Israeli Weapons- 1948

THE PILGRIM · Oct 4, 2017

During their war for Independence, the Israelis used a wide array of weapons, basically anything they could get their hands on.
Just the other day I ran across one particular weapon which I certainly think is the very weirdest.
That would be the Mexican Mondragon 75mm field Gun.
It was designed by Mexican General Mondragon, who also designed a Semi-Auto Rifle. It was built in France.
It’s wood wheels make it easy to spot in photos.
The Israelis called it ‘ Cucaracha .’
Cockroach!

Saint-Chamond-Mondrag'on - Wikipedia

DWalt · Oct 4, 2017

The most common Israeli small arms used during that period was the 8mm Mauser 98K. The Israelis had pretty good contacts in the illicit small arms trade in many countries, and were very proficient in smuggling weapons of all kinds into Israel. Most of them came in from, or through, Czechoslovakia, as the Czechs had access to huge stockpiles of captured WWII German weaponry.

pmanton · Oct 5, 2017

DWalt said:
The most common Israeli small arms used during that period was the 8mm Mauser 98K. The Israelis had pretty good contacts in the illicit small arms trade in many countries, and were very proficient in smuggling weapons of all kinds into Israel. Most of them came in from, or through, Czechoslovakia, as the Czechs had access to huge stockpiles of captured WWII German weaponry.

I had a re-purposed 98K in .308. The Nazi firing proofs were peened out and the Star of David was present.

Sadly I let it go.

THE PILGRIM · Oct 5, 2017

My old buddy Frank, who flew the helo across NE South America -
Flew for an CIA funded operation during the 1948 Israeli War.
He flew commercial to Rome, was bussed to a nearby Air Base.
They mounted up in C-47s and flew to Czechoslovakia.
Loaded up with arms and then flew to Israel.
Then mostly flew freight from Cyprus and other nearby locales into Israel.
When he came home, he was flown back to Rome.
Got on a plane and flew back to NYC.
His passport clearly shows he spent time in Italy.

DWalt · Oct 5, 2017

"The Nazi firing proofs were peened out and the Star of David was present."
There stories that the Israeli Army did this as a matter of policy, but there was no "official" Israeli policy requiring defacement of Waffenamt stampings on weapons, and many Israeli small arms still have the German stampings intact. Of course, there was nothing to prevent an individual Israeli soldier from doing this if he wished.

Israeli Weapons- 1948

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