Foreign Military Assistance
and the
  U.S. M1 & M2 Carbines

The data in the table below is restricted to the original WWII U.S. Ordnance contract carbines the United States provided to other countries. The sources for each line of data are indicated in the column to the far right of that data. An explanation of each source is indicated at the bottom of the chart. The exact number of carbines provided worldwide will probably never be known, for a variety of reasons.

Sources that do not provide a reliable source for their data have been excluded from this chart.

Carbines obtained via a loan were to be returned to the U.S. Dept. of Defense and U.S. inventory whereupon some were likely provided to yet another nation. Many of these countries have sold, traded, destroyed, and/or donated these carbines to other countries and/or private gun brokers.

Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Angola 1974 12,215 12,215 12,215 CIA(1) Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Argentina 1963 12,621 FMS 12,621 12,621 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Austria 1951-1963 12,620 MAP 12,620 12,620 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Bolivia 1964 300 MAP 1965 1 MAP 1966 112 MAP 1968 450 MAP 1969 978 MAP 1969 2,573 MAP 1974 1,500 MAP 1974 2,965 MAP 1964 86 MAP 1965 196 MAP 1969 1,242 MAP 1970 388 MAP 1973 1,100 MAP 1973 520 MAP 1974 552 MAP 1951-1963 321 MAP 8,879 4,084 321 13,284 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source British Empire WWII 25,362 Lend Lease U.K. 1951-1963 175,404 FMS 200,766 200,766 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Burma 1965 10,000 MAP 1951-1963 18,792 MAP 10,000 18,792 28,792 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Canada WWII 3505 Lend Lease 3505 3505 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Chile 1964 256 MAP 1971 1,900 FMS 1951-1963 721 MAP 256 1,900 721 2,877 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source China WWII 1 Lend Lease 1 1 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source China (Taipei) 1968 2,396 MAP 1968 7 MAP 1951-1963 99,000 MAP 1951-1963 539 MAP 1951-1963 178 MAP 1951-1963 13,828 MAP 2,396 7 113,545 115,948 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Colombia 1964 136 MAP 1965 1,728 MAP 1966 3,126 MAP 1951-1963 2,047 MAP 4,990 2,047 7,037 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Costa Rica 1975 6,000 FMS 6,000 6,000 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Cuba 1951-1963 118 MAP 118 118 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Ecuador 1967 30 MAP 1951-1963 546 MAP 30 546 546 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source El Salvador 1951-1963 156 MAP 156 156 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Ethiopia 1965 22 MAP 1966 500 MAP 1967 250 MAP 1968 380 MAP 1971 1,095 MAP 1971 39 MAP 1968 891 MAP 1970 200 MAP 1951-1963 13,040 MAP 2,286 1,091 13,040 16,417 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source France WWII 96,983 Lend Lease 1951-1963 99,000 MAP 1951-1963 56,356 MAP 252,339 252,339 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Germany 1951-1963 34,192 MAP (Bonn) 34,192 34,192 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Greece 1967 14,000 MAP 1968 7,683 MAP 1970 15,473 MAP 1972 200 MAP 1973 646 MAP 1972 250 MAP 1951-1963 12 MAP 38,002 250 12 38,264 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Guatemala 1974 5,000 MAP 1951-1963 162 MAP 1964 97 MAP 1965 46 MAP 1966 38 MAP 1967 357 MAP 1951-1963 121 MAP 1971 342 FMS 5,000 1,042 121 6,163 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Honduras 1969 150 MAP 1965 164 MAP 1967 50 MAP 1968 108 MAP 1969 18 MAP 1951-1963 91 MAP 1977 5,000 FMS 150 340 5,091 5,091 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Indochina 1951-1963 14,429 MAP 14,429 14,429 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Indonesia 1951-1963 21,000 MAP 21,000 21,000 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Iran 1951-1963 10,000 MAP 10,000 10,000 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Israel 1978 10,000 FMS(3) 10,000 10,000 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Italy 1951-1963 99,000 MAP 1951-1963 47,863 MAP 146,863 146,863 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Japan 1951-1963 3,693 MAP 1951-1963 301 MAP 3,994 3,994 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Jordan 1951-1963 1,800 MAP 1970 361 1,800 361 2,161 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Khmer Republic 1971 31,207 MAP (Cambodia) 1951-1963 1 MAP 1970 25,925 MAP 1971 345 MAP 1971 17,326 MAP 1971 15,765 MAP 1971 166 MAP 1975 2,142 MAP (xfer from Laos) 1975 104 MAP (xfer from Laos) 1975 1,820 MAP (xfer from Laos) 1975 4 MAP (xfer from Laos) 1975 333 MAP (xfer from Laos) 1951-1963 8,824 MAP 1951-1963 11,604 MAP 1951-1963 2 MAP 31,207 63,931 20,430 115,568 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Korea (Seoul) 1966 10,034 MAP 1968 99,999 MAP 1968 99,999 MAP 1968 99,999 MAP 1968 50,000 MAP 1968 99,999 MAP 1968 35,359 MAP 1969 88,975 MAP 1969 99,999 MAP 1969 99,999 MAP 1969 96,635 MAP 1971 68,644 MAP 1966 7,789 MAP 1966 2,313 MAP 1968 2,004 MAP 1969 9,949 MAP 1972 13 MAP 1951-1963 5,000 MAP 1951-1963 38,849 MAP 949,641 22,068 43,849 1,015,558 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Laos 1951-1963 650 MAP 1964 195 MAP 1964 400 MAP 1951-1963 240 MAP 1964 2,717 MAP 1965 1,568 MAP 1966 11,800 MAP 1967 3,176 MAP 1967 2,550 MAP 1968 1,429 MAP 1970 1,450 MAP 1971 1,140 MAP 1972 500 MAP 1951-1963 43,816 MAP 1951-1963 600 MAP 1951-1963 2,356 MAP 1,245 26,570 46,772 74,587 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Lebanon 1963 900 FMS 900 900 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Liberia 1951-1963 12 MAP 1965 12 MAP 1951-1963 62 MAP 24 62 86 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Libya 1951-1963 106 MAP 106 106 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Mexico 1975 768 FMS 1991 48,178 EDA(2) 48,946 48,946 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Morocco 1951-1963 450 MAP 1951-1963 300 MAP 1951-1963 195 MAP 450 495 945 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Netherlands 1951-1963 5,600 MAP 1951-1963 78,923 MAP 84,523 84,523 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Nicaragua 1951-1963 121 MAP 121 121 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Nigeria 1975 100 FMS 100 100 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Norway 1951-1963 8,000 MAP 1951-1963 90,267 MAP 98,267 98,267 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Pakistan 1964 5 MAP 1951-1963 40 MAP 5 40 45 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Panama 1966 40 MAP 1969 39 MAP 1951-1963 700 MAP 1951-1963 138 MAP 79 700 138 917 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Peru 1967 10 MAP 1951-1963 811 MAP 10 811 821 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Philippines 1951-1963 8,831 MAP 8,831 8,831 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Thailand 1967 3,704 MAP 1968 907 MAP 1968 7,648 MAP 1970 2,108 MAP 1970 650 MAP 1976 49 MAP 1967 30 MAP 1967 320 MAP 1969 4,594 MAP 1969 1,165 MAP 1969 1,035 MAP 1969 124 MAP 1970 2,182 MAP 1974 26 MAP 1976 49 MAP 1951-1963 10,931 MAP 1951-1963 1,000 MAP 1951-1963 31,407 MAP 1951-1963 5,083 MAP 15,066 9,525 48,421 73,012 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Tunisia 1968 685 MAP 1969 60 MAP 1970 26 MAP 771 771 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Turkey 1951-1963 450 MAP 450 450 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Uruguay 1964 50 MAP 1965 50 MAP 1966 110 MAP 1967 1,008 MAP 1968 435 MAP 1969 191 MAP 1970 527 MAP 1970 2,805 MAP 1970 39 MAP 1972 209 MAP 1974 2,000 MAP 1970 1,000 MAP 1972 1 MAP 1951-1963 572 MAP 1974 23,349 572 FMS 7,424 24,350 572 32,346 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source USSR WWII 7 Lend Lease 7 7 Country Year M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals Source Vietnam 1951-1963 36,613 MAP (Saigon) 1951-1963 22 MAP 1951-1963 22 MAP 1964 27,275 MAP 1965 42,236 MAP 1965 18,468 MAP 1966 3,255 MAP 1964 2,334 MAP 1965 334 MAP 1965 118 MAP 1966 86,171 MAP 1966 9,831 MAP 1966 924 MAP 1967 20,520 MAP 1967 2,710 MAP 1968 2,000 MAP 1969 30 MAP 1970 90,824 MAP 1970 3,239 MAP 1970 59,894 MAP 1970 84,771 MAP 1970 88 MAP 1970 55 MAP 1970 8,519 MAP 1971 3,294 MAP 1971 90 MAP 1971 144 MAP 1972 1,371 MAP 1972 4,889 MAP 1973 3,118 MAP 1973 241 MAP 1973 144 MAP 1951-1963 99,000 MAP 1951-1963 99,000 MAP 1951-1963 467 MAP 1951-1963 24,647 MAP 1951-1963 51,445 MAP 1951-1963 5,891 MAP 127,891 385,653 280,450 793,994 M1 M2 M1/M2 Totals 1,257,435 559,561 1,530,643 3,329,874 Sub-Totals -4,403 -4,403 Laos to Khmer Republic 1,257,435 555,158 1,530,643 3,325,471 Totals

(1) Covert U.S. aid to insurgents in Angola began in 1974 and continued until 1992. Former CIA operative John Stockwell wrote that in the early phase of the operation, the CIA provided 7,771 7.62mm rifles, 12,215 .30-caliber carbines, 4,210 66mm light antitank weapons, and 410 grenade launchers. [John Stockwell, In Search of Enemies (New York: W. W. Norton, 1978), pp. 265–68]

(2) Carbine Club Newsletter 181-3 November 1, 1991; source indicated for China as OSS run U.S. Navy Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SOCO) Document 25156, October 6, 1953, document indicates SOCO storage facilities in Chunking (330 M1 carbines), Kunming (30 M1 carbines), Worhat (30 cases of M1 carbines), the latter not indicating how many carbines per case it was left out of the above quantities; source indicated for France as the report “Statistics Furnished by OSS Paris, Nov 45, to Fr. Gp. Hist. Sec., ETOUSA” (European Theater Operations, United States of America), courtesy of the U.S. Army Office of the Chief of Military History (OCMH)

The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) provided the French Gaullist Resistance with 2595 U.S. carbines and the independant French Resistance groups with 6770 U.S. carbines. The SOE based in Algiers provided an additional 6 U.S. carbines to French Resistance fighters. From SOE in France by M.R.D. Foot p. 424, from a table compiled postwar by Charles W. Cowie, head of the statistal section of the Service Historique des Armees de Terres at Vincennes, detailing arms provided to the French Resistance by SOE (SHAT 13P60). These numbers are not included in this chart as these were carbines provided by the British and it is not known if SOE obtained the carbines from their Lend Lease carbine numbers, or directly from OSS. SOE and OSS operations for the French Resistance operated out of the same HQ in London, however, each maintained separate supply facilities and operated from separate airfields.

(3) Issued to Civil Defense school guards

(4) Total U.S. Production provided by U.S. M1 Carbines, Wartime Production by Craig Riesch, 5th edition

(5) Figure for total U.S. M2 production does not include M1’s converted to M2. The 417,500 were manufactured as M2 carbines.

Lend-Lease

The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law on March 11, 1941. This act empowered the president to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease, lend, or otherwise dispose of, to any such government [whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States] any defense article." The program was administered by the newly created Office of Lend-Lease Administration. The program continued through August 1945. Lend-Lease items were loaned, leased, traded and/or provided for free.

Data for the carbines provided by Lend-Lease was obtained from:

(a) U.S. Export Statistics Under the Lend-Lease Program, 1944 and 1945, Foreign Trade Commission, Bureau of the Census
(b) Table 17, International Aid Statistics, WWII (thru 31 Dec 1945), Army Service Forces, War Dept. (undated)
(c) Table LL-14, U.S. Army in WWII Statistics, War Dept. Lend-Lease shipments 1941-1945, Office of the Chief of Military History (15 Dec 1952)

Data from the U.S. Export Statistics Under the Lend-Lease Program by the Bureau of the Census (a) is absent or less than most of the data provided by the other two sources. With one exception. It indicates Canada received 3,505 carbines under Lend-Lease. The other two sources indicate Canada received 230 carbines.

U.S. Army in WWII Statistics by the OCMH (c) indicates 241 carbines were provided to the "American Republics". The website of the Hyperwar project quotes International Aid Statistics (b) as indicating Cuba received 5 carbines, Ecuador 1, and Mexico 235 (241 ttl). International Aid Statistics (b) included data thru 31 Dec 1945. A supplement updated this data thru 30 Jun 1946. We have been unable to locate the supplement. Since we could not confirm the Hyperwar project numbers they were not included.

Office of Strategic Services (OSS)

The Office of Strategic Services was established by a Presidential military order issued June 13, 1942. The OSS was the predecessor to the CIA and among many things helped arm, train and supply resistance movements in areas occupied by the Axis powers during World War II. While best known for their parachute drops of weapons and supplies to resistance movements in France (Operation Carpetbagger) they smuggled personnel, weapons and supplies to groups in other countries.

Given the secretive nature of their work the quantities, locations, and dates remained secret during the war. A few documents have been located after the war but these should be viewed as a minimum. These carbine are believed to be separate from Lend-Lease due to the secretive nature of the operations.

China
OSS U.S. Navy Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SOCO) Document 25156, October 6, 1953. Document indicates SOCO storage facilities in Chunking (330 M1 carbines), Kunming (30 M1 carbines), Worhat (30 cases of M1 carbines); no info on quantity per case

France
Statistics Furnished by OSS Paris, Nov 45, to Fr. Gp. Hist. Sec., ETOUSA (U.S. European Theater Operations) courtesy of the U.S. Army Office of the Chief of Military History (OCMH)

British Special Operations Executive (SOE)

As the majority of U.S. Forces worldwide began returning home most surrendered their weapons to Ordnance Department personnel as they boarded the ships or planes. Some of the U.S. Carbines were returned to the U.S.A., some were stockpiled in U.S. Supply Depots in forward staging areas in various countries (France, Italy, U.K, South Korea, etc) in case they were needed.

The first official military aid program after Lend-Lease and WWII was the U.S. Department of Defense Military Assistance Program (MAP) in 1951. However, between 1945 and 1949 the U.S. Office of Military Government provided 21,819 U.S. Carbines to German police agencies within the American Zone of Occupation. Each German land/state whose police used these carbines eventually purchased them. In 1956 the police and gendarmerie of Austria located within the areas of the American Occupation received 24,500 M1 Carbines, 1,885 M1A1 Carbines and 500 M2 Carbines. Only 12,620 of these carbines are indicated the records of the Military Assistance Program. Additionally, the Austrian gendarmerie purchased an additional 4000-5000 U.S. Carbines from the Bavarian government 1955-1956. The history of these carbines are the subject of the website BavarianM1Carbines.com. Many of these carbines were sold or traded between and within these countries, though many were eventually sold to private gunbrokers. They are not included in this table.

Congress has required DoD to provide yearly summaries of what aid was provided to which country. During the period October 1950 through December 1963 this reporting requirement was apparently piecemeal. In 1963 Congress demanded yearly reports and has received them since 1964. According to the National Archives the data for the period 1951-1963 the data is accumulative for that time period and indicated in the records collectively as "1963".

Department of Defense

Over the years since WWII the DOD has had various agencies and programs, often evolving into other agencies or programs or changing names as part of organizational restructuring that have provided U.S. Carbines to other countries.

Military Assistance Program (MAP)

Post WWII the U.S. Government struggled with itself on whether or not to provide military assistance to other nations. Not until War in Korea did they reach an agreement with one another resulting in the Department of Defense Military Assistance Program (MAP) in 1951. The MAP data in the table above was obtained from the U.S. National Archives in Bethesda, MD.

Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

Not long after the the starts of the Military Assistance Program the Dept. of Defense was authorized to start Foreign Military Sales (FMS) for the purchase of defense materials by foreign nations. MAP data from the National Archives did not include data of Foreign Military sales. FMS data was obtained from the book "Small Arms Today", Volume II, by Edward Ezell. Ezell was the military firearms curator for the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.. Ezell did not indicate his sources for his information but given his position within the Smithsonian he likely had access to a variety of original records. His book also includes partial data from the Military Assistance Program. As his MAP data often conflicted with and/or provided partial quantities, for the purpose of the tabe above the records of the Military Assistance Program maintained by the National Archives were used instead.

Excess Defense Articles (EDA)

Excess Defense Articles (EDA) are defense materiel, other than construction equipment, in excess of Approved Force Acquisition Objectives and Approved Force Retention Stock levels at the time such articles are dropped from the DoD inventory. EDA articles may be sold to eligible countries and international organizations under the Foreign Military Sales program, or transferred on a grant basis under Section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act. A central source for EDA statistics has yet to be located. Data provided by the State Department to the Office of Senator Frank Lautenberg, 26 September 1996 to the Armed Services Committee provided the EDA statistic for Mexico.

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Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Like the OSS of WWII, American intelligence agencies are known to have provided M1, M1A1, and M2 carbines to various countries and groups. How many and to whom will likely never be known. The data for Angola in footnote 1 (above) has been the only data located. In addition to surplus military weapons the CIA is known to have arranged sales of commercially manufactured post WWII carbines for various insurgencies (think Cuba at various times).

Department of State

The DoS can authorize the direct sale of small arms from American manufacturers to foreign nations. The manufacturers of the U.S. GI carbines ceased production in 1945. The DoS approved sales are known to have included carbines manufactured by Plainfield, Universal, National Ordnance. As the chart above is for original U.S. Ordnance contracted carbines only, DoS exports are not included.