RE: TANKS WAR

["Diego Zampini" <dzampini@hotmail.com>]

Hi, everybody.
What follows is the summary of what was the performance of the T-34/85 
during the first phases of the Korean War. My source is the book ´T-34/85´ 
by Stephen Zaloaga, published by Osprey:

By the beginning of the war the NKPA (North Korea People Army) had a 
formidable armoured fist of about 258 T-34/85s, 120 of them deployed in the 
105th Armoured Brigade. The brigade had 3 regiments (107th, 109th and 203rd) 
which. On June 25 1950 the 109th Armoured Regiment lead the first attack at 
05:00 hs and crushed the
17th regiment of the South Korean Army (SKA) near Sachang-ni, allowing the 
3rd division of the NKPA to occupy the west of South Korea. The main push 
happened in the ´Unificacion Road´ Kaesong-Seoul where the 203rd Armoured 
Regiment broke the front lines of the 12th and 13th regiments of the 1st SKA 
division near the Imjin river and opened the gates of Seoul to the NKPA 1st 
division. The same did the 107th Armoured Regiment with the SKA 7th division 
along the road Yonchon-Seoul. The ´panic to the tanks´ caught the SKA and 
the whole front fell.
On July 5 1950 happened the first encounter between NKPA T-34s and US 
troops, when 33 T-34/85s of the 107th Armoured Regiment engaged the Group 
Smith of the 24th US division in Osan. The avoilable anti-tank weapons of 
the group were useless against the armour of the NKPA tanks, and the group 
Smith was exterminated. On July 10 the T-34/85s had its first tank battle 
when found light tanks M-24 of the A Company, 78th Armoured Battalion, 24th 
division. The 75 mm cannon of the Chafee was unefective against the frontal 
armour of the T-34/85, and in 2 weeks 12 out of the 14 Chafees of the 
company were destroyed by the NKPA tanks. The 105th Armoured brigade was 
raised to the category of 105th Armoured Division that month due to its 
outstanding combat performance.
The US troops realized that the M-24s were useless against them and asked 89 
mm bazookas which were carried to the front lines thru parachutes droped by 
C-119s. With the inttention to convince his soldiers that the bazookas were 
able to destroy the T-34s, the CO of the 24th division, General William F. 
Dean himself leaded a anti-tank team in the streets of Taejon on July 20 and 
destroyed 15 T-34s, despite even then the US troops were forced to withdraw 
by the NKPA tanks. But on July 23 the 105th Armoured Division was stopped by 
a terrible ambush prepared by the 27th US division ´The Wolfhounds´ in 
Kumchon.
On August 17 1950 the 107th Armoured Regiment of the NKPA attacked the 
positions of the 1st Marines Brigade near Waegwan in the Naktong bulge. One 
T-34, previously hit by a bazooka with no effect, found an USMC M-26 
Pershing just around a corner, which destroyed the North Korean tank with 2 
90 mm shells. A second T-34, which had survived several bazooka hits, was 
destroyed by 2 M-26s, and a third T-34 followed the same fate. Ten days 
later, on August 27, the NKPA performed its last armoured assault near 
Tabudong, and being defeated by the Pershings of the C Company of 73rd 
Armoured Battalion. 13 T-34s and 5 Su-76Ms were destroyed by the 90 mm 
cannons of the M-26 Pershings. That was the last big tank battle of the war. 
According to the US statistics, the M-4A3E8/M-26/M-46s knocked out 97 
T-34/85s, plus 18 more possibles. In the other hand, 34 American tanks were 
destroyed by the T-34/85s (15 of them totally destroyed). 75% of the T-34 
crew members were killed by the anti-tank shells against only 18% of the 
American crews of the US tanks destroyed by the 85 mm shells, perhaps due to 
the US gunners fired against a target until it began to burn. The US 
analysts considered the T-34/85 an excellent tank, but also thought that the 
training of their crews were inferior than the American ones.

I hope this info helps you.
Regards,
Diego Fernando Zampini

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