List of World War II infantry weapons

This is a list of World War II infantry weapons.

Kingdom of Albania

In 1939 Albanian Kingdom got invaded by Italy and became Italian protectorate of Albania that participated in Greco-Italian War in 1940 under Italian command. After Italian armistice in 1943 German military forces entered Albania and it came under German occupation. Albanian troops were mostly equipped by Italians, Albanian partisans used weapons from various sources.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Australia

The Second Australian Imperial Force that served in Mediterranean and Middle East and Pacific theatre

Two Australian soldiers equipped with Owen submachine guns

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Belgium

Before being conquered by Germany The Belgian Army used their own equipment up to 1940. Free Belgian forces were equipped by UK, however colonial troops of Force Publique in East Africa had to use outdated weaponry.

Edged weapons

  • M1924 bayonet

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light machine guns

Medium machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades

  • O.F. grenade
  • Mills bomb (used by Free Belgian forces)

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Brazil

The Brazilian Expeditionary Force, under US command, served in Italy from 1944.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light machine guns

Medium machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades

Anti-tank weapons

Kingdom of Bulgaria

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Grenade launcher

Grenades

State of Burma

The State of Burma was a puppet government set up by Japanese after they occupied Burma in 1942. It lasted from 1943 to March 1945 when the Burma National Army revolted and joined the allies.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Canada

Weaponry used by Canadian Army that fought on the side of the Allies

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

During the Second World War Canada produced grenades types with Numbers 36 and from 67 to 89.[52]

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons and explosives

Republic of China

A Chinese Nationalist Army soldier equipped with a ZB vz. 26 and a German M1935 helmet. Before the war broke out, China sought support from, and often traded with Germany and relied on both military and economical support.

Weapons used by the National Revolutionary Army, as well as Communist forces and Chinese warlords. Chinese Forces also received a large amount of equipment from Lend-Lease during Burma campaign.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

  • SIG M1920 (Locally produced copy with a downward facing magazine known as the Tsing Dao Submachine Gun)[68]
  • MP 34[69]
  • PPD-40 (Received as aid from Soviet Union)
  • Thompson submachine gun (American Lend-Lease and local production)[70][71]
  • M3 submachine gun (Lend-Leased to the National Revolutionary Army, along with the Thompson, to replace the outdated Chinese copies of the MP 18 and MP 28 submachine guns used during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the early years of the Chinese Civil War)
  • United Defense M42 (American Lend-Lease and local production)
  • Sten submachine gun (Received Canadian Mk II Stens)[7]

Rifles

Light machine guns

Medium machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades and grenade dischargers

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Independent State of Croatia

Independent State of Croatia was a puppet-state established in 1941 after fall of Yugoslavia. Croatian Legion and Light Transport Brigade served on Eastern Front under German and Italian commands.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Automatic rifles

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakian soldiers with a ZB vz. 26 and a ZB vz. 24

Weaponry used by Czechoslovak armies in exile that served under British and Soviet commands. For weapons used and produced in interwar period by First and Second Czechoslovak Republic see list below.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Anti-tank weapons

Grenades

  • Granát vz.34 (Interwar)[109]

Mortars

Denmark

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Shotguns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Ethiopian Empire

Ethiopian Empire was defeated by Italy in Second Italo-Ethiopian War and became Italian Ethiopia from 1937. Ethiopians continued a guerrilla war as the Arbegnoch until British forces took Italian Ethiopia in 1941 as part of the East African campaign

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Republic of Finland

Weaponry used by Finnish Defence Forces during Winter War, Continuation War and Lapland War.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Automatic and battle rifles

Light Machine guns

Heavy Machine guns

Grenades

Flamethrowers

Anti-tank weapons

French 3rd Republic

Weaponry used by French Army up to 1940 and by French Liberation Army.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

German Reich

German paratrooper carrying a MG 42

In addition to the weapons listed here, German armed forces also used a wide variety of weapons captured from defeated enemies.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Foreign weapons produced under occupation

Submachine guns

  • MP 38/MP 40 (Standard-issued SMG of the German army)[27][220][221][222]
  • MP 28 (Used by police and occupation forces)[27][44]
  • Erma EMP-35 (Mainly issued to Waffen-SS and police. In early war issued to reserve troops to fill shortages of MP38)[27][170][223]
  • MP35
  • MP41 (Combination of an MP-28 stock and the rest of an MP-40. Used by Waffen-SS and police)[27]
  • MP 3008 (Also known as Volks-MP.3008, Gerät Neumünster and Gerät Potsdam. Copies of the Sten, used by the Volkssturm)[27][7]
  • Suomi KP/-31 - Finnish produced weapon bought from Finland, some captured from other countries.
  • PPD-40 (Captured from Soviets as "MP 715(r)")[27]
  • PPSh-41 (Captured from Soviets as "MP 717(r)". Some of them were rebarreled for 9x19mm Parabellum and designated as "MP-41(r)")[27][224][225]

Foreign weapons produced under occupation

Automatic rifles

Rifles

Foreign weapons produced under occupation

Sniper rifles

Machine guns

  • MG 13 Light machine gun (Fairly limited usage by early war second-line troops, by the Volkssturm, main machine gun of the Pzkpfw I light tank and as anti-aircraft weapon. Replaced by the MG 34. Still used till the end of the war)[246][247]
  • MG 34 General-purpose machine gun (German army main fire support weapon until superseded by the MG 42 because of ease of manufacture and high fire rate, still used after.)[246][248][249][250]
  • MG 42 General-purpose machine gun (Main fire support weapon of the German army after 1942-1943 after replacing MG 34)[246][248][251][252]
  • Bergmann MG 15nA machine gun used by volkssturm
  • MG 08 (Limited)
  • MG 35-36A "Knorr-Bremse" (Limited usage by Waffen-SS from 1943)[246][253][254]
  • Browning wz. 1928 (Captured from Poland and designated as "MG 28(p)")[246]
  • Breda M30 (Used by Afrika Korps. Designated as "MG 099(i)")[246]
  • Breda M37 (Seized from Italians after Armsitice and used on Italian front. Designated as "MG 259(i)")[246]
  • Mitrailleur M.20 (Captured from Netherland, designated as "MG 100(h)")[246]

Foreign weapons produced under occupation

Grenades and grenade launchers

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Anti-aircraft rocket launcher

Guided explosive weapons

Kingdom of Greece

Weaponry used by Hellenic Army during World War II. After World War I Greece received a large quantities of French weaponry. After fall of Greece elements of the Greek Armed Forces that managed to escape to the British-controlled Middle East formed Greek Armed Forces in the Middle East, these forces were reequipped by UK. Partisans and resistance movement used weapons from various sources but mainly used captured Italian and German weapons from Greco-Italian War and German invasion of Greece, they were also supplied by UK and OSS.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light machine guns

Medium machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Kingdom of Hungary

Weaponry used by Royal Hungarian Army that fought on the side of the Axis powers

Edged Weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

  • 5 cm Granatwerfer 36 (Supplied by Germany)
  • 39 M. 5 cm gránátvető (5 cm 39.M grenade launcher)[352]
  • 36 M. és 36/39 M. 8 cm aknavető (Hungarian 81 mm 36.M & 36/39M medium mortars)[352]
  • 43 M. 12cm aknavető (Hungarian 120 mm 43.M mortar based on captured Soviet M1943 Mortar)[352]

Anti-tank weapons

British Raj

The British Indian Army under UK command.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Imperial State of Iran

Weapons used by Imperial State of Iran during Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Kingdom of Iraq

Weapons used by Kingdom of Iraq during Anglo-Iraqi War in 1941

Sidearms

Rifles

Machine guns

Kingdom of Italy

Weaponry of Royal Italian Army up to 1943 and National Republican Army from 1943.

Edged weapons

  • M1891 sciabola baionetta (Sword bayonet)[362]
  • M1891/38 pugnale baionetta (Dagger bayonet)
  • M1939 pugnale (Dagger)

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light machine guns

Medium machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Japanese Empire

Weaponry used by Imperial Japanese Armed Forces during World War II. Japan officially joined the conflict in 1941 but was still involved in Second Sino-Japanese War.

Japanese soldiers with a Type 92 machine gun during the 1941 Battle of Changsha

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Semi-automatic rifles

  • Pedersen rifle (Estimated use in the Philippines at the end of war. Purchased during the 30s)[405]

Rifles

Light Machine guns

Heavy Machine guns

Grenades

Grenade dischargers

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Guided explosive weapons

  • I-Go (Remote-controlled explosive machine)

Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Anti-tank weapons

Manchukuo

The Manchukuo Imperial Army served under Japanese Command in Second Sino-Japanese War and during Invasion of Manchuria in 1945.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light Machine guns

Heavy Machine guns

Grenade dischargers

Mengjiang

The Inner Mongolian Army served under Japanese Command in Second Sino-Japanese War and during Invasion of Manchuria in 1945.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Mongolian People's Republic

The Mongolian People's Army, under Soviet Command, served in Manchuria in 1945 and in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in 1939

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Netherlands

The weaponry used by Royal Netherlands Army up to 1940 and colonial troops of Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) up 1942. After occupation Dutch government continued in exile. Free Dutch Forces were equipped by Western Allies - Mainly British Commonwealth.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Light Machine guns

Medium Machine guns

Heavy Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

New Zealand

The 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force that served in Africa, Mediterranean and Pacific theatre

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Norway

Weapons used by Norwegian Army during the Norwegian campaign in 1940. Norwegian resistance movement used weapons from various sources, Commandos primarily used British equipment. Norwegian police troops in Sweden were recruited from refugees and trained in secret camps by Swedish military and used Swedish equipment, they originally intended to help maintain order in a post-war Norway however they partially participated in Liberation of Finnmark

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Commonwealth of the Philippines

Weaponry used by Philippine Army in Commonwealth period. Philippine Army mainly used the old American equipment from Philippine–American War. In 1941 Philippine Army was placed under command of USAFFE.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Shotguns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Anti-tank weapon

Flamethrowers

2nd Polish Republic

Polish infantry marching with their rifles

Before Germany conquered Poland the Polish army was chiefly equipped with weapons of its own making. After the German and Soviet occupation, the Polish government continued in exile. Polish armed forces in the West were equipped by the Western Allies, principally the UK and those formed in the East under the USSR were equipped with Soviet equipment, Polish Army in France was equipped with French equipment. Within occupied Poland the Polish resistance forces were equipped with weapons from many sources.

Edged weapons

  • Bagnet wz.1898/05 (Bayonet acquired by Poland after WWI, used on Kb.wz.98)
  • Bagnet karabinowy wz.24 & wz.27 [pl] (Bayonet for all Polish Mauser Rifles and Carbines and modified Mosin Carbine)
  • Bagnet karabinowy wz.28 & wz.29 [pl] (Bayonet for Kb.wz.98 and Kbk.wz.29)

Sidearms

Submachine gun

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Grenade launchers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Kingdom of Romania

Romania joined the Axis Powers in 1940 and the Romanian Royal Army fought on that side until August 1944. After a coup d'état in August 1944 Romania fought alongside the USSR against Germany and Hungary.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

First Slovak Republic

Weaponry of First Slovak Republic participating in the conflict from 1939 to 1944 on the side of Axis powers.

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Rifles

Submachine guns

Light machine guns

Heavy machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa serving under UK command. Served in Africa and Italy.

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Soviet Union

Weaponry used by Red Army during World War II.

Edged weapons

Handguns

Submachine guns

Automatic rifles

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Grenade launchers

  • Dyakonoff grenade launcher [ru] (Attachment on the M91/30 rifle only)
  • VPGS-41 Rifle Grenade (Rifle Grenade mounted on Mosin Nagant Model 1891/30)
  • Schiessbecher (Captured from Germans. Rifle Grenade mounted on Kar98k)[584]

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Thailand

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Grenade dischargers

Anti-tank weapons

United Kingdom (including colonies)

British soldiers at Tobruk, equipped with Thompson submachine guns and Lee-Enfield rifles

Edged weapons

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Rifles

Sniper rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Obstacle clearing explosive charges

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

United States of America

A U.S. Marine armed with a M1 carbine
Two U.S. soldiers with M1 Garand rifles

Blade weapons

Sidearms

Shotguns

Commonly used by the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific theater, limited use in Europe.

Submachine guns

  • Thompson submachine gun (Standard-issued SMG of the US army, various variants used by Army and Marine Corps)[455][631]
  • M3 'Grease Gun' (M3 variant was the main variant used during the war. Introduced as low cost replacement for Thompson, but never completely replaced it.)[631]
  • M50/M55 Reising (Used used by USMC 1941–1943 in the Pacific, and supplied as Lend-Lease to USSR and other countries)[44]
  • United Defense M42 (supplied to resistance and partisan groups, also issued to some OSS members, but not in great quantities.)

Automatic Rifles

Rifles

Sniper rifles

Machine guns

Grenades

Grenade launchers

Obstacle clearing explosive charges

Flamethrowers

Mortars

Anti-tank weapons

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

Sidearms

Submachine guns

Automatic rifles

Rifles

Light Machine guns

Medium Machine guns

Heavy Machine guns

Grenades

Mortars

Flamethrowers

Anti-tank weapons

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • David Miller. (2003). "The illustrated directory of 20th-century guns". Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint. ISBN 9780760315606.
  • James H. Willbanks. (2004). "Machine guns: An illustrated history of their impact". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851094806.
  • Jeff Kinard. (2004). "Pistols: An illustrated history of their impact". Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1851094709.
  • John Walterll. (2006)."The rifle story: An illustrated history from 1756 to the present day". Norwalk, Connecticut: MBI Publishing company. ISBN 9781853676901.
  • Robert W.D. Ball. (2011). "Mauser military rifles of the world". Iola, Wisconsin: New York City, New York: F+W Media, Inc. ISBN 9781440228803.
  • Wayne Zwoll. (2003). "Bolt action rifles". Iola, Wisconsin: Krause publications. ISBN 1440224064.