The Weapons We
Fought With
These were the principal infantry
weapons used by both sides, with the exception of
Commonwealth forces (which used British issue, with
notable exceptions like the Australian Owen gun).
Tech Manuals: FM7-10: Rifle Company, Rifle Regiment
TM9-2200: Technical Manual for WWII Small Arms
Enemy
weapons captured in the Pusan Perimeter
fighting |
Preface
Both Communist
and UN forces fought the Korean War largely with
surplus World War II weapons.
A sometimes
unappreciated fact is that, at the start of the
Korean War, the US actually had no new
conventional weapons due to a complete cessation
of procurement for ground warfare following WWII.
Harry Truman's Cabinet, convinced that
nuclear weapons meant the last major ground wars
had been fought, virtually emasculated our own
ground combat forces. Truman's Secretaries of
Defense, James Forrestal and Louis Johnson, not
only stopped development of new infantry arms and
communications, but forced a change in Army
training methods, shaping it to produce civilians
wearing uniforms, rather than professional
soldiers prepared to face combat and death,
should that be necessary.
While weakening
our own infantry, Johnson also decided to limit
our Korean allies to "defensive"
armament. At the start of the KW, the ROKs found
themselves facing 170 of perhaps the best tanks
developed in WWII, with only satchel charges (20
pounds of TNT, virtually useless against modern
armor), the 2.36in. rocket launcher, 37mm and
57mm
anti-tank guns, no medium artillery, and ... no
tanks themselves at all.
Convinced by
General Omar Bradley who was scathingly
contemptuous of the Navy and Marine Corps that
there would never again be a major amphibious
assault, Johnson also reduced the Marine Corps to
a poorly equipped skeleton of its supposed
strength, about 6 fighting battalions, equipped
with worn out WWII weapons. Incredibly, the
5th
Marines, (LtCol Ray Murray), were the troops
carrying the colors of the entire 1stMarDiv in
July of '50. (That's right! Six rifle
companies of about 7 officers and 255 men each,
were the only available Marine fighting force
that many believe actually saved South Korea and
the Eighth Army in the Pusan Perimeter. They
didn't get the third companies in their rifle
battalions until after the 1st Battle of the
Naktong, 17-18 August of '50!)
In another
blunder, Truman's Secretary of State Dean
Acheson even left South Korea out of our defined
sphere of world interests. To Stalin and Mao,
this was a virtual invitation to include it in
their own. Whatever Acheson's definition, a
free South Korea was vital to the safety of the
entire Japanese theater, and a prime opportunity
for Communist expansion.
Although newer
series of infantry weapons, radios, and vehicles
had either been developed or were in production
on both sides, they were all largely withheld,
along with nuclear weapons. The Communist bloc,
fighting through its secondary powers, followed
the same course in employing old or obsolescent
weaponry, however many Communist arms were of
more recent manufacture, or in better condition,
than those in American and ROK hands in 1950. For
example although the "burp gun" was very
effective in the close infantry assaults of the
Korean War it was not equal to the AK-47, a
Soviet standard in 1949. From the infantry point
of view, the KW was an anachronism.
No milestone
military developments arose from the war. The US
took innovative measures in logistical
techniques, cold weather clothing, and
battlefield medical assistance MASH (Mobile Army
Surgical Hospital) units, but the only
significantly new developments were the use of
helicopters for reconnaissance, transport, and
evacuation on a large scale, and the employment
of jet
aircraft in combat. The most modern jet, the
F-86 Sabre, was deployed only when Communist
forces first introduced their MiG-15.
It has long been
forgotten by most that the Truman administration
refused to indict Alger Hiss for treason and
instead attempted to crucify Whitaker Chambers,
Hiss' exposer. (When Soviet files were made
public some 50 years later it was suggested
that Hiss had led one of the most powerful
groups of subversives in our history, even being
the principal advisor to Roosevelt at Yalta where
Poland and essentially Eastern Europe were given
away to the USSR.) The reasons for this blindness
were assumed to be the Truman cabinet beliefs
that the Communists wanted peace, and that ground
warfare was ended forever. The facts turned out
otherwise. As Johnson found (to his horror, one
hopes!) the Communists considered war a basic
tool for expanding their ideology, and ground
warfare became the primary choice for combat when
the alternative was world nuclear destruction.
Johnson discovered that arming the ROKs with
satchel charges and grenades hadn't really
given them much defense, against tanks. The ROKs
died by the hundreds under the steel treads of
T-34s, and the best of their 1950 army never got
back south of the Han.
Then, ready or
not, Truman sent our civilians in uniform with
their own obsolescent weapons into one of the
most vicious infantry wars our country has ever
fought.
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United States
US Rifle
Caliber .30 M-1 (Garand): The basic shoulder
weapon of the US, ROK, and many other UN rifle
regiments. A vintage of the mid-1930's, it was
gas-operated, and semi-automatic, fired an 8-round
clip, and weighed 9.5 pounds, 10.5 with bayonet. Its
combat effective range was about 300 yards, and its
rate of fire about 30 rounds per minute.
US Carbine Caliber .30: Produced both as
a semi-automatic and full-automatic weapon, it fired
a lighter bullet than the M-1 rifle, with
correspondingly less range, accuracy, and killing
power, though still deadlier than the Communist's
PPSh41 burp gun. Fitted
with a 15-round magazine, or 30-round or so-called
"banana magazine"; gas-operated, it was
carried principally by company-grade officers, NCOs,
clerks and the like. Weight, 6 pounds. Developed in
WWII from the Garand principle.
Pistol, Caliber .45 M-1911 A-1: The
standard US side arm, a large semi-automatic pistol,
with great stopping power and an effective range of
some 25 yards. Developed and issued prior to WWI, it
was carried by field-grade officers, signal linemen,
gun crews, tankers, and men whose duties or other
burdens precluded them from carrying of rifle or
carbine.
Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR: Firing
the same cartridge as the M-1 rifle, either semi- or
full automatic, the BAR could be operated either as a
shoulder weapon or from a bipod. With a rate of fire
of almost 500 rounds per minute, it was the principal
automatic weapon of the rifle companies, one or more
being issued to each rifle squad (3 to each Marine
rifle squad, in 4-man fire teams). Weighing 16
pounds, it was developed from Browning's
principle during WWI.
US Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M-1919 A-4
(Light Machine Gun, or LMG): An air-cooled, 32 pound,
fully automatic weapon, with bipod and shoulder rest;
recoil operated on the Browning principle, capable of
sustained fire of 450-500 rounds per minute. Firing
the same cartridge as the M-1 and BAR, it was the
infantry platoon machine gun. The basic A-3 version
was developed in WWI.
US Machine Gun, Caliber .30, M-1917 A-1
(Heavy Machine Gun, or HMG): A heavier version of the
LMG, water-cooled and tripod mounted, and thus
capable of a greater, longer, and more accurate rate
of fire. Issued to the Weapons Company of the Army
infantry battalion. There were approximately 500
machine guns, of both types, in an Army infantry
division.
50 Caliber Air Cooled MG M2HB: Weighing
82 pounds, this large-caliber machine gun was mounted
on trucks, tanks, other vehicles, fixed positions,
and not carried into fluid infantry combat.
Air-cooled but with a heavy barrel, the .50-caliber
machine gun fired approximately 575 rounds per
minute, to a range of 2,000 yards. There were about
350 issued to an Army infantry division.
Hand grenades were used in a variety of
forms, primarily the fragmentation type MarkIIA1,
followed by the M15 White Phosphorous. Fragmentation
grenades contain an explosive charge in a metal body,
designed to break into fragments upon the charge
exploding. They have a killing radius of 5 to 10
yards, and fragments are dangerous up to 50 yards.
Weighing about 21 ounces, constructed of cast iron
with serrations, Mark Deuce produced about 1000
potentially lethal fragments.
M20 3.5in Super Bazooka : Rocket
launchers, developed in WWII, fire a hollow shaped
charge capable of penetrating thick armor plate. The
3.5, which replaced the obsolete 2.36 in 1950,
weighed 15 pounds and fired an 8.5 pound charge.
There were about 600 bazookas in an Army infantry
divison. Characterized by a large and distinct
backblast, the aluminum tube generally was not
effective beyond 75 yards against medium armor.
Recoilless Rifles: The 57mm, 75mm and
105mm recoilless rifles were essentially infantry
artillery. They developed high blast from escaping
gases on discharge, but no recoil, as with howitzers
or cannon. The obsolescent 57mm could be shoulder
fired, while the newer and heavier guns were
crew-served, mounted on tripods. Effective against
infantry and fortifications such as bunkers, they
fire regular shells with a flat trajectory over long
ranges. The 105mm was developed during the KW.
Infantry mortars: The 60mm, 81mm and
4.2in. mortars were essentially anti-personnel
weapons. They consisted of simple, sealed-breach
tubes and base-plates, which threw high explosive
shells at high angles, capable of reaching into
valleys, trenches and into defilade, while impervious
to direct fire themselves. The 60mm mortars were
carried into position by the rifle companies; the 81
mm mortars were handled by the weapons companies, and
the 4.2in were fired by a special mortar company
within the regiment. The 81 mm, with a maximum
effective range of 4,000 yards, to 1800 for the 60
mm, weighed more than 100 pounds and was not easily
transportable over rough terrain by foot troops. The
4.2 in, essentially an artillery weapon, was normally
vehicle mounted.
Quad .50: A half-track mounting four
.50s capable of being fired as a unit. Developed as
an anti-aircraft weapon, as an antipersonnel weapon
it was capable of hurling an immense amount of fire
into hillsides and valleys against advancing
infantry, or long-range harassing fire against enemy
movement routes at night. Firing as many as 100,000
rounds a day, the Quad .50 could go over hills like a
vacuum cleaner, sucking them devoid of life.
Artillery During Korean operations, the
standard the standard US artillery of WWII, the
105mm, the 155mm, the 8-in howitzers and rifles were
employed, usually in almost 20:1 numbers (cannon and
mortars) over our enemy. Developments were made in
direction, spotting, and radar-sensing. Toward the
end, Korea was usually an artillery war, with both
sides dug in and cannonading one another rather than
employing maneuver.
Armor. At the outset of the KW, to its
tremendous disadvantage, the US had no tank in the
Far East capable of engaging the obsolescent T34/85.
The light M-24, primarily a reconnaissance vehicle
with thin armor plate and a light 75mm cannon, was
augmented during August and September, 1950, with
various medium tanks such as the M-26 Pershing,
mounting a 90mm gun. Gradually the old M4A3
"Sherman IV", the WWII workhorse fitted
with a new high-velocity 76.2mm gun, became the
principle US battle tank. It had a high silhouette,
light armor, and an inadequate gun, but it was more
maneuverable in Korean terrain than more modern
tanks, such as the British Centurion III. Failure to
produce a good main battle tank, concentrating
instead on anti-tank weapons, was one of the
Army's principal weaknesses during the KW.
Communist Forces
Throughout the fighting, the enemy
was adept at capturing and employing US weapons and
equipment. During the first 90 days, the North Korean
People's Army (NK) secured enough equipment from
ROK and US divisions to equip several of their own.
The Chinese Communist Forces (CCF), during the first year of the war, were in many
cases equipped with US arms supplied to the
Nationalist government both during and after WWII,
all of which had fallen into Communist hands. The
Chinese also had a considerable quantity of
surrendered Japanese weapons, from rifles to field
artillery. The principal source of armament for the
NK and, after the first year also for the CCF,
was Soviet Russia. Just as the US provided 90% of all
munitions used by UN forces, Russia designed,
mass-produced and delivered the bulk of all Communist
weapons.
As with the US, the majority of
Russian equipment was WWII vintage.
Russian weaponry, as Russian
equipment generally, had one marked characteristic:
it was extremely rugged, of the simplest design
consistent with efficiency, and very easy to
maintain, making it suitable for the equipping of
peasant armies. Despite its simplicity and lack of
refinement, it was good.
Infantry rifles: Communist forces were
equipped with a miscellany of shoulder weapons, from
the Russian 7.62mm carbine, a bolt-action rifle of
1944 vintage, to Japanese 7.7mm Imperial Army rifles,
taken by the Soviets from the Kwantung Army in 1945,
and turned over to the CCF. The tendency of Communist
armies became to discard the rifle in favor of the
submachine gun, less accurate and less killing power,
but capable of throwing a much higher volume of fire
in the hands of unskilled personnel.
Shpagin
PPSh41 submachine gun (burp gun): Designed during
WWII, the PPSh41 submachine gun indicated the Soviet
belief that highly accurate small arms were wasted in
the hands of ground troops, while a large volume of
fire was a requisite. Cheap to make, simple to
operate, and thoroughly reliable under any
battlefield conditions, the Soviet submachine gun was
the best of its class made during WWII. Fired either
full or semiautomatic, it held a magazine of 72
rounds with a cyclic rate of 700-900 rounds per
minute. Inaccurate except at close range. Toward the
end of the war, the CCF operated either in submachine
gun or grenade platoons almost exclusively, while on
the offensive.
Tokarev Semiautomatic 7.62mm: This
weapon, fitted with flash hider and bipod, served a
purpose similar to the US BAR, although less
effectively.
Chinese hand grenades were of similar
classes as the US, but different in physical
appearance. Their stick fragmentation grenade was
less powerful, and their stick concussion grenade
more powerful. On offense, the CCF ordinarily
employed one platoon armed only with grenades,
preparing the way for an assault platoon armed with
burp guns. Since they were adept at moving close to
our positions at night, and striking suddenly, their
attacks were of great violence.
Russian 14.5 mm antitank rifle
PTRD-1941: This extremely long, ungainly weapon
was designed to face armor of early WWII vintage. In
the KW, it became an anti-vehicular weapon, and was
used for long-range sniping against personnel. Each
NK division carried 36 of them, called by Americans
the "elephant" or "buffalo"
gun.
Machine Guns: Several varieties of light
machine guns were used by the NK and the CCF,
together with the Goryunov heavy machine gun, which
was wheel mounted. Russian machine guns were
generally 7.62mm, an excellent military
cartridge.
Mortars: As with other weapons the
Communists used a miscellany of mortars, but the
standard Russian makes predominated. Because of its
ease of transport by hand, and its cheapness of
manufacture, the mortar was a favorite of both the NK
and the CCF. An NK regiment had six 120mm mortars,
each of its 3 battalions had nine 82mms, and the
61mms were deployed at company level. Their 82mm and
61mm guns could use US 81mm and 60mm ammunition,
which the Communists captured in large quantities.
Rocket launchers and recoilless rifles were not
standard enemy issue, being used only when
captured.
Artillery. The artillery support of the
NK and CCF closely followed that of WWII Soviet
divisions, although initially the CCF left most of
its artillery behind when crossing the Yalu, for
mobility and concealment. A division contained twelve
122mm howitzers, twenty-four 76mm field guns, twelve
76mm SU-76
self propelled guns, and twelve 45mm anti-tank guns.
In addition, each of a division's three regiments
was issued four 76mm howitzers, and the 122mm rifle
was also furnished by the Soviets. During the latter
phase of the war, Soviet artillery appeared in massed
formations similar to those employed against Berlin
in 1945. Larger, long-range artillery was used
sparingly by Communist forces, in contrast to the US
deployment of the medium 155mm in great quantities.
The CCF had a marked reluctance to fire on targets
they could not observe.
Armor. The Russian T-34/85, the Russian
main battle tank which was finalized in '44 and
obsolescent by 1950, remained the Communist battle
tank throughout. The T-34, weighing 35 tons and
capable of 34 mph, had excellent traction and was
well suited to Korean terrain, where heavier American
tanks such as the Patton had rough going. As the war
developed, a great preponderance of American armor
and air power reduced Communist armor to a minor
role.
