[Valkay's] Submachine guns of the Spanish civil war II: the Naranjero

Naranjero SMG (made in Valencia)

Naranjero

Hello bajtársak and fellow forumdwellers,
The Naranjero was a Spanish copy of the MP 28/II submachine gun, manufactured in Valencia and was named after the numerous orange trees that were cultivated in the region, though we can not cross out the possibility that other arsenals in Spain could have also produced copies.
Although an almost identical copy of the German MP28/II, some of its changes make it a very recognisable gun. The Naranjero was modified to fire 9x23mm Largo instead of 9x19mm Parabellum and the magazine’s capacity was increased to 36 rounds. Other than the obviously larger magazine and magazine catch, the Naranjero can also be recognised by the brass magazine housing and the comically sized cylindrical cooking handle.
Production numbers remain a mystery due to the conditions of manufacture, estimates exist but they differ depending on the author, even time of production is disputed because it’s difficult to date and estimate the number of total produced guns as little to no documents are available and the guns only have basic markings, to make things even more confusing, other models of submachine guns were also called Naranjeros by Spanish troops and other arsenals in Spain also produced MP28 and other submachine guns that are similar to the untrained eyes.
The most careful estimate should be a few thousand Naranjeros guns produced during the civil war.

The Naranjero was once again pushed into service following the end of the civil war with colonial troops using them in Spanish north africa until about 1960 when it was finally phased out.

Ammunition: 9x23 Largo (36 rounds in detachable box magazine)
Muzzle velocity: 400 m/s
Weight: 4.7 kg (empty)
Length: 832 mm
Barrel length: 200 mm
Rate of fire: 500-550 rounds per minute

A small note on the fire rate: its closest relatives, the MP28/II and the Lanchester SMG have 550 and 600 rpm fire rate respectively, however sources on the Naranjero with some consistency claim 500 rpm.


the distinctive brass magazine housing, a feature the British Lanchester SMG also copied for its ease of production.

Finally, I would like to dedicate a few words on the 9x23 Largo.
The 9mm Largo is slightly longer and very slightly more powerful than the 9x19 Parabellum. The difference in power is small and is mostly limited to difference in muzzle velocity, with 9mm Largo achieving 400m/s muzzle velocity more reliably than 9mm Parabellum guns. However in game this difference is impossible to implement as both 9mm Largo and Parabellum guns will usually have 400m/s so 9mm Largo submachine guns should have 5.8 damage by default and 7.0 damage max upgraded (same as MP40) to make them slightly stand out from 9mm Parabellum while still being on par with more powerful 9mm Parabellum guns.

Would you like to see the Naranjero SMG added?
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

I would like to avoid making people vote on matters again they have once voted on in Firearms used by communists series.
The BR of the Naranjero shall be BR2.
It should be an event weapon for the Soviet faction. MP28 style guns in Soviet hands is not too far fetched.
partizan with mp28
partizan with captured MP28

Is this acceptable?
  • Yes
  • No, I think the BR choice is wrong
  • No, I think another faction should have it
  • No, I think that it should not be an event weapon
0 voters
sources:

Thomas B. Nelson - The world’s submachine guns (machine pistols)
https://www.reddit.com/r/ForgottenWeapons/comments/io9go5/spanish_republican_naranjero_mp28ii_copy_c1937/
https://www.gehm.es/siglo-xx/subfusiles-de-la-guerra-civil-espanola-i-mp-28-naranjero/)República - Armas - Infantería - Subfusiles

Thank you for your time and attention


political commissars of the Republican army, well over 80% of commissars were communists. They are easy to recognize from the red star on their uniforms, as well as the central Soviet Red Star and ‘C’ for Commissario on their caps.

5 Likes

Whats up with the people only voting on the first poll, do they not care or just didnt see the second poll?

cool

as it will be soviet weapon, its BR placement is wrong… it should be BR1 gun. also it needs increased rate of fire to 700, otherwise it wont fit with soviets smg :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes

I can actually see people complaining about this gun not being interesting enough to be an “event reward”…

well i am already complaining about another soviet event…

I mean, if this Largo cartrige is more powerful than 9mm parabellum, it looks like a hands down upgrade over the MP-40 and M38/42

maybe because of the 36 round magazine? Actually Naranjero will be about on par with the current MP40 since MP28 guns usually have more recoil and slower reload than MP40, so the bigger magazine is balanced out by other aspects.

sorry, didn’t read this part

I thought you wanted it to have even more damage


source of image is supposedly the NARA (US National Archives), though I was unable to find the picture in their online archives (its possible that its not accessible online though)

I know what it depicts: Submachineguns US had captured in Japan.

  1. Type 100 (early) paratrooper carbine
  2. Type 100 (1944)
  3. Type Be (Japanese contract SIG M1920)
  4. MP35 (short barreled variant) edit: it might actually be an MP34
  5. Naranjero (Spanish copy of MP28 in 9mm Largo).

The fifth one is undoubtably a Naranjero.
039166e63fe7ca18f591926ef06452efa658879c

Im asking @_DELAVR @Aussie-Tachanka and anyone else, if you know anything more about the picture.
If you could share any extra bit of info (any data, inventory or mention of such guns) that would change the context of my suggestion.

2 Likes

Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about this particular photograph. One thing that can be said with certainty is that the Schmeisser MP 28/II and the Bergmann M34/I were imported to Japan in the 1930s.

Снимок экрана 2026-09-17 120345

However, I haven’t heard anything about the Naranjero and MP-35 submachine guns. Still, there is basically nothing unusual about Japan purchasing a single sample of each of these submachine guns. It’s possible that an American serviceman just added these two submachine guns to the photo for fun (for instance, if the photo was taken at Aberdeen Proving Ground), and establishing the truth of that is almost impossible now.

2 Likes

I should note that the photo doesn’t look Japanese; it was almost certainly taken after the war by the American military.

1 Like

I did not actually check if the 4th gun is an MP34 or MP35 exactly, maybe it is actually an MP34.
Naranjero guns were not imported to the US, though it is possible that it got captured in Europe, if it was looted by the French army in 1939 from fleeing Republican troops. Got captured by Germany 1940 and finally used against Allies.
However, if that is the case, there would be a German foreign designation for it.

If the Naranjero did get captured in Japan, my only theory is that it be to be captured from KNIL.
KNIL already used MP28 before the war and custom ordered even more from Spain after the war.

Edit:
After thinking about it, why would KNIL order submachine guns in 9x23 Largo and how come such an unusual gun is not mentioned by any researcher, document or memoirs: Such a gun would probably be fascinating enough to be talked about.

1 Like

I don’t really see the point in all these complications. The Americans were studying captured weapons for several years after the war—maybe this photo is actually from 1946, when everything that was captured had already been brought over from Japan and Europe. You just have to remember how many mistakes American reports on Japanese weapons contain, so after that, the presence of these two submachine guns in the photo doesn’t surprise me much.

The KNIL definitely placed an order for Star submachine guns from Spain, but they were never actually delivered to the Dutch East Indies. In theory, they could have ordered both those and the Naranjero from Spain as well, but I haven’t heard of such an order.

2 Likes

Personally I’m not familiar with this particular image displaying the Naranjero smg. From everything I’ve read thus far I haven’t come across and subsequent mention of this one being used by the Japanese and from the composition of the photo I’m in agreement the photo is of US origin.

It’s not impossible that it might have been captured, but due to the lack of external info behind the photo and when it was taken, in addition to common confusion in US reports, I’d for now lable the MP-35 and particularly Naranjero SMG’s use by Japan or its proxies being mostly conjecture for the moment.

I’ll keep an eye out if anything comes up though.

1 Like

Honestly, the only thing this picture proves is that God has a sense of humor.

The Naranjero is an anomaly that shouldn’t even exist.
It’s just a “random” copy-cat gun with some clever changes that makes an Mp28 more ideal for small workshop manufacturing.
We can’t even tell when, by whom or how many of them were made.
If all that was not confusing enough, the word “Naranjero” was also used to describe Erma EMP guns and later the meaning diluted to just meaning submachine gun with wooden stock.

Yet somehow, despite being the least advanced submachine gun of the Spanish Civil war, it has stayed in service with the Spanish army for longer than any other civil war era SMG.

A suspiciously similar brass housing is used on the Lanchester submachine gun, but of course there is no evidence that Naranjero has ever been to Britain.

As if all that was not enough, it has somehow sneaked onto an American picture of captured guns. No Naranjero was ever sold to the US, there is no German foreign designation for it (meaning the Wehrmatch had never encountered one) and if somehow one made its way to Japan, it would have to show up on documents, its unusual 9x23 Largo calibre is so unusual that if such data existed, it would have been found by now.

Seriously Germans even gave dedicated foreign designations to silenced STEN mk.II and prototype French submachine guns. The fact that it was pictured alongside Japanese guns suggests that even US technicians were as clueless as we are today.

1 Like

Wow that is truly incredible that such an oddball of a submachine gun could find its way so perplexity placed throughout its history. Honestly as troubling as it might be to pin where, when and how the Naranjero ended up I can’t help but find it very amusing.

2 Likes

its a good thing