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Korean War Allied Armour questions...

Heya kiddos!

I'm working on building equipment and aircraft of the Korean War. I've been researching it and reading a few books. Two things have appeared quite a few times, and they've got me puzzled.

In both "The Coldest Winter" and "The Final Crucible" the authors mention (and eyewitness anecdotal evidence states) that the USA and the USMC used "rockets" and "armored personnel carriers."

What type of equipment is this? Are the rocket launchers the Sherman Calliopes? Are they something like a Nebelwerfer? And what is being referred to by armored personnel carriers? Is this in reference to halftracks, amtracs like the LVT-1, or something entirely different?

Thanks for any and all help!

Reply to
hill4448
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The rocket launchers were small portable mounts which used 37mm gun carriages as platforms. There were 4.5" and 7.2" models, both of which (were) on display at the Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen. The lanchers were quite boxy and IIRC the 4.5" had 25 cells and the 7.2" had 16.

The idea at one point was "shoot and scoot" -- an Army H-19 or Marine H2SO would come in with a slung launcher, land it, the crew would jump out, set it up and fire a mission of one volley, rehook it, and leave.

At the very end of the war the US deployed the first APCs -- T18/M75s based on the new M41 light tank -- and the only place they appear to have been used was to remove wounded troops from "Pork Chop Hill" during the 7th Infantry Division's fight for that location.

Cookie Sewell

Reply to
AMPSOne

The US Army made some use of halftracks in the Korean War, but these were mostly M16 antiaircraft models. The M39 Armored Utility Vehicle was an APC of sorts but, like the halftracks, it had no overhead armor, and had to be mounted and dismounted over the sides. It probably saw more use as an ammuntion resupply vehicle than a troop carrier. The USMC was mostly using the Borg Warner-built LVT3 series of amtracs, and these had been retrofitted with roof protection after World War Two. Unlike the present AAV7 series, these were not ordinarily used as APCs after the marines had moved beyond the landing beaches, though. As Cookie mentioned, the M75 was introduced by the Army in the last days of the war, but the static nature of the fighting limited its usefulness. Gerald Owens

Reply to
Gerald Owens

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