B5-mm D-
48 and 1 00-mm (3.9-in) T-1 2 anti-tank guns;
Air-defence weapons : (towed) 1 2.7-mm (0.5-in)
M53, 14.5-mm (0.57-in) ZPU-l ,2and4,23-mm
ZU-23,30-mm M53,37-mm M1939, 57-mm 5-60,
B5-mm KS-12 and '1 00-mm KS-19 guns;
(self-propelled) 14.5-mm twin BTR-152, 23-mm
ZSU-23-4,30-mm twin BTR-60 and 57-mm ZSU-57-
2 guns; and
(SAM ) 54-6 'Gainf u l', SA-7 'Grail' and SA-9 'Gaskin';
and
Smallarms: 9-mm CZ23 and 9-mm CZ25 SMGs;
7 .62-mm CZvz52,l .62-mm AK-47 and 7.62-mm
AKM rifles; 7.62-mm PK,7.62-mm RPK,7.62-mm
RP-46,7.62-mm DPM and 12.7-mm DShK MGs.
ln addition to the standing army of 130,000 there
are some 135,000 ready reservists, a proportion of
whom serve in the army for 45 days per year at any
one time to f ill out the units already mentioned. For
internal police and security work there is the 15,000-
man state security service, which is backed during
times of tension by the '100,OO0-strong youth labour
army, the 1 00,000-strong civil defence force and the
1.2 million-strong territorial militia.
The Navy
The naval importance of Cuba, which lies close to
or astride strategic shipping routes into the USA
Tle USSR js rea dy to defend its African allies down
to the last Cuban, and so makes considerable
Cuban frigate, one of the Soviet 'Koni' class,
exercises with (left to right)Leningrad, Ivan Bubnov
and an 'Udaloy' class destroyer during the Soviet
23rd Naval Task Force's viiit in I 984.
Armed Forces of the World
The main strength of the Cuban air force is its
interceptorlfighter-bomber force of about 200
MiG-2ls butanumber of MiG-l7s are still
operational, flying in close support of the army.
from Europe and Latin America, has been recog-
nized only recently by the USSR, which is gradually
modernizing the Cuban navy as a result. The maior
offensive capability has been switched from the
small surface fleet to a new submarine arm, which
came into being only in '1 979. With a single 'Whis-
key' class tralnlng and alongside battery-recharging
boat and three brand new'Foxtrot' class units (plus
up to three more expected), the Cubans have a
much underrated minelaylng and special forces
covert delivery capability, well within striking dis-
tance of many lucrative targets in the continental
USA.
The su rface f leet itself is divided into three f lotillas
corresponding to the army's military regions. The
only large units are two Soviet-built 'Konl' class fri-
gates, which are used in the ASW role and as HO
ships for the light forces. These latter comprise
eight 'Osa l' and 13 'Osa ll' craft equipped with
SS-N-2A/B 'Styx' misslles, nine 'Turya' class torpe-
do attack hydrofolls, and an ageing force of five
'Komar' class missile craft. plus eight'P6' and five
'P$' class fast attack torpedo boats.
There are also 2-/ 'Zhuk' class patrol boats for
coastal surveillance duties, and a limited coastal
ASW capability is provided by six old 'SO1' large
patrol craft, whilst defensive mine warfare is the
province of three 'Sonya' class coastal minehunters/
minesweepers and 12 'Yevgenya' class inshore
minesweepers.
A limited amphibious warfare lift capability is pro-
vided by two 'Polnochny-B' class LSMs and six'T4'
class LCMs used by the 550-strong battalion of
]esembarco del Granma (naval infantry).
-"e r3lv also mans a number of coast-defence
-- -: :-*:: :, -.^ 122-rrrr M1931 7 and 130-mm
V Qn*>
M46 guns, 52-mm M1937 gun/howitzers and
'1
some 50 SSC-28 'Samlet'anti-ship cruise missiles.
At present the SSM batteries appear to be inactive.
A surveying fleet of 15 ships and launches also
doubles in the intelligence-gathering role as re-
quired. Support ships and auxiliaries are kept to a
minimum; only 15 are in service, the largest being a
5,000-ton tralning ship.
The Air Force
Of all the Cuban armed forces posing a danger to
the CONUS in a general war scenario, the one most
likely to cause signif icant damage is the 1 8,000-man
Defensa Anti-Aer6a y Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria
(DAAFAR), the Cuban air force. Territorially orga-
nized along the lines of the army into three air zones
with an extensive electronic air-warning system, the
air force is one of the best equipped and most
efficient in Latin America. The main strength lies in
its interceptor/fighter-bomber force of 200 aircraft in
16 squadrons: two are equipped with the clear-
weather Mikoyan-Gurevich'Fishbed-C', three with
the limited all-weather MiG-21 'Fishbed-F', twowith
the multi-purpose MIG-21 'Fishbed-J', eight with
the multi-role MIG-21 'Fishbed-L/N' and one with
the N/iG-23 'Flogger-E'. For support of the army in
the field there are some 50 fighter/ground-attack
alrcraft in four squadrons: one with the MiG-17
'Fresco-C' and the others with the MiG-23 'Flogger-
F'. None of these aircraft are nuclear-capable,
although Cuba's airfields could be used for post-
strike recovery or staging areas for Soviet long-
range nuclear-capable bombers such as the Tupolev
Tu-95 'Bear' and Tu-22MlTu-26 'Backfire'.
There is also a single helicopter gunship squadron
with some / 8 examples of the Mil Mi-24 'Hind-D'.
Many Cuban helicopter pilots have gained oper-
ational experience on the type in African conflicts.
An air assault squadron f lies a f urther 20 armed M i-B
'Hip-Fs', whilst normal rotary-wing transport and
liaison duties are performed by six squadrons flying
Cuba E=
-
some 14 Mi-4'Hound-A', 16 Mi-1 7'Hlp-H',20 Mi-8
'Hip-C', six Mi-2'Hoplite'and 15 Mi-1 'Hare'helicop-
ters. A naval co-operation and ASW element is also
evident, f lying some 14 Mr14'Haze-A' helicopters
principally on patrols around the joint SovieVCuban
submarine base at Cienfuegos.
The air force is also responsible for Cuba's sur-
face-to-air missile defences, and as such operates
some 24 sites equipped with SA-2 'Guidelines'and
'1
2 sites with SA-3'Goas'. Delivery of newer missile
models to improve area coverage is believed immi-
nent, although these models are thought not to
include the long-range SA-5 'Gammon' as a result of
the political implications of such a move.
Fixed-wing transport and parachute assaults with-
in Cuba and its nearest neighbours (including the
USA) are the responsibility of four squadrons equip-
ped with some 30 Antonov An-2 'Colt', 16 llyushin
ll14 'Crarc' , 20 An-24 'Coke' , 22 An-26 'Curl' and
four Yakovlev Yak-40 'Codling' aircraft. For delivery
of heavy equiment and support of the overseas
'armies', the air force has to rely on the Soviet air
force, Aeroflot and Cubana, the last being the Cuban
national airline (which flies 10 ll-62 'Classic', five
Tu-'l 54 'Careless' andtwo ll-76MO 'Candid' trans-
ports).
All aircrew training is performed in the Western
Air Zone, and is carried out by a mixed f leet of about
302'rn326,20 MiG-1 sUTl, 10 MiG-21U, two MiG-
23U, 15 Aero L-39, five An-2 and six ll-14 aircraft.
It is possible that more modern equipment, such
as additional MiG-23 'Flogger E/Fs' and Sukhoi Su-
25 'Frogfoot' ground-attack aircraft, together with
the export version of the Sukhoi Su-20122'Fitre(
tactical f ighter family, may well be imported to Cuba
in the near future to replace the older combat types
in its inventory. The effect of such deliveries on the
USA remain a matter of conjecture. though it is
worth remembering that the Americans already
hold Cuba to be responsible for most of the political
unrest in the region.