SVT-40 - SVTs Outside of The Soviet Union

SVTs Outside of The Soviet Union

The first country outside the Soviet Union to employ the SVT was Finland, which captured some 4,000 SVT-38s during the Winter War, and over 15,000 SVTs during the Continuation War. The SVT saw extensive use in Finnish hands, though malfunctions and breakages were common due to different Finnish ammunition and often an incorrectly adjusted gas recoil system. Germany and other Axis countries captured hundreds of thousands of SVTs from the Eastern Front (World War II). As the Germans were short of self-loading rifles themselves, the SVT (designated as G.259(r) by the Wehrmacht) saw widespread use in German hands against their former owners. The Germans issued their own operating manual for the SVT. Study of the SVT's gas-operated action also aided in the development of the German Gewehr 43 rifle.