If you are at least a little interested in the history of the Russian army, then you can probably remember at least a couple of samples of foreign weapons. The first machine gun that comes to mind is the Maxim machine gun, someone may remember the Lewis, this also includes the English Vickers tanks. But the Arisaka, a Japanese-made rifle, is not known to everyone. Nevertheless, these weapons played an important role in the formation of modern Russian statehood.
How it all began
In 1914, the Imperial Army quickly realized that it… simply did not have enough shells, cannons, cartridges and… rifles. The industry in those years was never able to establish the production of the proper amount of individual small arms. The soldiers also played their part: history subtly hinted that the time of huge, but completely untrained armies was finally over.
It is known that one of the Russiansgenerals, going around the positions left by the soldiers (they were afraid of the German offensive) found … several hundred thousand abandoned rifles and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition. And this despite the fact that by the end of 1914 weapons were becoming scarce, the factories simply could not cope with the sharply increased output.
Economic twists and turns
In a word, there was definitely not enough weapons. And then the Tsarist government decided to turn to its yesterday's enemy, Japan. The Japanese Arisaka rifle proved to be excellent during the years of that war. Even the brilliant Fedorov for the first time created his first machine gun in the world under her cartridge. In addition, oddly enough, it was the Japanese who turned out to be much more “generous”, not breaking exorbitant prices for weapons.
However, the Japanese should not be considered altruists: the fact is that initially more than 35 thousand rifles were intended for Mexican soldiers, but the US government gently hinted that the “Mexican order” should by no means be fulfilled. So the Land of the Rising Sun decided to get at least some benefit. One Arisaka rifle, sold under the original contract to Russia, initially cost … 29 rubles. And this despite the fact that domestic factories offered "three-line" at a price of 41 rubles per unit. So the idea looked tempting at first.
First procurement problems
In total, almost four million rifles were purchased during the trading period with Japan. Only the first 35,000 units were delivered just in time. started very soonproblems: Mikado was unwilling to sacrifice the mobilization reserves of his own army. With great difficulty, it was possible to agree on the supply of only 200 thousand units, and the conditions were mocking.
The Japanese used only 100 rounds of ammunition for each rifle. After numerous petitions, it was possible to increase this number … up to 125 charges. A ridiculous stock, especially since all the cartridges were old, with an expired warranty period for storage. They were taken from mobilization warehouses located in Korea at that time.
In the future, there were often deliveries of frankly worn out, old barrels of "very dubious dignity", as they were characterized in the army. But they were also a good help against the background of an extremely sluggish increase in production by the domestic industry. According to the sources of that time, the Arisaka rifle, which is described in the article, was in service with every tenth division. It is not surprising that the army team themselves jokingly called them "Japanese".
China or rifles
Soon, “diplomatic bargaining” broke out around the supplies: Japan at that time put forward the famous “21 demands” to China, practically offering the country complete surrender and recognition of the Japanese occupation government. Initially, Russian diplomats were against such arrogant demands … but the German offensive that had begun in Galicia dictated its own conditions. With the tacit approval of the Tsarist government, China was forced to sign an enslaving treaty.
And only after that Japan took over our country. Inspired by the uncomplaining obedience of the tsar, Japanese diplomats began to put forward "mind-bogglingly arrogant demands", expressed, in particular, in "requests" … to give up the entire Far East in exchange for an unfortunate million rifles. To the credit of the domestic diplomats, who could not stand such impudence, they did not even start negotiations on this. Moreover, a real scolding was arranged for the Japanese attache, after which the trading partner did not put forward such "projects".
Moreover, Japan agreed to the request for the sale of another million weapons. True, by that time each Arisaka rifle was already worth 32-35 rubles. But it was still cheaper than domestic models. In addition, the Japanese began to supply normal modern-style cartridges.
Interestingly, the Japanese "model 30" bayonet for the Arisaka rifle was, in fact, a slightly shortened dagger. Since domestic "Mosinok" traditionally had needle bayonets, soldiers armed with "foreign" weapons can be easily recognized in any photo of that period.
Overseas intermediaries
The fate of 60,000 Arisaks, originally sold by the Japanese to England, is also curious. The "Mistress of the Seas" by that time also found herself in a difficult situation, despite the full power of her metallurgical plants. But every "English" Arisaka rifle ended up in Russian arsenals anyway. The fact is that by the end of 1915, the Germans again stepped up their offensive, as a result of which the British government, extremely frightened by this fact, decided to "plug the Teutonic breakthrough with a Russian avalanche." Rifles went to ourcountry.
Thus, by February 1917, a huge number of weapons and even more cartridges for them were purchased. But it should be understood that the “Japanese Arisaka rifle” is not at all a single model. Seven (!) of its various modifications were delivered to our country in succession, which created countless problems for the already overwhelmed suppliers. Interestingly, the last 150,000 Arisaks were purchased literally on the eve of the October Revolution.
But after Lenin's speech about "Peace and Land", the history of "Japanese women" in the service of the Russian army was far from over. It can be said that in the future both Red and White Guard units fought with them. And the reviews on the practical use of this weapon varied greatly, regardless of who they came from. But still, most of its "users" agreed that the Arisaka rifle (the photo of which is in the article) is a high-quality and reliable weapon. Note that the Japanese "kept the mark" until 1944, when, due to serious economic problems, the quality of weapons produced fell sharply.
By the way, what is the proportion of used rifles in parts of the opposing sides during the Civil War? Here the information varies greatly. It is known that some units subordinate directly to Kolchak were armed with them almost without exception. But the number of "Arisaks" in the Red Army in some periods reached 1/3 of the total number of individual small arms they used.
Gunsmiths also saythat the well-known Latvian riflemen were mostly armed with Arisaks. So the role of these rifles in the history of our country is very large.
What did the soldiers think about the Arisaki?
Miscellaneous. And it depended, as a rule, on the technical level of the fighter himself, the level of his education, the type of rifle. If the “Japanese Arisaka rifle” was new, then there were practically no complaints in her direction. At the same time, it is known that the old carbines had an unpleasant property, expressed in the “sticking” of the shutter. Again, this is hardly the fault of the rifles themselves: most likely, the fighters themselves are to blame for not cleaning their personal weapons for months.
Recent Uses
After the Civil War, the Arisaka type 30 rifle was in service with many countries. Especially a lot of these weapons were in the newly-minted Finland and Estonia, where the "Japanese" almost without exception were armed with border services.
In 1941, "Arisaki" in the execution of the mobilization plan was sometimes issued to the militias and rear units, but they were not widely used. In the USSR, the production of weapons was put on stream, and therefore its shortage was not so acutely felt. It is possible that somewhere in the domestic arsenals there are still remnants of these rarities. It is known that the last batch of mothballed Arisak was sent for remelting by the Ukrainian Armed Forces back in 1993.
General technical information
Both in Japan itself and in our country, two types of these rifles were the most common:"Type 30" (the very first variety) and "Type 99". They differed in caliber. If the old “thirty” used a 6.5x50 cartridge of various modifications for firing, then for the “Type 99” a separate ammunition of increased power was developed - 7.7x58. Most likely, the caliber, unusual for the Japanese, was borrowed from the British with their Lee-Enfield.
In addition, in our country, until the very end of the use of this weapon, the Arisaka type 38 rifle was encountered. This is the second modification, the time of its development dates back to the beginning of the 1900s of the last century.
As for the technical characteristics, these rifles are quite typical examples of weapons of their time, which had some distinctive features. The bore is locked by a sliding rotary bolt. The latter had two combat ledges. Initially, Colonel Arisaka, who was the chief designer of this weapon, wanted a design with three lugs, but production realities and the need to reduce the cost of the rifle led to some simplification of its design.
Other features
There was a spring-loaded ejector on the front of the bolt stem. Since all the cartridges used by Arisakami had rims (like the domestic 7, 62x54), a reflector (cut-off) was attached inside the receiver, on its left side.
The buttstock, the stock for the receiver and the lining on the barrel were made of wood. As a rule, they initially tried to use walnut for this, but in 1944-1945, when the economic situation of Japan at war was greatly shaken, manufacturersI had to switch to the cheapest types of wood, and in some cases the butt was made from low-grade plywood.
The shutter knob is interesting: it is very large, in its cross section it resembles a chicken egg. The choice of this form was due to the fact that in the tests it proved to be the most convenient. Interestingly, the mainspring was located inside the tubular part of the drummer, as a result of which it is perfectly protected from dust, moisture and dirt. This is the reason for the high reliability of weapons, which both domestic and foreign soldiers have repeatedly spoken about.
Again, because of this feature, the spring was more sensitive to contamination with powder deposits (the same "sticking" that we mentioned above). But still, to bring the weapon into such a state, it was necessary to "try" without cleaning for a very long time.
By the way, Arisaki had a special cover-casing to protect the shutter from contamination. But its practical significance was extremely small: the lid constantly rattled, created a lot of problems when carrying (there was a risk of losing it), and therefore many soldiers preferred to remove this part and put it in their pouches before the battle.
Protection against accidental shots
What else characterizes "Arisaka" (rifle)? "Button"-fuse - a very characteristic feature of this weapon. The mechanism of its action is interesting. To activate the safety when the shutter was cocked, it was necessary to press the "button" with a corrugated texture, located on the backside of the shutter, and then turn it clockwise. At the same time, the protrusions cut on the sleeve reliably blocked the firing pin, preventing it from hitting the primer.
The striker was put into combat position automatically, when the shutter was cocked. Charging was carried out with the shutter open. This could be done both by one cartridge and by five, using special clips for this purpose.
It is also interesting that this weapon had a slide delay! That is, when the ammunition was used up, the bolt automatically became in its rearmost position, which greatly simplified the process of loading the rifle.
Bayonet fight
As we have already said, the bayonet for the Arisaka rifle was made in the form of an almost full-fledged dagger. There are cases when such bayonets were used by our soldiers throughout the Great Patriotic War. The choice of the Japanese was not accidental: the concept of needle bayonets and baguettes, which guided domestic weapon designers, was already very outdated by that time.
On the contrary, it was very important for the soldiers to have a full-fledged knife with them, which could be used not only in battle, but in the daily arrangement of the camp. Due to the fact that the bayonet for the Arisaka rifle was made of high quality steel, it was very popular with soldiers on both sides of the front. In particular, many American veterans have in their "repositories" a knife from "Arisaki", which was much more convenient and better than the American model.
And what are Japanese soldiers armed with today? An assault weapon is an individual small armsArisaka rifle. She, like her numerous predecessors, is distinguished by high reliability and original technical solutions used in the design.
It so happened that weapons made in the factories and plants of Japan, with which the Russian Empire fought shortly before, served a significant role in military operations against Kaiser's Germany, and then in the formation of Soviet power.
