The Russians really, seriously, never throw anything away
Throughout history, captured weapons have been recast into trophies by the victors. The historic Vendôme column, ordered in 1803 by Napoleon, was decorated by a series of bronze plaques cast from melted down Austrian cannon captured in his Italian campaign. Likewise, Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square was in turn made from French cannons captured from “The Little Corporal” himself.
The British repeated the gesture after the Crimea by casting the original Victoria’s Crosses from the Tsar’s guns taken in that war.
With that in mind, the Russians picked up some 3 million usable weapons from the Germans in the tail-end of WWII and, taking them back to the Motherland, lovingly cleaned them, packed them in cosmoline, and stored them just in case they were ever needed again. After all, it is 100% cheaper to keep an old gun rather than make a new one.
They gave freighter-loads of them away for generations to hard-working proletariat masses in the various People’s Republics of Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, where they were often encountered during the Cold War and continue to pop up to this day.
MG-42 and three StG-44s, all WWII-era German guns, which were captured by French Gendarmes in Djibouti in 1976
Well, the Russians still apparently have warehouses full of the stuff.
Like Indiana Jones-Lost Ark-storage style government warehouses:
Filled with the most amazing stuff:
And they are going to be culling some to craft the stairs to the Russian state military chapel.
Za raditeley!
More in my column at Guns.com.
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