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Coll 7/5 'Afghanistan: purchase of arms etc. from foreign sources: Germany' [245r] (489/1035)
The record is made up of 1 file (517 folios). It was created in 3 Jul 1931-24 Oct 1939. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
2
He also stated that the Germans were keen
competitors for the order> hut Major Schenk, a German
instructor at the Afghan Senior Officers’ School, rather
gave away the business*
It appears that the Italian guns in the Afghan
Army have a compressed air recoil which depends on
rubber buffers for good working* The Afghans were not
aware of this, and the recoil did not work well. The
guns which Messrs. Skoda are supplying have a spring
recoil, which alone has a weight of 120 Kilos. The
Afghans asked Major Schenk what sort of recoil the
German guns would have, and he replied that they would
have both.
The Afghans then came to the conclusion that he
was not advising them to the best of his ability, and
was merely trying to sell them German guns. They
therefore rejected the German tender, and accepted that
of Messrs. Skoda.
(b) Colonel Benedictov, the Russian Military
Attache at Kabul, in the course of a conversation stated
(A) that the Afghan Government had tried to obtain a
gift of mountain guns from his Government, and when this
att empt failed they asked for tenders for the supply of
the guns with payments on a very extended instalment basis.
He said that negotiations had broken down, and the
Afghan Government had then turned to the Japanese, who
. offered to supply obsolete guns very cheaply. He gave no
indication as to whether he was aware that Messrs. Skoda
had secured a contract for the supply of mountain guns.
About this item
- Content
The file contains correspondence regarding the purchase of weapons and ammunition by the Afghan Government from Germany and other sources. It includes correspondence between Afghan Officials -- the Foreign Minister, the Legations to Paris and London, and the Consulate of Afghanistan in India -- and British Officials, including the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Political Department, HM Minister Kabul (Richard Maconachie), the Foreign Office, the War Office, and HM Ambassador to Berlin (Neville Henderson).
The file opens with correspondence regarding the alleged purchase in 1931 of arms from Germany, in violation of Article 170 of the Treaty of Versailles. It is determined that the arms in question originated in Poland, with funding from the German Government. Later correspondence documents the British decision not to protest against such treaty violations, in light of the obligation on Britain to not interfere with the supply of arms to Afghanistan as agreed in the Anglo-Afghan Treaty (1921).
Arrangements for the purchase, licensing and transport of arms to Afghanistan from Czechoslovakia, Germany, Japan, Spain, the USA, France and Belgium are documented in the file. The principal firms involved in these arrangements are: Škoda Works; Rheinmetall-Borsig AG; Dynamit-Actien-Gesellschaft (vormals Alfred Nobel); and Messrs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited. A number of additional firms are mentioned but not named. The file also contains communications received from the Government of India Central Board of Revenue and the Collector of Customs at Karachi, reporting on the arrival and examination of shipments, the validity of export licences, and the payment of customs dues.
The file includes dividers which give lists of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the end of the correspondence (folios 2-4).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (517 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 517; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2174
- Title
- Coll 7/5 'Afghanistan: purchase of arms etc. from foreign sources: Germany'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:10v, 12r:21v, 23r:23v, 25r:27v, 29r:42v, 44r:60v, 62r:65v, 67r:67v, 69r:74v, 76r:77v, 80r:80v, 82r:145v, 149r:160v, 162r:169v, 171r:174v, 176r:205r, 206r:248v, 250r:254v, 256r:334v, 336r:357v, 359r:370v, 372r:378v, 380r:390v, 392r:394v, 396r:398v, 400r:418v, 420r:420v, 422r:428v, 430r:431v, 433r:443v, 445r:451v, 453r:456v, 458r:462v, 465r:465v, 468r:474v, 476r:481v, 484r:496v, 498r:517v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence