Combat sinkings of warships destroyer-sized or larger after WWII were not many, even fewer in the later Cold War period, and as such are usually well-known and documented.
Egypt’s WWII-vintage destroyer ENS el-Qaher is by contrast, barely studied and almost completely forgotten today.
(ENS el-Qaher, formerly the British HMS Myngs of WWII.)
(Israeli air force F-4 Phantom IIs.)
(The wreck of ENS el-Qaher.)
When I began wwiiafterwwii almost seven years ago, this was one of the first subjects I intended to cover. At that time Iraq was still a current topic, and I thought it would be easy to document the 98k’s history there.
As it turns out, the WWII German 98k in Iraq is complex and full of caveats; poorly-covered by substantive sources. So it took a tad bit longer than planned to complete. Hopefully this subject is still of interest.
(A 98k rifle captured by the US Marine Corps during the post-2003 occupation.)
(A heavily-modified Mauser rifle captured by American troops.) (photo via Silah Report)
(A 98k manufactured by Mauser Werke in 1940. This was a WWII German, post-WWII Czechoslovak-refurbished, then ex-East German gun – an indirect route not uncommon for Iraqi 98ks. The jeem marking on the receiver and barrel is Iraq’s property marking.) (photo via gunboards online forum)
The M4 Sherman was the main American tank type of WWII. After the war, it saw additional combat worldwide – first as a tank in its original WWII form, then in following decades through various upgrades, and in rebuilt form for non-tank uses.
One of the more remarkable of the latter was the Kilshon, an Israeli system to destroy the radars controlling and guiding enemy surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
(US Army M4 Sherman tank in action during WWII.)
(The Israeli Kilshon ARM launch vehicle, which used a WWII Sherman as the lower portion.)
Sadly the military history of Lebanon will, at least for the near future, be dominated by the horrible 1970s – 1980s civil war. The country did have military history prior to that, including WWII-era warplanes in its early air force.
(Lebanese air force Harvard, the RAF’s name for WWII lend-leased T-6 Texan trainers.)
(Lebanese air force SM.79 bomber. The country was the last in the world to fly this WWII Italian warplane.)
Since starting wwiiafterwwii, I have wanted to do something on this topic but was unsure how to approach it. I am interested in how WWII weapons performed in battle against Cold War replacements. But also, it is fascinating to consider how they ended up where they did after WWII……how did a Garand built to fight Imperial Japan end up in the Somali desert in the 1970s, or how did a Waffen-SS sturmgewehr end up in 21st century Damascus?
(An ex-Wehrmacht NbW 42 Nebelwerfer with Interarms markings in the 1960s.)
The ongoing Syrian civil war, which began in March 2011, is of course dominated by Cold War-era (and even 21st century) weapons, however, there is an astonishing mix of WWII gear – both Axis and Allied – in use. Some of these weapons had previously not seen combat for decades.
(Syrian rebel with a WWII German StG-44 assault rifle.)
(Yugoslav-made M18/43F, a copy of the WWII German leFH 18M howitzer, in action with Jaish al-Fatah rebels.)
(A Syrian rebel with a WWII Mosin-Nagant 91/30 – retrofitted with a modern scope – takes aim in 2014.)
(Rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) distribute WWII French MAS-36 rifles.)
(Syrian government soldier with a WWII Soviet 61-K anti-aircraft gun in October 2015.)
The last appearance by WWII German tanks on the world’s battlefields came in 1967, when Syria’s panzer force faced off against modern Israeli armor. Quite improbably, Syria had assembled it’s collection of ex-Wehrmacht vehicles from a half-dozen sources over a decade and a half timeframe.
(Syrian army Panzer IV tank)
HMS Mendip, a British WWII destroyer, served in four navies after the war and saw combat in two wars, including being captured on the high seas, certainly a rarity in the modern era.
(HMS Mendip serving in the Royal Navy during WWII.)
(The former HMS Mendip in Israeli service as INS Haifa after her capture at sea from the Egyptians.)
The SU-100 was probably the pinnacle of WWII Soviet tank destroyer design. After WWII, it saw extensive service all over the middle east, stretching into the 21st century.
(Soviet army SU-100 in 1944 during WWII.)
(Houthi rebels with a captured Yemeni army SU-100 seventy years later, in 2014.)
The 98k was the most common firearm of Germany during WWII. It was used by all branches of the German military, in all theaters on all fronts, from the start of the war to the very end. It was in production for all of WWII and a total of 14.6 million were built.
After Germany’s surrender in 1945, numerous countries ranging from Norway to Vietnam employed the 98k for varying peiods of time. The most surprising, and one of the most prolific, users of the 98k after WWII was Israel.
(The Karabiner 98K in the form it was issued to the Wehrmacht during WWII.)
(Receiver of an IDF 98k showing WWII waffenamt, or proofmarking, and partially-defaced reichsadler (eagle-holding-swastika) alongside Israeli proofmarks.)
(Perhaps nothing better illustrates the ultimate total failure of nazi ideology than this 1967 photo of an IDF infantryman praying at the Western Wall with a 98k.)
wwiiafterwwii 