I am Wolf Jun, an engineering boy who accompanies you to read history
In March 1950, our armored corps formed a volunteer armored corps command post on the basis of the headquarters of the 1st Tank Division, and entered the Korean War with the 1st Regiment of the 1st Tank Division, the 2nd Regiment, the 3rd Regiment of the 2nd Tank Division, the 6th Tank Independent Regiment, the 53rd Regiment of the 26th Tank Division of East China, and the anti-aircraft artillery regiment and the engineering battalion as the main forces.
In June 1950, the Korean War broke out, and at this time our army did not have a formal armored corps, until September 1, our army's armored corps leadership organ was established. More than a month later, our volunteer army entered the Korean war, so our tank unit did not participate in the battle at the beginning of the war.
At that time, the equipment that our army could dispatch was only 10 Soviet tank regiments, a total of 500 tanks. However, at this time, our army's tanks had just been installed, and the driver was not even skilled in how to drive tanks, let alone enter the WAR in the DPRK. After intensive assault training, without air cover, the tank units of our army entered korea and participated in the war.
When the volunteer tank unit entered Korea, it was just in time for the end of the fourth battle. At this time on the Korean battlefield, there were more than 1,000 tanks put in by the US and British troops, while the Armored Forces of the DPRK have long ceased to exist, and the armored units of our army entering the DPRK, including self-propelled artillery, are only more than 100, and the ratio of forces between the enemy and us is 10:1.
The tank unit of our army, which has just been formed, will face the world's top tank unit as soon as it is established, not only because of the number of tanks, but also the quality of tank crews.
The Us and British tank units not only have a lot of actual combat experience, but also are very skilled in coordinated operations between infantry and tanks, tanks and artillery, and tanks and aviation. Moreover, the tank crew is also experienced in combat, with a large number of veterans who participated in World War II, and even the new recruits have sufficient training.
The tank units of the Volunteer Army were far from it, not only had no experience in infantry-tank coordination, but also had no air cover. The tank crew also had no experience in regular tank warfare, and the vast majority of them were recruits, who had not even experienced systematic training, only three months of surprise training, driving time of only 4-5 motorcycle hours, and only twenty or thirty rounds of shells, and rushed to the Korean battlefield.
Fortunately, the Soviet tanks equipped by our army can compete with the tanks of the United States and Britain in terms of performance. A tank regiment of the Volunteer Army was equipped with 30 T-34/85 medium tanks and 6 IS-2 heavy tanks. Both tanks belonged to the world's advanced equipment at that time, especially the T-34/85 medium tank, which was the star equipment in World War II.
The T34/85 tank underwent the baptism of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, was improved several times, and matured as the final model of the T-34. The T-34/85 combat weight is 32 tons, has a crew of 5 people, is equipped with an 85 mm cannon, is equipped with high-explosive armor fragmentation and armor piercing shells, and can penetrate 130 mm thick armor at a distance of 1000 meters. Its own armor thickness is 45-90 mm, and the maximum speed can reach 55 km/h.
The IS-2 heavy tank was developed by the Soviet Union to deal with the German "Tiger" tank, with a total combat weight of 46 tons, a crew of 4 people, equipped with a 122 mm cannon, which could penetrate 160 mm thick armor at a distance of 1000 meters and a maximum range of 14.6 km. Its armor thickness is 90-120 mm and its maximum speed is 37 km/h.
These two tanks had no pressure in the face of the M24 Xiafei light tank, which was mainly equipped in the early days of Britain and the United States, and the Korean People's Army used the T34/85 in the early stage to let the US troops in South Korea feel what a torrent of steel was, and the US troops who once fought lost their armor. Later, after the main equipment of britain and the United States was upgraded to M4A4E8 Sherman, M26 Pershing, and M46 Patton, the tanks equipped by our army still had their own strengths compared with them.
Although our army is not inferior in terms of tank performance, on the whole, the tank units of the Volunteer Army are at an absolute disadvantage compared with the British and American tank units. The overall number is not comparable, the quality of personnel is not comparable, the tactical cooperation is inexperienced, and for the newborn volunteer tank unit, it is simply the beginning of hellish difficulty.
As soon as the armored units of the Volunteer Army entered the DPRK, they faced two difficulties, one was that there was no air cover, so they could only travel day and night, and the other was that the rugged mountain roads in northern Korea were not conducive to the march, and it was not easy to march during the day, and it was even more difficult at night. So tank units simply cannot take advantage of rapid maneuvering.
The primary task of our tank units entering the DPRK is anti-tank combat; due to the weak anti-tank capability of our army, THE TANKS are often able to cross our front-line positions and penetrate more than 10 kilometers deep into our country, seriously threatening our forward positions. Therefore, after the volunteer tank unit entered the war, it tried to reverse this situation.
The volunteers organized the tanks into anti-tank reserves, set up ambushes on the only way for enemy tanks to pass, or took the initiative to attack enemy tanks in coordination with infantry, engineers, and artillery.
In the defensive operation against the "Autumn Offensive" in 1951, on the enemy position southwest of Shandian, there was the strength of an enemy tank company, which was fired at our forward position as mobile fire. In order to suppress the enemy, the superior decided to take the initiative to attack the enemy.
At dusk on 15 October, a T-34/85 tank of the 3rd Company of the Tank Regiment, taking advantage of heavy rain cover to enter the launch positions constructed in advance, suddenly launched a sudden attack at night, destroying 3 enemy tanks in a row, and then retreating under the cover of night
The day before the 3rd Company tanks went out, two tanks of the Second Tank Regiment also went out, set up an ambush at the East Hill of the Bathing Cave, and after a long wait of 17 days and nights, finally seized the opportunity on October 31 to destroy two enemy reconnaissance tanks and repel 6 enemy tanks.
After the end of the counterattack in the autumn of 1951, the first echelon of the volunteer tank unit was ordered to return to Korea, and the second echelon composed of the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Tank Division, the 5th Regiment and 6th Regiment of the 3rd Tank Division, the Independent 1st Regiment, and its own artillery regiment, anti-aircraft artillery battalion, and engineer battalion went to Korea.
In order to cooperate with the armistice negotiations and consolidate the existing positions, the volunteer army took the initiative to attack the enemy, and the tank units immediately dispatched to support the infantry operation. The scale of tank unit operations was thus expanded, but it was limited to the lack of air superiority, and the tank unit could only find another way to support infantry operations.
On October 2, 1952, 8 T-34/85 tanks and 4 IS-2 tanks of the 5th Tank Regiment, together with the 522nd Regiment of the 194th Division of the Volunteer Army, launched an attack on the enemy in the north of the Western Field and the 67th Hill. In the six-day and night battle, more than 2,000 enemy troops were annihilated, 46 enemy bunkers were destroyed, 22 enemy tanks were destroyed and injured, and one aircraft was shot down, which effectively supported our army in battle.
The U.S. army, which had suffered repeated defeats on the land battlefield, tried to start from the sea and once again staged the good drama of the Inchon landing. Our army has gained insight into the enemy's situation, organized its troops in advance, and made preparations for anti-landing operations. In order to strengthen the anti-landing force, the 1st Tank Division re-entered Korea, and also added a self-propelled artillery regiment.
Each self-propelled artillery regiment was equipped with 24 T-34/85 tanks and 16 self-propelled guns, including CY-76, CY-100, CY-122, and CY-152. Tank regiments and self-propelled artillery regiments were reinforced directly to infantry divisions acting as coastal defenses, self-propelled guns were used as fixed firing points for rapid-moving deployments, and tank detachments were used as reserves of divisions.
Tank Independent Regiments were incorporated into the Infantry Division Tank Reserve to assist the Second Echelon in counter-assault operations or to capture predetermined target areas to counter the intensive onslaught of enemy tanks. The tank division was mainly used as a tank reserve of the army group, assisting the infantry in counterattacks, and acting as an anti-airborne mission.
After the deployment was ready, the main defensive direction of our coast reached the strength of 14 tanks/self-propelled guns per kilometer of front, which greatly enhanced the defense, played a good role in deterring the enemy, and made an important contribution to forcing the US army to abandon the attempt to land and attack and take the initiative to return to the negotiating table.
In addition to active defense, in order to cooperate with the negotiations, our tank unit also took the initiative to attack, with 4 tank regiments into the counterattack operation. In the Jincheng counterattack, our tank unit repeatedly took advantage of the fog, rain and other weather that the enemy air force could not dispatch to take the initiative to attack, accompanied by infantry to launch an attack on the enemy position, played a key role in the tank in the attack, and brilliantly completed the coordinated operation of the infantry and tank.
In the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, although the tank units of the Volunteer Army participated in the war late, in the more than two years from March 1951 to July 1953, 3 tank divisions, 6 tank independent regiments, and 7 self-propelled artillery regiments participated in the war, dispatched 988 tanks/self-propelled guns, participated in 246 large and small battles, destroyed 74 enemy tanks, and destroyed 846 bunkers.
The newborn armored corps, which had just swaddled against the world's top tank troops, insisted on fighting under the absolute disadvantage and achieved impressive results. On the Korean battlefield, the newborn tank units played a role in national and military prestige, and made important contributions to the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. We have also gained a world-class tank unit through the experience of the battlefield of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.
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