The following article is from the April 1999 issue of the Military Rifle Journal.

Doss White and George Taylor

From the 12th century to the early 1600's parts of Finland were controlled by Sweden and in 1634 the country was incorporated into the Swedish Kingdom. Sweden's decline as a world power awakened Russia's interest in her western neighbor and between 1721 and 1808 Russia seized control of a portion of eastern Finland. In 1808, the Russian Czar Alexander I invaded Finland and in 1909 the country was formally ceded to Russia. (Reference 1)

Although the Imperial Russian Government controlled defense and foreign affairs, Finland's position was not unlike a self-governing colony under the British Empire in the 19th century. However, between 1894 and 1917, a policy of "Russification" was vigorously pursued.

Japan's victory over Russia in 1905, World War I and the Russian Revolution set the stage for Finnish independence, which was declared in December 1917. Surprisingly, the Bolshevik government immediately recognized Finland as an independent state. The Soviets planned for the Finnish government, the Diet, to secure extensive recognition as a nation and then overthrow that government. The result would be that Finland, as a state, would have been recognized by many of the world's powers, and the new Soviet controlled Finnish Worker's Republic would have to be accepted as "de facto" successor to the Diet.

Germany, concerned with the communists control of the Russian governent, aligned herself with the new Finnish state. Throughout 1918 and most of l919 a civil war raged in Finland as the Finnish communists, the "Reds", and Russian Bolsheviks fought the "White" Finns and their German allies in an attempt to establish Finland as a Soviet Republic. The war ended in 1919 with the White forces victorious and Finland as an independent state. (Reference 3)

Regressing a few years to the beginning of "The War to End A11 Wars", World War I, Russia faced a critical shortage of military rifles for her troops. During the 1914-1916 period Russia purchased at least 3.7 million rifles. Among these were approximately 760,000 Type 30, Type 35, and Type 38 Arisakas from Japan and England. England had purchased a large number of Arisakas, one-half million, at the beginning of the War and later sold 128,000 to Russia. It has been reported that many of the Arisakas were issued to troops guarding Russia's borders, including Finland.

Now, returning to Finland's Declaration of Independence in 1917, we find a country that had no "formal" Army. A civil guard was formed which was known as the Organization Suojeluskunta (Protective Corps or Civil Guard, abbreviated Sk.-Org in English or Sk.Y in Finnish.)

Following Finland's victory in the Civil War she held a motley collection of captured ex-Czarist rifles, including several thousand Arisakas.

The Civil Guard, initially an irregular force, became the backbone of the Finnish Army in 1919 - 1920. The Guard continued as a "National Guard"-type organization. The Sk.Y ordnance department, established in 1919 grew into Suojeluskuntain Ase-ja Konepaja Osakeyhtio or "SAKO: Arms & Engineering Department of the Civil Guard."

The Japanese (and other) rifles were stored in Finnish Army depots. During the early period of depot storage at least 24,000 Arisakas, Type 30, 35 and 38's, were collected and the final number was considerably higher. Additional Arisakas, numbering in the thousands, were held by private citizens and never surrendered to the Army.

In 1919 the Finns gave the Estonian freedom fighters 10,000 Japanese rifles. The remaining rifles, excluding about 8,000, were given to the Finnish Civil Guard (Sk.Y) Many, if not all of the Sk.Y rifles were stamped with a large "S" and a four to six digit number on the right side of the butt stock. Some of these rifles have been reported with a sliding floor plate release guard and/or the floor plate release ground flush with the trigger guard sides.

Some of the Type 30 long rifles were modified to carbine configuration. The one picture examined showed the modified carbine with a rifle-length rear sight. It is possible that carbine-type rear sights were added at some later date and the carbines beyond the normal 1-5 digit serial number range are modified rifles. Cut-away instructional models of the Type 30 rifles were fabricated and manuals issued to the Sk.Y troops for the Type 30 and 38's.

The barrels on some of the Sk.Y rifles were in poor shape and in 1923 Sk.Y headquarters ordered 500 6.5 mm Japanese barrels from Schweizerische Industrie Gesellachaft at Neuhausen-am-Rheinfalls in Switzerland. These barrels had a "SJG" in a rectangle stamped on the right side of the chamber. The "J" closely resembled an "I". The chamber top was stamped with a design resembling that shown in Figure I. The first barrels were delivered in 1924 and fitted to selected, reconditioned actions.

In 1926 there were plans to convert the Arisakas to chamber and fire the 7.62 cartridge and an unknown number of prototypes were produced. (It is possible that the "7.62" is in error and the conversions were to 7.92.) However, the project was not pursued. Little is known of the conversion process, although one photograph which shows the side-bottom of the receiver and stock section of a prototype is titled, "Enlarged Magazine of the 7.62 Prototype." A photocopy showing a Type 38 receiver top and titled "Details of the 7.62 Modification" was too dark to note specific details.

In 1928 the decision was made to discontinue the use of the Arisaka. The 8,000 plus Arisakas that remained in Army storage were sold to Albania. Those in use by Sk.Y personnel were recalled by the Ministry of Defense and "sold abroad" in 1934. These included the following:

Type Unknown 500+

Also included in the foreign sales were a large number of bayonets, "spares," and ammunition. Over the years a few hundred Arisakas were donated to the Army depots by Finnish citizens. These were sold to sportsmen, collectors and some were destroyed.

Apparently many of the Arisakas used by the Sk.Y were imported by U.S. arms dealers, either in the 1930's or through a secondary source at a later date. Team Arisaka members have reported 14 Type 30 Arisakas, one Type 35 and one Type 38 with the "S" and four - six digit number stamped in the butt stock. The Type 30s are noted in the following table.

Apparently the different Arisaka models were mixed when the stock numbers were stamped. The Doss White collection has a Type 30 with a S 107270 stock number and a Type 38 with a S 107919 stock number.

Three of the "S" marked rifles in the authors' collections, a Type 30, Type 35, and Type 38 have been converted to 7.92 Mauser caliber. Details of the receiver bottoms on these rifles are shown in Figure 2. Note that a 3/8-inch number has been stamped on the receiver bottom/chamber of all three and the magazine box opening was lengthened a fraction of an inch for the longer 7.92 mm cartridge.

As previously noted, the Germans helped the "White" Finns defeat the "Red" Finns and Russian Bolsheviks in the 1917-1919 Civil War. It is possible that the 7.92 Arisakas were converted in the 1920-1930 period to take advantage of stocks of 7.92 ammunition left by the German allies. The similar receiver bottom numbers suggest that the three conversions were made at the same facility. It has also been theorized that the conversions of the Type 35's were made by the Russians or by Chinese warlords. (Reference 8)

If any readers have information on the Finnish Arisakas, a Type 30, 35 or 38 Arisaka with an "S" and number on the butt stock or any of these three Type rifles converted to 7.62 x 54 or 7.92 Mauser cal., or comments on this article please contact Doss White, aka "Arisaka Fats" 4001 Windermere Dr., Tuscaloosa, AL 35405 tel. 205 556-0086.

Special thanks are extended to International Military Rifle Association member Brian Johnston (SC) for documents containing much of the post-Finnish revolution Arisaka history.

For an additional insight on the Finnish use of the early Arisakas see "Japanese Arisakas in Finnish Service" by Charles Van Buren & Brian Johnston in The Military Rifle Journal, August 1993, Issue 32, pages 132 - 136. This issue can be purchased from BANZAI for $3.00.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

l.Britannica, "Finland", Vol. 4, 1990, p. 783.

2.Macmillion, Harold, The Blast of War, 1939-1945, Macmillion & Co., Ltd. London, 1967, p. 18-19.

3.Jackson, J. Hampden, A Short History of The World Since 1918, Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1939, p. 45.

4.Smith, W.H. S. & J. E. Smith, "USSR'' in the Book of Rifles, The Telegraph Press, Harrisburg, PA., p. 434.

5.Honeycutt, Fred L., Jr. & F. Patt Anthony, Military Rifles of Japan, 1st Ed. Ellison Graphics Corp., Jupiter, FL. 1977, p. 190.

6.Walter, John, "David and Goliath: Sako and the Winter War" in Shooters Bible, 1983, p. 43-44.

7.Palokangus, Markku, Military Small Arms of Finland, 1918-l986, Helsinki, 1991, 3 Vol. (in Finnish with chapter-end English summary translations.)

8.Zielinski, Stanley, "Type 35" in BANZAI, Issue 66, 1987, p.305.