Mosin M44 Carbine is a popular weapon, well known not only to historians, but to collectors. The weapon itself is rather straightforward - a shortened Mosin rifle with a permamently fixed bayonet - not too much to it. But it is still a significant part of the Soviet and later world's arsenal. This carbine is also featured in one of our upcoming books - Soviet Weapons of the Atomic Age, and if we will ever proceed with the book on Second World War Weapons, it will also be presented there.
Development history of Mosin M44
There is not too much to it when it comes to the development history of the Mosin M44 Carbine. As almost every major nation in the 1930s, Soviets started to realise that long infantry Mosin is not only overpowered, but very unhandy for a big chunk of troops - all the rear echelon soldiers or those who did not use the rifle as a primary weapon. First truly Soviet carbine was Mosin M38 and it was used throughout the Second World War.
The Second World War has shown that even infantry does not need a very long rifle - majority of engagements took place in close quarters or at least on limited distances when in the field. The war has also reminded about a century old problem of soldiers loosing their bayonets and something had to be done with it.
By mid war, it was obvious that troops need automatic weapons - either rifles or submachine guns. However, industry could not provide one for every soldiers - the biggest small arms plants were all set to produce Mosin rifles. So, as a "mobilization" option, the M44 Carbine was developed. It was 20cm shorter than the rifle, had a folding bayonet and an iron sight for up to 500 meters - new ballistics barely allowed to hit beyond that range.
Use of M44 Carbine in the Soviet Union
The M44 Mosin Carbine went from the factory floor straight to the newly formed regiments of the Red Army. The frontline units were well equipped at this point and there was no immediate need for new weapons. However, as the Red Army was still following the "fight with numbers, not tactics" principle, new regiments ended up on the frontline pretty quickly. And so did the M44 carbines. The number of photographs from the period is not big, but some can be seen. It can be noted that, just as intended, carbines were used by those who did not need a personal weapon on daily bases. We can assume, that by the time when the Red Army was fighting in Europe, most experienced infantry soldiers already had a Soviet or a captured submachine gun, so even shortened Mosin was not preferable.
The carbine was very short lived in the Soviet Army. The factory where these were produced was repurposed for the newly adapted AK, although a significant number of the M44 carbines was produced in that short period of time.
The Army barely used them - at the very end of the decade the new family of weapons went into production - RPD, SKS and AK. They were the priority, so all the main units started to aquire them very soon. Mosin carbines became obsolete.
However, there were still some units and orginizations that continued to use these weapons. First of all, many very rear echelon units, such as stationary air defence positions, prison guards and train teams were armed with Mosin M44 for quite some time, with individual units carrying them around in the 1980s. Civilian and semi-civilian organisations, such as "Armed Security" or geologists groups used them all the way and they still have it in the armouries today.
In conflicts around the world
Mosin M44 became outdated for the Soviet Army in the 1950s, thanks to prominent capacity of the Soviet post-war industry. The Army was well armed with powerful, automatic weapons. Same cannot be said for the allies of the Soviet Union. Many new communist states were armed with a collection of everything, usually leftovers from the Second World War. Their enemies were usually underarmed as well, so any help was welcomed. This is where large stock of Mosin rifles and carbines went to.
With first stop benig communist China and, by extend, North Korea, Soviet Union dropped enormous amounts of outdated weapons to Asia. They have resurfaced again during the Vietnam War and were used both by NVA and by Vietcong. However, the history of M44 generally stops there. While these carbines still appear in various conflicts, like during the collapse of the USSR, they are obviosuly outdated and are never a voluntury choice for a modern warrior.