Karabiner-S, East German SKS (long post and pics)

[bumthum]

Hind sight...  Think of how much money all of those SKSs would be worth on the U.S. market.

[KneeBarEm]

Hind sight...  Think of how much money all of those SKSs would be worth on the U.S. market.

I think I can safely safe that if I had been in the NVA or the VOPO or in any sort of position of moderate power in East Germany in late 1989, with the end clearly in sight by November, I would have taken several truck loads worth of stuff, or several warehouses [if I could manage it] and stored it away in anticipation of being able to sell it in short order.

When you're in such a country and it is collapsing before your eyes, it is an open intivation to take any and all government property, especially weapons, because most of it will be destroyed by disarmament do-gooders or outraged mobs. Look at all of the books and decorations destroyed in Romania and East Germany by mobs. In East German mobs stormed the Stasi HQ and ransacked the place, mostly destroying. In Romania they destroyed most of Ceaușescu personal office possessions, his library, etc, when they stormed the central committee building. There's no reason to let his personal books and office decorations fall victim to the rage of the mob, such things should be taken and sold to collectors or preserved for a museum.

I find it somewhat odd that there aren't large numbers of the DDR-Karabiner-S floating around available for sale. Those NVA personnel had to know their careers were coming to an end, the Stasi definitely had to know that, and the Border Troops certainly knew it. You would have thought that some of them would have worked out a retirement plan involving taking hundreds of rifles from a warehouse and moving them away until they could arrange the sale.

Towards the end, when they disarmed the Kampfgruppen, there were so many weapons that had to be stored that they ran out of room and had to store many outside, and with so many personnel having deserted they had officers doing guard duty simply standing around watching over thousands of rifles stored outside.

[bumthum]

My guess would be that there probably are still some EG weapons left over in the former East Germany.  The West Germans did fill up some old depots with weapons and, while much of it was sold off or destroyed, I have been told (albeit very much 4th or 5th person) that some warehouses remain on government installations.  What things might be stored, I really don't know, but plenty of brand new condition EG equipment shows up from time to time in the U.S. (even these days) and a lot of EG equipment shows up, brand new in box, in various corners of the world on a fairly regular basis.  I think after they dumped so many weapons and equipment on Turkey and the Balkans in the early-mid 1990s that they sort of pulled back their efforts and now it only trickles out as it is re-discovered and disposed of.  Perhaps we will see Karabiner-S rifles at some point from somewhere, I doubt from any country in the EU, but who knows.

[martin08]

I acquired an East German stock out of Germany, via Norway, to the U.S.

Even in 2009, decades after the collapse, the former E.German munitions factory worker (former officer in the army) was very hesitant to make the sale, and even more tight-lipped on any information about the munitions factory or arsenals.

Why so reluctant?  Long and ingrained fear.  After all these years, still fear that he and his family might just disappear if word about his information sharing fell upon the wrong ears.

So, even if pickings or Karabiner-S's might have appeared ripe, there was still enough clout from fear of the iron fist to deter any large scale looting of arms.  The fear endures to this day.

[bumthum]

Good point, it's also important to point out that to this day the lives of many rural people in the former East Germany haven't improved that much so their outlook on things may not have changed as much as say the people in East Berlin.  Infrastructure is still weak in what used to be the DDR and many military facilities were simply shuttered, secured, and left alone by the reunified government.  As far as some there are concerned, the DDR might as well still exist.  I think that leads to a lot of the tight lips, hesitation, and fear that still persists all of these years later.

[MykeD]

That Tula is beautiful!!!

[bumthum]

Here is another photo of what I suspect to be a Karabiner-S in the field, again it is in service with the Grenzpolizei (Border Police):


Here is the original caption translated into english:

From the private collection of our customers Hr. Lischke, come these 3 photos of members of the German border police. Noteworthy here is the sole way of carrying Amöbentarnhose or Flächentarnhose for K2 uniform. Presumably to protect their cloth pants, attacked the soldiers back to this wearing style and so braved the mud. The similarities with photos of German troops from the 2nd World War are already striking, if not for the G5 or guarantor in the background. A beautiful specimen photo for a special way of wearing old uniforms for the friends of old NVA technology to the next military vehicle meeting! Photos private! Courtesy of the owner!