In June, 1950, the ROK army,
equipped with used American small-arms, little
artillery and no armor at all, were crushed by
the North Korean People's Army, the In Min
Gun. North Korea's army of thirteen infantry
divisions and 150 T-34 tanks, armed with the
whole family of soviet infantry
weapons, simply crushed the stunned ROKs. The
Truman Administration presumably hadn't
provided armor and heavy artillery to the ROK
army because they didn't trush Rhee. Some
considered him a loose cannon who might well have
attacked the North himself if he had been better
armed.
Perhaps providing substantial
armor would have been questionable, but what
about anti-armor? 3.5 in rockets (Super Bazookas)
might safely have been supplied, and might have
been enough. Still, even the infantry small arms
were unsuited for the troops who fought to the
death using them. Our 44" long, 11 pound
M1, magnificent in the hands
of our large soldiers, was too heavy and awkward
for the smaller ROKs. Their enemies, of
comparable physical size, were mainly armed with
the 40" long 8.8 pound SKS. The SKS was not only as
accurate as the M1 at the close ranges the
battles were fought, but had lighter recoil,
loaded 10 rounds compared to the M1's 8
rounds, and a skilled soldier could fire 35 aimed
rounds per minute. We had weapons suitable for
their body size, such as Grease guns (M3A1), and also
had selective-fire M2 Carbines, but did not
supply them.
Truman was convinced that nuclear
weapons had ended all infantry wars, and may have
thought the greatest danger would be Rhee might
start one in an isolated instance of arrogance.
He evidently failed to realize that nuclear
weapons didn't eliminate infantry wars, they
made infantry wars the only practical kind. Plus,
Truman and his cabinet did not appear to see a
difference between Communism and Stalinism,
perhaps influenced by American communists and
Soviet operatives such as Alger Hiss.
In the event, Truman fired his
Secretry of Defense Johnson, but as always, brave
soldiers and innocent civilians paid the price
for political error.
The company in this photo carries
only Carbines, Rifles, Cartridge belts and
canteens. They were deploying to set up a
blocking skirmish line. Perhaps most of these
troops had been picking apples in Masan or
stocking shelves in stores, just two months
before. Most of them might have been killed by
tanks, crew-served weapons and artillery two days
later.
Note how large the M1 seems on
these small men, as compared to the carbines. All
in all, they did the best they could.
God bless them.
