In our country, when it comes to the eight-eight rifle, it is estimated that few people know it, but if you talk about "old sleeve, made in Hanyang", it is almost a household name! In the history textbooks of middle and high school, as long as it talks about modern Chinese history, this rifle must be mentioned. It can be said that this rifle has witnessed the entire process of the entire Chinese nation from sinking to rejuvenation. The official name of this famous Chinese "Made in Hanyang" is the "eight-eight rifle", and this rifle is also the first breech-loading bolt-action rifle that can be independently produced in Chinese history. It is produced in the arsenal, so it is also commonly called "made in Hanyang".
In many historical records in the past, the author always refers to "Made in Hanyang" as "Chinese imitation of German Mauser rifle", but in fact "Hanyang" "Made" has nothing to do with Mauser rifles. "Hanyang made" is the German 1888 committee rifle (referred to as Gew 88). The 1886 Lebel rifle equipped by the French Army in 1886 attracted the attention of Germany. The new French Lebel rifle is the world's first bolt-action rifle that uses smokeless powder and breech loading. Due to the use of new smokeless gunpowder as the propellant, this new French rifle uses 8mm caliber rifle ammunition, which is far better than the black powder used by the German Mauser 71/84 rifle in terms of range and power, which makes the French army Occupy a great advantage in the frontal confrontation with the German army. For this reason, the German military industry department quickly launched a new 1888 committee rifle after combining the design features of the Austrian "M1888 Manlisha". If there is any connection between the gun and Mauser, it is probably just that the bolt of the gun uses the bolt of the improved Mannrich rifle, and this bolt has a little Mauser flavor.
is called "Committee Rifle" because in addition to Mauser, Germany has also established a "Rifle Test Committee" (GPK for short). The main task is to deal with the pressure brought by the French Lebel rifle to the German army. In order to keep up with the progress, GPK directly adopted the structure of the Austrian Mannrich rifle, only slightly modified. The barrel rifling and so on directly reference the design of the French Lebel rifle, and at the same time, a wooden full gun sheath is designed outside the barrel (so later China's imitation of "Hanyang made" is also called "old sleeve", which is From this sheath-author's note). The bullet is a 7.92 mm bottomless bottleneck bullet designed in Switzerland. The new rifle was tested in the field in November 1888. In December, the Kaiser placed a production order and named it Gew88. The following year, the first batch of Gew88 began to be equipped with the German army.
However, after the installation of the German army, the gun quickly exposed many defects, the most important of which is the bombing. Because the new smokeless gunpowder has a higher chamber pressure than the old black powder, the barrel with the old design sometimes cannot withstand the huge chamber pressure and cause the chamber to explode. At the same time, the gun also had a series of problems such as difficulty in loading and unreliable shell extraction, which led to great opinions within the German army. In particular, the manufacturer of the gun, Ludwig-Roy, is a Jewish company. In the wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism throughout Europe, people who have troubles simply referred to Gew88 as the "Jewish rifle" (Judenflinte). , So that the German folk media could not sit still, and jumped out to complain about the German government "Why not buy Mauser rifles?"
as the first German launch using smokeless gunpowder It is understandable that the rifle has some birth defects in its design. However, public opinion could not accept this kind of rhetoric. In addition, because it was not popular with the military, after being equipped with the 1898 rifle developed by Mauser, Gew88 was quickly launched into active service. However, it was still kept as a reserve material until the end of World War II. Not only that, the German government also sold the design of the gun to Turkey, China and some countries in Africa, so that the gun has been used worldwide. It is precisely because Gew88 came to China to settle down, that he has the famous "Hanyang-made" rifle.
Like many so-called "German sticks" today, as early as the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Chinese at that time had an obsessive worship of "Made in Germany". So when the German businessman introduced Gew88 to the Qing government, the latter accepted the rifle almost without thinking. However, in the process of selling to China, the German businessman still used a little trick: the German businessman who sold the gun to the Qing government called the gun "Mauser 1888" rifle, in order to promote the gun to Chinese officials The superior performance. At that time, both the conservative Qing government rulers and the "Westernization faction" who were determined to reform were extremely superstitious in German weapons. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to 1895, the two armored cruisers Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ordered by the Qing government from Germany, although their speed was not as fast as that of Japan’s newest "Mitsui Ship" at the time, their skin was rough and thick. Although they were violently shelled by Japanese ships, But still come and go freely. After occupying Weihaiwei, the Japanese army inspected the captured "Zhenyuan" and found that although the ship was hit with nearly a thousand rounds, none of them could penetrate the thick armor of the ship. "Made in Germany" thus became a major issue in China. Mythology, there are still many people who still believe in it to this day, but this is something later.
At that time, the officials of the "Westernization faction" in Manchu and Qing Dynasty heard that it was a "Mauser rifle" and hardly knew much about it, so they bought all the technology of the Gew88 rifle. Information and drawings. In 1896, the Hanyang Arsenal founded by Zhang Zhidong began to formally imitate the Gew88 rifle, which was named "Hanyang Eight-Eight Rifle" by the Qing government. By 1899, the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing General Bureau founded by Li Hongzhang also began to produce 88 rifles. In 1907, the Qing government began to organize and train the new army, and reorganized the national army into thirty-six towns. Note) Two towns are set up in Hubei. The weapons equipped by the new army in these two towns are all 88 rifles produced by the Hanyang Arsenal.
At about 8 p.m. on October 10, 1911 (August 19th of the lunar calendar), the eighth town of the Hubei New Army, gunshots were heard inside the engineering unit barracks. The famous "Wuchang Uprising" kicked off. On the night of the uprising, the insurgents joined forces inside and outside. Without resistance, they occupied the Chuwangtai Armory and seized more than 20,000 German, Japanese and Hanyang rifles, with countless ammunition. On the 11th, the new army stationed in Hanyang responded to the new army in Wuchang. The rebel army immediately took control of the Hanyang arsenal. Not only did it receive more than 3,000 workers from the factory that day, it also controlled the arsenal warehouse. It seized 7000 rifles, 5 million rounds of ammunition, and 150 mountain cannons. Door, 6000 rounds of shells. The factory workers also spontaneously organized production and fully supported the Wuchang Uprising.
The Wuchang Uprising overthrew China's 2,000-year-old feudal monarchy and ushered in a new era of republic. This is also the first "big event" witnessed by "Hanyang Manufacturing" in China. After the establishment of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek officially introduced the German Mauser 1898 rifle in 1935, and planned to replace it with the poorly reliable "Made in Hanyang". However, with the full outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan two years later, the most developed areas of China, such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang, were quickly occupied by the Japanese army. The Chinese arsenals were too late to adjust production. Therefore, during the entire Anti-Japanese War, "Made in Hanyang" was still made in China. The core force.
Although "Made in Hanyang" has continued many defects of the original Gew88 rifle, in production, China's ordnance department has also made a few modifications to it to improve its reliability . And throughout the War of Resistance Against Japan, although China was poor and weak at that time, in the field of rifle performance, "Made in Hanyang" was one of the very few equipment that could be used. This is because in the World War II era, the technology was not developed enough, so to increase the lethality of the bullet, it was necessary to increase the design caliber, and in this way to enhance the power of the projectile. As an island country, Japan is extremely poor in various resources, and even the design and production of rifles reveals a strong "poor sour" atmosphere. Take the 38-type rifle with the largest number of Japanese military equipment in World War II asFor example, the 38-type rifle has a caliber of only 6.5 mm, which is the smallest rifle in World War II. Although the gun has high shooting accuracy, it is not powerful because of its small caliber. At that time, there was a saying: "Fight against the little devil, go back and raise it for two days and come back to sweep; fight against the Japanese soldiers, rest for two days and continue to fight against the Japanese." The 38-type rifle is too weak.
At that time, the United Kingdom usually used 7.7mm bullets, while the US and the Soviet Union mostly used 7.62mm bullets. The 7.92mm "Made in Hanyang" was the largest caliber rifle at the time. Big caliber means great power. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the devils who were hit by Hanyang usually lacked arms or legs. Because the "Hanyang-made" has a large caliber and great power, the limbs can only be amputated if they hit the limbs. If it hits the human torso, it will basically die forever. It is precisely because of the great power of "Made in Hanyang" that until the Korean War in 1950, many of our troops were still using this gun. Until 1956, after our army switched to Soviet-style weapons on a large scale, "Made in Hanyang" was still used as reserve equipment for the police and militia reserve, serving in China's paramilitary system for many years.
From 1896 to the discontinuation of production in 1944, to the Korean War, and finally "retreated to the second line", this original design is not outstanding, and there are various Rifles with various problems have been in China for more than half a century. They have witnessed the end of China’s 2,000 years of feudal dynasty, have witnessed the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and have witnessed the young new China defeating the world’s No. 1 with its blood and will. The powerful Korean War. It can be said that this loyal veteran is an indispensable silent witness for the entire modern Chinese history.
