Myanmar’s civil war has been one of the most complex and enduring conflicts in the history of modern warfare. It is a tragic saga defined by ethnic strife, authoritarian rule, civil dissent, and relentless armed resistance against the control of the central state. At the heart of this entanglement lies Heckler & Koch (HK), the renowned German firearms manufacturer, which has quietly shaped the arsenals of both the Myanmar military and its opponents. While celebrated for its technological innovations, HK’s historical connection to postcolonial Burma/Myanmar reveals a lesser-known narrative of how a company born in the ashes of the Third Reich came to arm both sides of a civil war with no clear end in sight. Initially intended to bolster a nascent post-colonial state, HK arms ultimately fueled a brutal civil war, leaving a continuing and indelible mark on Myanmar’s landscape and people.
In the defense industry, Heckler & Koch, has been renowned for its exceptional engineering in firearms since its inception. Founded in 1949, HK could be seen as being free from the legacies of Nazism. However, Alex Seidel, Edmund Heckler, and Theodor Koch, the three founders of HK, served in the Nazi military-industrial complex and can trace their technical training lineage to Mauser, the German arm manufacturer that armed the Third Reich with, K98K, Gewehr 98 rifles and other assortment of small arms.
HK’s headquarters in Oberndorf am Neckar, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, is the same town where Mauser was once based. Theodor Koch actually served as the financier/patron (Förderndes Mitglied der SS) in the infamous Schutzstaffel (SS), which was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust and many other crimes against humanity during World War II. Koch, as the financier, did not serve on the frontline but paid a monthly contribution to the SS. Therefore, HK, like many other German industrial giants, has an undeniable linkage to Nazi Germany.
HK started off producing precision machinery and machine tools. However, when the newly formed West German state and its armed forces, the Bundeswehr, started shopping for a standard issue rifle for their troops in 1956, HK, cooperating with the Spanish arms manufacturer CETME, produced the iconic G3 battle rifle. The West German government granted a tender to HK and the G3 went on to become one of the classic firearms of the global Cold War, along with the Soviet AK-47, the American M16, and the Belgian FN-FAL, “the right arm of the free world,” which armed many authoritarian regimes in Latin America and Africa.
The Heckler & Koch G3 proved to be a great success for HK, and many newly independent nations showed an interest in the rifle, laying a firm foundation for the company’s further ventures in the defense industry. The firearm was soon as ubiquitous as the AK-47 and the M16, and was used in Iran, in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and in other Cold War hotspots. In his book “The G3 Battle Rifle,” Leroy Thompson dubbed it “the left arm of the free world” for its global presence. Like FN-FAL, the G3 also armed authoritarian regimes across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Among them was newly independent Myanmar. After gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1948, the country was brimming with ethnic insurgencies, a communist revolution, Kuomintang incursions, and full-blown mutiny from within the Burma Army. The country’s new government started seeking out options for arming itself and jump-starting its indigenous defense industry. A number of diplomatic-military missions toured through Europe in the 1950s, led by then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Kyaw Nyein, a vehement hawk in the U Nu cabinet, and Ne Win, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar armed forces, who would go on to seize power in 1962 and, as dictator, lead the country into destitution.
It was then that the nascent Burmese state found a “German Connection” for its defense industry, in the guise of Fritz Werner, another German armaments company. Despite being owned by the West German government of the time, Fritz Werner worked closely with both the Burmese government and Ne Win himself personally. Fritz Werner was part of the West German effort to reindustrialize West Germany and revitalize the German arms industry. It was a subsidiary of the German state-owned conglomerate Deutsche Industrieanlagen GmbH (DIAG), which entirely engaged in exporting military hardware.
The town of Oberndorf am Neckar, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, where the firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch is based. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The first Fritz Werner venture in setting the Burmese defense industry was the production of the Italian submachine gun, TZ45, in Myanmar. The Burmese designation for this was BA52, since it started production in 1952-53. The local nickname for the often unreliable and cheaply built submachine gun was “Ne Win sten.” Fittingly, TZ45 had been used by Italian Fascist paramilitary troops to quell popular dissent and partisan activities during World War II, in a similar manner to which Ne Win would use them to oppress the Burmese populace (both ethnic Burman and non-Burman alike) after 1962.
After the BA52 submachine guns, the next venture for Fritz Werner was to replace the Myanmar military’s World War II-era British Lee Enfield rifles with a more modern battle/assault rifle suited for fighting both insurgencies and conventional warfare. They found their candidate in Heckler & Koch G3, which by then was a popular and sought-after battle rifle in both First World and Third World countries. Around the same time in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Indonesian government was also acquiring G3s and arming troops that would participate in the invasion of West Papua in 1961-62 and take part in President Sukarno’s policy of Konfrontasi against the newly independent British colonies, Malaya and Singapore, between 1963 and 1966.
In 1960, the Burmese government, then led by U Nu’s Union Party, acquired the license to produce HK G3 through the mediation of Fritz Werner. The company was commissioned to set up factories to manufacture the HK G3 in Myanmar and to import German-made HK G3s and ammunition as a stopgap measure for the Myanmar military’s transition. Even after the 1962 coup by Ne Win and the bloody oppression of a student uprising that followed, the West German government had few apparent reservations with technology transfers and further arms sales. Throughout the 1970s, Fritz Werner continued supporting the Ne Win military’s defense industry, now known as the Directorate of Defense Industry, or Ka Pa Sa, which has since established arms and munition factories across central Myanmar.
Domestically, the HK G3 is designated as the BA63, again after the year in which it first started being manufactured. These BA63/G3s were used in fighting against ethnic and communist insurgents across the country, and in suppressing civil and popular unrest in the cities throughout Ne Win’s reign of terror. In many photos of the 1988 uprising, one can see pictures of Myanmar soldiers holding G3s with bayonets. These firearms were used to gun down protesters on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay, and other cities.
Fritz Werner and Myanmar only officially severed their business links in 2019. However, this is just one strand of HK’s entanglement in Myanmar’s unending civil war.
HK firearms were also present on the other side of the conflict: first, in the hands of U Nu, a politician who turned into an armed opponent of Ne Win’s regime, and later, ethnic insurgents/freedom fighters like the Karen National Union.
In 1969, after a series of failed attempts to persuade Ne Win to return power to him, U Nu chose the path of armed struggle. During a medical visit to India, he traveled to Bangkok and established the Parliamentary Democracy Party and its armed wing, the Patriotic Liberation Army (PLA), along the Thai-Myanmar border, vowing to oust Ne Win’s regime and restore parliamentary democracy. U Nu subsequently toured the United Kingdom and the United States seeking support in terms of arms and money.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) would offer him covert monetary support and, by some accounts, military support as well. The reduction in the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War meant that there was a surplus of arms in Southeast Asia with which U Nu could equip his troops. U Nu’s PLA troops were armed with M16 rifles, M-79 grenade launchers, and HK33 rifles, a lighter version of the HKG3 that was designed for jungle fighting in Vietnam and was used there by U.S. Green Berets and Navy Seals.
The HK33s and M-79 grenade launchers gave the PLA a tactical edge in its early skirmishes with the Myanmar military. Mahn Nyein Maung, an ex-leader of the Karen National Union (KNU) who has since become a collaborator of the current coup regime, has noted that at this time, the KNU was only armed with World War II-era weapons. An ex-PLA member also spoke about the armament difference between them and the KNU. While the PLA’s efforts to dislodge Ne Win’s regime ultimately faltered, the presence of leftover weapons from the Vietnam War, like HK33s and American M16s, marked a significant shift in the arms available to anti-government forces.
MA11 (Burmese-made) and HK33 (Thai-made) assault rifles, derivatives of the Heckler & Koch HK33, sit side by side at a PDF encampment in southeastern Myanmar (Photo courtesy Khant)
The surplus of arms in Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War meant that once these weapons entered the black market, they became accessible to a wider array of insurgent groups. The PLA could not form a sustainable alliance with other ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) along the border, and later fighting ensued, which led to the weakening and eventual dissolution of the movement in 1978.
Following the PLA’s dissolution, many of its weapons, including the HK33s, found their way into the hands of established EAOs along the Thai-Myanmar border. The KNU, a well-organized ethnic group that had been fighting for its autonomy since the late 1940s, was among the primary beneficiaries. The compact size and lighter ammunition of the HK33 and the explosive firepower of the M-79 proved well-suited for jungle warfare, a stark contrast to the heavier HK G3s and rifle grenades.
After Thailand obtained licenses to produce its own locally made HK33s, southeastern Myanmar was flooded with Thai-made HK33s as well.
This abundance of arms and the tactical advantages that resulted led to the rise of the KNU in southeastern Myanmar from the mid-1970s to the 1980s. Under Gen. Saw Bo Mya’s leadership, the KNU liberated a vast swath of land and established major bases along the Thai border. Among them was Manerplaw, the KNU’s general headquarters, which later became the de facto opposition capital for the post-1988 resistance groups until it fell to the Myanmar military in 1995.
In the 1990s, the Myanmar military started searching for a new standard-issue rifle to replace the BA63/G3 for its combat troops. While it found a replacement in Israeli Galili assault rifles (locally designated as MA1), the Myanmar military began producing their own version of the HK33 at Ka Pa Sa factories.
Designated as MA11, these local HK33 copies were issued to rear echelon troops and border police. Border police armed with MA11 were among those responsible for atrocities committed against Muslim Rohingya communities in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017. It remains unclear whether the Myanmar military obtained a license to produce these HK33 copies or not.
The military coup of February 2021 ushered in a new and intensified phase of the Myanmar civil war, prompting the emergence of numerous People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) who have taken up arms alongside the existing EAOs. The legacy of HK firearms continues to be seen on both sides of this conflict. The Myanmar military still relies on its domestically produced G3 (BA64) and HK33 (MA11) rifles.
These are used to arm the collaborationist militias, such as the Pyu Saw Htee and Thwe Thout, which have participated in counterinsurgency campaigns and committed atrocities across the country’s Bamar-majority heartlands. Rows of MA11/HK33 rifles have also been identified in a Myanmar military arms transfer ceremony to one of its local militias, the Pa-O National Organization.
However, the dynamic of weapons capture and repurposing has become even more pronounced. As PDFs and EAOs regularly capture Myanmar army positions and seize their weapons, HK-derived rifles have become a common find. Images and reports from the conflict frequently show resistance fighters armed with G3s and MA11s. Turning the military’s own armaments against them, they have also perpetuated HK’s presence on Myanmar’s battlefields.
Aside from the locally made HK33 (MA11) and the Thai-made HK33, original HK33s can still be found in the KNU-controlled area and among PDF troops under their command, reflecting the long legacy of the global Cold War in Southeast Asia. The author had a chance to speak with a PDF trooper named Khant, from southeastern Myanmar, about his experience operating with the original West German-made HK33 and the other two variants during his service. Khant noticed the difference in difference in build quality, reliability and effectiveness between the Burmese copy, the Thai version, and the original HK weapons. Khant said that the Burmese copy was of significantly poorer quality compared to the other two, especially in the battlefield reliability.
The enduring presence of Heckler & Koch firearms in Myanmar’s protracted civil war highlights a troubling aspect of the global arms trade and the legacy of the global Cold War. What began as a post-war German effort to re-establish its industrial capacity and credibility has culminated in a decades-long entanglement with one of Asia’s longest-running conflicts. From the initial licensing agreements with a military that would go on to commit widespread human rights abuses to the current situation, in which these same weapon designs are used by both the oppressive junta and the resistance movements fighting for its downfall, the “German Connection” has left an undeniable and tragic imprint on Myanmar’s story.
In 2025, the cycle of violence continues, with weapons originating in the southern German town of Oberndorf am Neckar contributing to the immense human cost of a conflict with no end in sight.
