Machodoc
Old Guy
Sino-Soviet-Albanian SKS & History (More Photos Added)
I'm going to try to keep this brief, but understand that I've done a lot of writing in my career, type very quickly, and long posts don't take me that long--unless I'm doing research and citing it. The first part of this is about the "Sino-Soviet" label for the batch of rifles that have come into the US from Albania this year. The second part is a bit of historical background that gives us some clues about their history.
"Sino-Soviet" means, of course, some joint activity between China and the former Soviet Union. The two neighboring powers have historically had a tense and mistrusting relationship between them, but there was a period of time in the mid-1950s when they tried to establish detente as "fellow travelers" in Communism. It didn't last long.
One of the efforts to work together harmoniously took place in 1956. The Soviets had just abandoned their SKS rifle design in favor of the AK-47. The SKS, still a great rifle and more accurate than the AK, seemed well-suited to the needs of the Chinese soldier. Whether the Soviets gave their manufacturing equipment to the Chinese, or sold it to them, isn't clear. What is clear is that the SKS manufacturing equipment, and probably some spare parts, were transferred in 1956 from the famed Soviet Tula factory to China's equally-famed Jianshe Arsenal--which was designated as factory 26.
The Soviets also sent technicians along to train the Chinese workers in the skills needed to produce these rifles. How long the Soviet techs remained there, or what influence they had on how the newly-manufactured rifles were marked is unclear, but they may not have stayed very long.
What is clear is that the earliest of the 1956 (thus, "Type 56") Chinese-made SKS rifles were marked with a short serial number that was preceded with a Cyrillic-script letter. Then, to the right of the serial number, was a triangle containing the number "26" (for the Jianshe arsenal). There's some speculation that the very earliest production rifles, the ones with the Cyrillic letter prefix in the serial number, may have been made with Soviet spare parts. Others conjecture that the Russian techs directed the Chinese worker to put the letter prefix there, and when the techs left, the Chinese workers dropped the use of a letter prefix.
Whatever the reason, the prefix wasn't used for long, and is generally accepted to mean that the rifle is a very early 1956 SKS. The remainder of the 1956 run can be identified by a 6-digit, or less, serial number without a letter prefix. With or without the letter prefix, the serial numbers were followed by the Jianshe number-26-in-a-triangle mark. This marking scheme continued through 1960, when Chinese characters meaning "Type 56 carbine" were added, and the positions of the serial number relative to the triangle, etc., was changed.
After about 1960, things get complicated with Chinese SKS markings. More factories are developed, rifles are made for export, as well as for domestic military use, etc. There's a wealth of info available on these later changes, but a good place to start is with http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=26665 For now, we're just interested in the 1956-60 Jianshe rifles.
Which are the actual "Sino-Soviet" firearms? That depends on who defines them. The purists claim that they are only the earliest ones having a letter prefix in the serial number. I'd argue that the term probably should cover all of the 1956-60 rifles manufactured while the Chinese and the Soviets were attempting to maintain a formal spirit of detente, and that those very early rifles with the letter prefix deserve some extra classification within the larger series. Perhaps, "Russian-marked Sino-Soviet," or something like that.
In any case, after 1956, the serial numbers took on a 7-digit format, with the first number supposedly designating the year of manufacture. By this, we mean that if you add the first (millions) number to 1956, you get the year of manufacture, so a one-million series number was made in 1957, a two-million series serial number made in 1958, and so on. (I'll note here that I'd personally like to see evidence of more 1-million serial numbers before I put full faith in this. They seem to be rather uncommon.)
So ... however we define this 1956-60 series of rifles, and what may have been done with them in their first years, some number of them were transferred to Albania by the early 1970s.
Why Albania?
To answer this question, the starting point is to look for information about Albania's long-time Communist leader, Enver Hoxha. Go ahead an "Wiki" his name, and you'll find the long version there. It's a good read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha
I'm just going to put a brief summary here, and also include some tantalizing facts about his rule--facts that give us a clue as to where these rifles have spent the last decades.
First, Hoxha was a devout Communist who was always in search of the purist form of Communism. Whether he was a tyrant or a fellow-worker-leader isn't up to me to decide, but it's clearly evident that he was the absolute leader of the country for many years. Albania was Hoxha, and vice-versa. Just as with Chairman Mao in China, and Stalin in Russia, Hoxha's words and image were omnipresent.
Hoxha played well with other Communist countries, and received assistance from both the Soviets and China. In return, Hoxha shared one of his country's most precious resouces--chromium. They were one of the few countries having a substantial supply of this metal, and there's a good chance that the chrome used to line the barrels of the Chinese SKS rifles originated in Albania. Apparently already cozy, relations between China and Albania were formalized with the signing of "The 1964 Sino-Albanian Joint Statement" ... in 1964, of course! This probably led the way for a further exchange of goods and resources, and the transfer of Chinese SKS rifles to Albania probably stemmed from this agreement.
"Both [Albania and China] hold that the relations between socialist countries are international relations of a new type. Relations between socialist countries, big or small, economically more developed or less developed, must be based on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and must also be based on the principles of mutual assistance in accordance with proletarian internationalism. It is necessary to oppose great-nation chauvinism and national egoism in relations between socialist countries. It is absolutely impermissible to impose the will of one country upon another, or to impair the independence, sovereignty and interests of the people, of a fraternal country on the pretext of 'aid' or 'international division of labour."
Let's jump now to a bit about the Albanian military infrastructure under Hoxha. As I posted here a couple of weeks back, a large dealer in these weapons shared with me his understanding that these had been "stored in a cave [in Albania]" for many years. That sounded like it might have been a little bit far-fetched, at first, but consider these bits of info from the Wiki site:
"Hoxha's legacy also included a complex of 750,000 one-man concrete bunkers across a country of 3 million inhabitants, to act as look-outs and gun emplacements along with chemical weapons. The bunkers were built strong and mobile, with the intention that they could be easily placed by a crane or a helicopter in a previously dug hole. The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes, beach bunkers, to naval underground facilities, and even Air Force Mountain and underground bunkers."
This probably explains the "caves" in which these recent Albanian imports were stored for so many years. It may also be that soldiers who manned the smaller bunkers were issued these rifles. It's going to be fun seeing what further research uncovers about them.
I'm going to try to keep this brief, but understand that I've done a lot of writing in my career, type very quickly, and long posts don't take me that long--unless I'm doing research and citing it. The first part of this is about the "Sino-Soviet" label for the batch of rifles that have come into the US from Albania this year. The second part is a bit of historical background that gives us some clues about their history.
"Sino-Soviet" means, of course, some joint activity between China and the former Soviet Union. The two neighboring powers have historically had a tense and mistrusting relationship between them, but there was a period of time in the mid-1950s when they tried to establish detente as "fellow travelers" in Communism. It didn't last long.
One of the efforts to work together harmoniously took place in 1956. The Soviets had just abandoned their SKS rifle design in favor of the AK-47. The SKS, still a great rifle and more accurate than the AK, seemed well-suited to the needs of the Chinese soldier. Whether the Soviets gave their manufacturing equipment to the Chinese, or sold it to them, isn't clear. What is clear is that the SKS manufacturing equipment, and probably some spare parts, were transferred in 1956 from the famed Soviet Tula factory to China's equally-famed Jianshe Arsenal--which was designated as factory 26.
The Soviets also sent technicians along to train the Chinese workers in the skills needed to produce these rifles. How long the Soviet techs remained there, or what influence they had on how the newly-manufactured rifles were marked is unclear, but they may not have stayed very long.
What is clear is that the earliest of the 1956 (thus, "Type 56") Chinese-made SKS rifles were marked with a short serial number that was preceded with a Cyrillic-script letter. Then, to the right of the serial number, was a triangle containing the number "26" (for the Jianshe arsenal). There's some speculation that the very earliest production rifles, the ones with the Cyrillic letter prefix in the serial number, may have been made with Soviet spare parts. Others conjecture that the Russian techs directed the Chinese worker to put the letter prefix there, and when the techs left, the Chinese workers dropped the use of a letter prefix.
Whatever the reason, the prefix wasn't used for long, and is generally accepted to mean that the rifle is a very early 1956 SKS. The remainder of the 1956 run can be identified by a 6-digit, or less, serial number without a letter prefix. With or without the letter prefix, the serial numbers were followed by the Jianshe number-26-in-a-triangle mark. This marking scheme continued through 1960, when Chinese characters meaning "Type 56 carbine" were added, and the positions of the serial number relative to the triangle, etc., was changed.
After about 1960, things get complicated with Chinese SKS markings. More factories are developed, rifles are made for export, as well as for domestic military use, etc. There's a wealth of info available on these later changes, but a good place to start is with http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=26665 For now, we're just interested in the 1956-60 Jianshe rifles.
Which are the actual "Sino-Soviet" firearms? That depends on who defines them. The purists claim that they are only the earliest ones having a letter prefix in the serial number. I'd argue that the term probably should cover all of the 1956-60 rifles manufactured while the Chinese and the Soviets were attempting to maintain a formal spirit of detente, and that those very early rifles with the letter prefix deserve some extra classification within the larger series. Perhaps, "Russian-marked Sino-Soviet," or something like that.
In any case, after 1956, the serial numbers took on a 7-digit format, with the first number supposedly designating the year of manufacture. By this, we mean that if you add the first (millions) number to 1956, you get the year of manufacture, so a one-million series number was made in 1957, a two-million series serial number made in 1958, and so on. (I'll note here that I'd personally like to see evidence of more 1-million serial numbers before I put full faith in this. They seem to be rather uncommon.)
So ... however we define this 1956-60 series of rifles, and what may have been done with them in their first years, some number of them were transferred to Albania by the early 1970s.
Why Albania?
To answer this question, the starting point is to look for information about Albania's long-time Communist leader, Enver Hoxha. Go ahead an "Wiki" his name, and you'll find the long version there. It's a good read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Hoxha
I'm just going to put a brief summary here, and also include some tantalizing facts about his rule--facts that give us a clue as to where these rifles have spent the last decades.
First, Hoxha was a devout Communist who was always in search of the purist form of Communism. Whether he was a tyrant or a fellow-worker-leader isn't up to me to decide, but it's clearly evident that he was the absolute leader of the country for many years. Albania was Hoxha, and vice-versa. Just as with Chairman Mao in China, and Stalin in Russia, Hoxha's words and image were omnipresent.
Hoxha played well with other Communist countries, and received assistance from both the Soviets and China. In return, Hoxha shared one of his country's most precious resouces--chromium. They were one of the few countries having a substantial supply of this metal, and there's a good chance that the chrome used to line the barrels of the Chinese SKS rifles originated in Albania. Apparently already cozy, relations between China and Albania were formalized with the signing of "The 1964 Sino-Albanian Joint Statement" ... in 1964, of course! This probably led the way for a further exchange of goods and resources, and the transfer of Chinese SKS rifles to Albania probably stemmed from this agreement.
"Both [Albania and China] hold that the relations between socialist countries are international relations of a new type. Relations between socialist countries, big or small, economically more developed or less developed, must be based on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and must also be based on the principles of mutual assistance in accordance with proletarian internationalism. It is necessary to oppose great-nation chauvinism and national egoism in relations between socialist countries. It is absolutely impermissible to impose the will of one country upon another, or to impair the independence, sovereignty and interests of the people, of a fraternal country on the pretext of 'aid' or 'international division of labour."
Let's jump now to a bit about the Albanian military infrastructure under Hoxha. As I posted here a couple of weeks back, a large dealer in these weapons shared with me his understanding that these had been "stored in a cave [in Albania]" for many years. That sounded like it might have been a little bit far-fetched, at first, but consider these bits of info from the Wiki site:
"Hoxha's legacy also included a complex of 750,000 one-man concrete bunkers across a country of 3 million inhabitants, to act as look-outs and gun emplacements along with chemical weapons. The bunkers were built strong and mobile, with the intention that they could be easily placed by a crane or a helicopter in a previously dug hole. The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes, beach bunkers, to naval underground facilities, and even Air Force Mountain and underground bunkers."
This probably explains the "caves" in which these recent Albanian imports were stored for so many years. It may also be that soldiers who manned the smaller bunkers were issued these rifles. It's going to be fun seeing what further research uncovers about them.
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