Chiang Kai-shek Rifle - Service History

Service History

The weapon served as one of the main battle rifles for the Chinese National Revolutionary Army (NRA). Like the Karabiner 98k, it was a shortened and lightened version of the Gewehr 98, to be specific, a copy of the Oberndorf Export Mauser named Standard Modell of 1933, which was sold to China in some quantities and provided to Chiang's best troops before the Germans provided the tooling to make the Type 24 in China. The quality of the weapon varied from arsenal to arsenal, but all German made Standard Modells of 1933 or 1934 pattern were first rate except for some 98k Mausers factory rejects which China bought after the Wehrmacht refused them. Some Chinese-made Type 24s were of excellent quality while others were crudely made. Although it entered service in 1935, China's limited industrial capacity meant that it was built in relatively low numbers. As the war progressed, however, China's industry in western cities like Chongqing and Kunming allowed more and more of these rifles to be produced. Production was largely unaffected during the Bombing of Chongqing because many of the machines had been moved underground. Roughly speaking, during the war, the rifle was only used by the non-German trained units of the Central Chinese Military, which was the core of the NRA. The German-trained units used a very similar weapon, the Mauser Model 98k Carbine. By the 1950s, the Type Zhongzheng rifle was phased out in favour of American aid equipment, such as the M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and Thompson submachine gun for the Nationalists.

The major advantage of the Type Zhongzheng over the Arisaka was that it had better stopping power with the use of 8mm Mauser rounds; the rifle also had a better rate of fire and a greater range than the Arisaka. The weapon was shorter, (similar in length to the Karabiner 98k) when compared with the Gewehr 98 and the Arisaka Type 38.

A total of between 500,000 and 600,000 weapons were produced between 1935 and 1945. The rifle saw its last war in the hands of the People's Volunteer Army against UN forces during the Korean War.

Together with the Mauser C96 handgun and the M35 Helmet, these weapons have become recognisable features of Chiang Kai-Shek's National Revolutionary Army and the Chinese army during China's turbulent early 20th century. In an ironic twist, the rifle, although named after Chiang Kai-Shek and used by his Nationalists, was also used by the Communists during the Chinese Civil war.

Sergeant Tung Chih Yeh claimed to have shot and killed over 100 Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) soldiers using a Chiang Kai-Shek rifle with and without a scope in the Yangtze area.

The rifle can have a HY1935 bayonet attached, replacing the cumbersome, yet deadly, Dadao (a type of slashing sword). Some divisions and guerrilla militias who did not receive any modern weapons continued using the dadao for close combat.

The Chinese People's Militia (the forerunner of the People's Armed Police) and smaller local paramilitaries were using Chiang Kai-Shek rifles (as well as Arisakas and Mosin-Nagants) up until 1980 before it become a supplemental ceremonial weapon (the main ceremonial rifle is the SKS), for the People's Liberation Army to the present day. Many of these rifles (along with other PLA and People's Militia small arms) were used by various Red Guard factions during the Cultural Revolution in the mid/late 1960s.