U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 1 (of 5): The Pusan PerimeterMontross, Lynn
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 1 (of 5): The Pusan Perimeter
Montross, Lynn
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
Each tank regiment had an estimated T/O strength of about 600 officers
and men. The three medium tank battalions were supported by a
regimental submachinegun company, a supply and maintenance company and
a headquarters section in addition to engineer, signal, reconnaissance,
and medical platoons. Forty T-34/85 medium tanks were divided into 13
for each battalion and 1 for the headquarters section, which also rated
a CAZ/67 jeep.
Responsibility for the indoctrination of the regiment rested with a
political section headed by a lieutenant colonel. As assistants he had
2 officers and 3 sergeants.
An NKPA tank battalion included a headquarters section and three 25-man
companies. A company contained three platoons, each of which was
assigned a medium tank. The standard crew consisted of the commander,
usually a senior lieutenant, the driver and assistant driver, the
gunner in charge of the 85-mm. rifle, and the assistant gunner
operating the 7.62-mm. machinegun. The usual ammunition load was 55
85-mm. shells and 2,000 rounds of machinegun ammunition.
Not much was known about the 206th Mechanized infantry Regiment, but
it was believed to consist of three motorized infantry battalions,
a 76-mm. howitzer battalion, a 45-mm. antitank battalion, a 120-mm.
mortar battalion, a signal company, and an NCO training company.[36]
[36] _Ibid._
_NKPA Officer Procurement and Conscription_
Officer procurement problems were solved in large part by the fact
that thousands of North Koreans had seen combat service with the CCF
forces. Many of these veterans were qualified as junior officers or
NCO’s without further training. Remaining vacancies for company-grade
officers were filled by officer candidate schools or the commissioning
of qualified NCO’s.
The West Point of the NKPA, located at Pyongyang, turned out an
estimated 4,000 junior officers from the time of its activation in 1946
to the beginning of the invasion. Courses normally ranged in length
from 6 to 10 months, but were abbreviated to 3 months during the autumn
of 1949 in anticipation of the invasion. After hostilities began, the
need for replacement officers became so urgent that one entire class at
the Pyongyang academy was commissioned wholesale on 10 July 1950 and
sent to the front after 20 days of instruction.[37]
[37] FECOM, ATIS, _North Korean Forces_, _op. cit._, 35–42.
Three Soviet officers, a colonel and two lieutenant colonels,
reportedly acted as advisers to a faculty composed of NKPA majors. The
five departments of the Academy were devoted to infantry, artillery,
engineering, signaling, and quartermasters’ duties.
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