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1st Marine Brigade Tank Action

In the Naktong Battles our 1st Provisional Marine Brigade were more than a match for the feared T34 tanks and destroyed the previously unbeaten NK 4th Division, probably preventing North Korea from capturing Pusan and driving us out of Korea. . General Walker, Eighth Army Commander at the time, called them his "Fire Brigade."


The Fire Brigade

USMC: Tank-Infantry, 1951


M26 Marine tank

Marine Tank Action at the Naktong, August, 1950

Tanks and Armored Vehicles

The near tank is an M4A3 Sherman Dozer.

The far tanks are 45 ton M26 Pershings.

1st Brigade came to Korea with a whole Battalion of them. Seriously underpowered, the Army used the more modern M46 Patton, but the M26 was still much more than a match for the T34


The Army lost most of its battles in the Pusan Perimeter. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade won every time. In the Naktong Battles they destroyed the previously unbeaten NK 4th Division and arguably prevented North Korea from capturing Pusan and thus driving us out of Korea altogether. General Walker, Eighth Army Commander at the time, called them his "Fire Brigade."

That the Brigade could even be formed was a near miracle. Truman thought he had virtually destroyed Marine combat effectiveness, disliking the USMC in the first place, and thinking Infantry warfare had been eliminated forever by the advent of nuclear weapons. Korea proved him wrong, on two counts. Ground warfare had become the chosen tactic for the communists to use in advancing their ideology, and the Marines refused to be destroyed. For an account of how they responded so quickly and effectively to meet the Korean crisis, and for details of how well they fought there, I've put this wonderful short book on-line, Fire Brigade. The read is well worth while.


Causes of the Korean Tragedy ... Failure of Leadership, Intelligence and Preparation

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