SEPEWE
SEPEWE was a Polish
The company specialised in both surplus military equipment of World War I vintage and modern weapons produced by Polish factories. Equipment sold ranged from
Name
The full name of the syndicate was "Eksport Przemysłu Obronnego SEPEWE sp. z o.o." - "Export of Arms Industry SEPEWE, Co. Ltd.". The SEPEWE name itself was initially an abbreviation meaning "Arms Industry Export Syndicate" (Polish: Syndykat Eksportu Przemysłu Wojennego), but the full name was rarely used.
History
Although after
The situation changed dramatically after the May Coup d'État of 1926. Already in late May Norwid-Neugebauer met with the industry's representatives to establish possible ways for the Army and the arms producers to cooperate. The new government of Kazimierz Bartel promised to lower the export tariffs, and Polish State Railways tariffs for arms transports, take over the promotion of Polish arms industry and provide the companies with cheap, state-sponsored credits.
Finally on 5 November 1926 the Ministry of Military Affairs signed an agreement with 19 mostly privately held arms industry companies to establish the SEPEWE company.
Clients
At one point or another SEPEWE had representatives in 70 states, with roughly half eventually buying Polish arms. The income of the company made Poland one of the largest arms exporters of the era, though many arms deliveries were paid for with raw materials and other supplies rather than money.[2] The largest clients were:[3]
- Spanish Republic - 180 million złoty
- Greece - 20 million
- Romania - 18,5 million
- Bulgaria - 16 million
- Turkey - 8 million
- Yugoslavia - ca. 7.9 million
- China - 7 million
- United Kingdom - 5 million
- Kingdom of Hejaz - ca. 3.62 million
- Netherlands - 2.5 million
- Estonia - ca. 2.1 million
- Brazil - ca. 1.62 million
- France - ca. 1.5 million
- Palestine - 1.5 million
- Hungary - ca. 1.5 million
Equipment sold
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Although Poland was one of the first signatories of the arms embargo on Spain, the Spanish Republic was one of the largest clients of SEPEWE during the Spanish Civil War. Spain bought, among other types of weaponry:
- over 1700 Ckm wz. 30 machine guns [4]
- 3000 pieces of M1895 Mosin–Nagant rifles (in January 1937, transported aboard SS Cieszyn)[5]
- 25,100 pieces of Polish-made Karabin wz. 98a rifles (between September 1936 and September 1937)[6]
- 2000 pieces of Karabinek wz. 29 carbine[7]
- 2000 to 2600 pieces of ex-German Gewehr 98 rifles from the Erfurt Arsenal (in February 1937)[8]
- 37,400 pieces of ex-French Berthier rifles of various types (in three batches in March and April 1937)[9]
- 10,000 pieces of ex-French Lebel rifles (in December 1936)[5]
- 26,000 pieces of ex-British Lee–Enfield rifles (in October 1936)[5]
- 27,000 pieces of ex-Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher M1895 rifles (in four batches between October 1936 and April 1937)[5]
- 167 MP18 Submachineguns (October 1936)[10]
- 1,481 Bergmann MG15 machineguns (October 1936, the shipment was captured by nationalists)[11]
- 400 .303 Lewis Machineguns (March 1937)[11]
- 233 ex-Paraguayan Vickers Berthier Machineguns (September 1937) [11]
The Polish Army also sold to Spain an unspecified number of other rare types of rifles and carbines, among them
The SEPEWE also supplied arms to the other side of the war, the
References
Citations
- ^ a b Deszczyński & Mazur, pp. 376–377.
- ^ Deszczyński & Mazur, pp. 379.
- ^ Deszczyński & Mazur, p. 378.
- ^ Erenfeicht, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b c d e SBHAC, "Cuadro Resumen…".
- ^ SBHAC, "Fusil Mauser Warszawa M1929…".
- ^ SBHAC, "Mosquetón Mauser Radom M1929 7,92 mm".
- ^ SBHAC, "Carabina Mauser Erfurd 7,92 mm…".
- ^ SBHAC, "Fusil sistema Berthier 8 mm…".
- ^ "República - Armas - Infantería - Subfusiles". www.sbhac.net. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ a b c "República - Armas - Infantería - Subfusiles". www.sbhac.net. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
- ^ SBHAC2, p. 1.
Bibliography
- (in Polish) Marek Piotr Deszczyński; Wojciech Mazur (2004). Na krawędzi ryzyka: eksport polskiego sprzętu wojskowego w okresie międzywojennym [On the Edge of Risk: Polish arms exports in the interbellum]. Warsaw: Neriton. p. 455. ISBN 8388973983.
- (in Polish) Leszek Erenfeicht (2013). CKM wz. 1930. Wielki Leksykon Uzbrojenia. Wrzesień 1939. Vol. 2. Warsaw: Edipresse Polska. p. 63. ISBN 978-83-7769-550-0.
- (in Spanish) "Fusiles y mosquetones de la infantería republicana" [Rifles and carbines of Republican infantry]. Memoria republicana (in Spanish). Sociedad Benéfica de Historiadores Aficionados y Creadores. 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
- (in Spanish) "Artillería de campaña republicana" [Republican field artillery]. Memoria republicana (in Spanish). Sociedad Benéfica de Historiadores Aficionados y Creadores. 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-24.