"From 6th to 26th of December 1940, the Artillery Department of the Army performed a check of technical condition, storage, and safety of their inventory...
...135th infantry division: the condition of the weapons is unsatisfactory, aside from the 791st regiment. 13-40% of the weapons require repairs...The storage conditions and maintenance are unsatisfactory, 10%-79% of rifles have pitting in the barrels. The commission was shown rifles and revolvers with rust in the barrels: 497th regiment: 8 rifles, 3 revolvers. 791st regiment: 6 rifles, 1 DP, 11 Nagants. 276th regiment: 23 revolvers. 119th brigade: 28 rifles, two Nagants.
There are, sadly, commanders like Jr.Lt. XXX from the 791st regiment whose unit only has 6 rifles, and, when inspected, all were rusted, as was his personal Nagant revolver, which had three empty casings in the drum. The lieutenant claims he did not clean it since he last fired it 3 months ago.
Lubrication is often done improperly. External parts are thickly lubricated, while the barrels remain dry, or lightly oiled. Gas systems of DP, DT, and SVT-38s are frequently improperly cleaned...
...In October, a junior commander of the 9th company, 497th regiment, comrade YYY left rifle #VD 6486 (1939) in the city of Kovel outside of a washroom, and when he returned, it was not there. The fact that the rifle was missing was only discovered in December of 1940 by this commission. Cook ZZZ lost rifle #LE 3483 (1938), nobody knows where and when.
The division lost 70% of their cleaning tools and materials. Political chief comrade NNN moved a sniper rifle and a Nagant revolver to another unit without any documents. 497th regiment lost 3000 rubles worth of inventory. None of these facts were investigated, and the commander of the 497th regiment did not report them to anyone.
Inventory of armament and ammunition is maintained in a discretionary fashion. Inventory in warehouses of the division is absent. The division's inventory does not match that of its units. The biggest difference is in the 497th regiment (18 rifles, 1 revolver, 1 ammunition crate, 34703 rifle rounds, 148 76 mm shells, 1410 TT rounds.
...
January 14th, 1941
...The division has rusted weapons. The first battery has 7 rifles with rusted barrels..from the 30 inspected revolvers, 13 were rusty. Personal weapons of Lieutenants XXX, YYY, ZZZ, and starshina NNN were also rusty.
February 28th, 1941
During inspection, the following had rust in the barrels, on external parts, or had dirt and scum, debris, or even hay and oats: 1019 rifles, 381 Nagant revolvers, 24 DP machine guns, 13 Maxim machine guns, 15 50 mm mortars, 4 120 mm mortars."
CAMD RF 326-5109-12
With the super corrosive ammunition that the red army used. This is not a surprise. In my mosin rifles if not properly cleaned within hours of firing of surplus Soviet ammunition rust will already start to form in the barrel. Same thing for my TT pistol. I have seen badly pitted and rusted bores aplenty from this ammo. This is part of the reason I took up reloading of my own ammunition. So I can have non corrosive ammunition that does not require me to be so diligent with cleaning promptly after firing.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I shoot an M44 and even with a chrome bore you
ReplyDeletemust always be careful very careful. It's easy to make fun
of Jr.Lt. XXX but fighting the rust monster is never ending.