where's my rifle grenades?

[BARMAN1950]

I haven't seen any comments about rifle granades use during the Korean War, so I'll make a comment or two.

During my combat action from July of 1950 until April of 1951 we had many occasions to use the rifle granade. It was a useful weapon to use against entrenched troops and against enemy in bldgs. The only problem was that the M1 rile that had a granade launcher on it could not be fired in the semi-automatic mode. The granade launcher held the the "gas port" open so that there was no gas going back to operate the bolt. Also, as was mentioned the round that was used to fire the granade launcher was a "crimped round" and you wanted to make damned sure that you used only that round. The rifle had a very basic sight that was attached to the side of the rifle stock to be used with the granade launcher. We used mostly a HEAT type granade. we would sometimes use WP, the gooks really hated that stuff. There was a special granade attachement into which you inserted a regular Frag granade. You would pull the pin on the frag after you had inserted the frag into this special rifle granade. it was good in that it allowed you to get a frag granade out a 100 yards or so. The problem was that we never seemed to have enough of that type of rifle granade. As was said in another post the rifle granade was fired with the stock of the M1 on the ground, you didn't want to fire it from the shoulder as it Kicked like a mule. I have seen a few guys fire it from the shoulder but I never attempted it. The granade had a high loft when it was fired (much like a morter). We never really had a dedicated grenadier, but you could get pretty good with it after a few rounds.

A comment about the bazooka, In the early days of the Korean War we were armed with the WW II 2.36 inch bazooka. It was a very brave GI who would tackle a T34/85 with the damn thing, if it exploded at all it just pissed the gooks off without any damage. We got the new "Super Bazooka" 3.5 inch in early Sept of 1950, now that could stop a gook tank dead. in its tracks! We (myself) never fired a bazooka at a tank (thank God), but I've used it quite a bit against fortified positions. A good weapon!

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by JonS:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Photon:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Dorosh:

ie gammon bombs, Hawkin mines, etc.

Are these in the game? I played a game last night with '44 pattern British Airborne ... </font>

[Salkin]

Originally posted by BARMAN1950:

I haven't seen any comments about rifle granades use during the Korean War, so I'll make a comment or two.

During my combat action from July of 1950 until April of 1951 we had many occasions to use the rifle granade. It was a useful weapon to use against entrenched troops and against enemy in bldgs. The only problem was that the M1 rile that had a granade launcher on it could not be fired in the semi-automatic mode. The granade launcher held the the "gas port" open so that there was no gas going back to operate the bolt. Also, as was mentioned the round that was used to fire the granade launcher was a "crimped round" and you wanted to make damned sure that you used only that round. The rifle had a very basic sight that was attached to the side of the rifle stock to be used with the granade launcher. We used mostly a HEAT type granade. we would sometimes use WP, the gooks really hated that stuff. There was a special granade attachement into which you inserted a regular Frag granade. You would pull the pin on the frag after you had inserted the frag into this special rifle granade. it was good in that it allowed you to get a frag granade out a 100 yards or so. The problem was that we never seemed to have enough of that type of rifle granade. As was said in another post the rifle granade was fired with the stock of the M1 on the ground, you didn't want to fire it from the shoulder as it Kicked like a mule. I have seen a few guys fire it from the shoulder but I never attempted it. The granade had a high loft when it was fired (much like a morter). We never really had a dedicated grenadier, but you could get pretty good with it after a few rounds.

A comment about the bazooka, In the early days of the Korean War we were armed with the WW II 2.36 inch bazooka. It was a very brave GI who would tackle a T34/85 with the damn thing, if it exploded at all it just pissed the gooks off without any damage. We got the new "Super Bazooka" 3.5 inch in early Sept of 1950, now that could stop a gook tank dead. in its tracks! We (myself) never fired a bazooka at a tank (thank God), but I've used it quite a bit against fortified positions. A good weapon!

Nice and interesting post.

I take it the olders version of the bazooka is similar to the bazooka we use in CMAK ?

//Salkin

[JonS]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Ginger Bears?

Ask The_Capt (although I haven't seen him around for a bit)

I think this is a bug - if you go to edit Canadian infantry squads, there is a drop down menu for "anti-tank weapons" but all the options are shaded out. I hope this is a minor oversight.

I don't think it is a bug - I think it was a deliberate omission. That greyed out list you refer to seems to be the same for all the CW forces (i.e., it's greyed out for all of them), but anyway, the list only consists of German weapons, which is probably why it's greyed out to begin with.

Did you post this to the Official Bug and Patch thread?

Yes, it's in my list on p.1.

Regards

JonS

[BARMAN1950]

To Salkin: Yes, I believe that the 2.36 inch bazooka that was used in WW II and "early Korea" is the one being used in CMAK. I have seen pictures of the early model Bazooka that had an "anti-blowback screen", But the ones that we used in Korea did not have this device (nor was it needed).

One of the problems that occurred in Korea was that the ammo that we had was of WW II vintage, and did not always explode when it hit the target. "Very discouraging" to say the least.

An aside comment: Many of the C-rations that we got in the early days of the Korean war were also of WW II vintage, very poor taste to say the least. We usually tried to give these "older rations" to our KATUSA allies. Not sporting perhaps, but they would eat anything!

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by BARMAN1950:

To Salkin: Yes, I believe that the 2.36 inch bazooka that was used in WW II and "early Korea" is the one being used in CMAK. I have seen pictures of the early model Bazooka that had an "anti-blowback screen", But the ones that we used in Korea did not have this device (nor was it needed).

One of the problems that occurred in Korea was that the ammo that we had was of WW II vintage, and did not always explode when it hit the target. "Very discouraging" to say the least.

An aside comment: Many of the C-rations that we got in the early days of the Korean war were also of WW II vintage, very poor taste to say the least. We usually tried to give these "older rations" to our KATUSA allies. Not sporting perhaps, but they would eat anything!

For those that are unaware, KATUSA means Korean Augment to US Army - there were also KATCOMs - Korean Augment to Commonwealth troops.

BARMAN, did you have any memorable contacts with other UN troops while in Korea? If I recall correctly there were 17 different national contingents there, though I wouldn't expect a troop in country to have met anyone from most of them. Always interesting to get a fresh perspective; I have a very good internet friend who served there with two different battalions of the RCR (and lost his leg on his last day of his tour of duty) and his comments have always been illuminating.

Thanks for your service, there, by the way and for posting to this forum so we can all benefit by your knowledge and experience.

I joined the Canadian reserve army in 1987 and our last serving combat veteran was the Regimental Sergeant Major at that time. You could hear him when he was in dress uniform because he had so many medals they had to overlap, and you could hear them clinking wherever he walked. He had served with the Princess Patricias in Korea. If WW II was "our" greatest generation, I rate the Korean vets just as highly.

[Mr. Tittles]

Did the Koreans make use of rifle grenades? I picture them in the early part of the war with PPsh sub-mgs and bolt action rifles.

I recently saw info that the north koreans/chinese used SKS rifles in korea. This fires the AK round I gather.

[jgawne]

Just for fun I will mention a true WW2 story, and I have seen the actual site as well. The very first shot my dad's platoon fired in anger was a rifle grenade.

They came up by an odd stone tower with a small medival type slit window in it. One of his men said he saw movement in the window and asked if he could please take a shot at it.

So of couse not being one to stand in the way of wasndon violence( or probably wanting to get the first shot out of the way to relieve some tension) he said sure.

The guy shoudler fired an AT grenade (yes, shoulder fired. You're supposed to break your shoulder if you do that. But they guy did it.

And the grenade arched perfectly into the window and went boom.

Everyone stood there in total stupification.

So it can happen. Just not that often.

[Michael Dorosh]

I'll add another annoying addendum to someone else's post by mentioning that Jon's dad served with the 8th Infantry Division in WW II; not one of the glory divs that got all the press, but Jon does have a website devoted to the Division which is linked to from the home page in his sig.

[BARMAN1950]

I did have the opportunity to meet up with othe "UN" troops in Korea. They kind of moved in and out of our area of control (I was in the 25th Inf Div). I remember the Pricess Pat's were with us for a short time. Also, The 3rd Royal Australian Regt was with us for a bit. Most of the troops from the British Brigade (which for a time included both of the above units) were excellent in combat. I also had the opportunity to spend a few days on a Hospital Ship that was run by the Danes.

I don't remember seeing either the North Koreans or the Chinese using Rifle granades. They were quite good with Mortars however. I think that the biggest shock to me was how good the enemy troops were. They had a real "mish mash" of weapons. I have seen them with Russian, British, American & Japanese weapons. The granades they used were Also of the same mix although most were Russian Potato masher types (lots of BOOM but not much shrapnel).

When the Korean War started we were afraid that the war would be over before we had a chance to show them how good we were. We felt that when they found out that they were fighting "America's finest" that they would turn tail and run. NOT SO!!, they proceeded to kick our ass around a bit. It took us a week or so to realize that we were fighting first line troops who would not die easily! But, we did learn and in the long run we did kick their ass.

With respect to the KATUSA, they were uniformly BAD. Most had been dragooned off of the streets of Pusan, given about 3 days training and sent to us. I ended up with 3 or 4 in every squad. Mostly we used them as ammo, water & food bearers. They were very shy when it came to a fire fight. Not there fault . Little training and practically no communication. We only had one interpeter per platoon, so it was difficult to make use of them.

As an aside; I have heard that the Korean Troops in Vietnam were excellent, real warriors.

[Mr. Tittles]

When I was in the service, we had a Korean in our unit who was once in the South Korean army before emigrating to the US. He was incredibly physically tough despite his height. He would laugh at our training and thought army chow was the best food on earth. He would tell us stories of physical abuse by the ROK NCOs. During inspections you stood in formation, if you got 'gigged' on something, the NCO would punch you in the gut (everyone clenched their stomachs during inspection). If you went down, he would kick you till you got up.

I have both Koreans and Vietnamese in my business today. I find many Vietnamese to be in a state of perpetual loudness. Koreans seem more reserved but hell breaks loose when they lose it.

[Tha_Field_Marshall]

Excellent posts by all, Thanks a bunch.