Need help with Korean War Weapons

[garrowolf]

I know that most of the weapons that were from World War II. What I don't know is what weapons were used by the Koreans. Did they use Japanese weapons, Russian, what?
I'm just talking about the personal scale weapons at this point. I know that there was some development in vehicles technology.
Also I am looking for some prices for these weapons during the Korean war. Anyone have a list of prices or should I just make an estimate based on inflation?

 

[El Mahdi]

Courtesy of Wikipedia:

List of Korean War weapons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



edit: where it says PVA after a weapon, I think that means Peoples Volunteer Army. These were soldiers of China's Peoples Liberation Army. They likely had American weapons due to weapons provided to China both during and after WWII, and possibly also because they were under the command of the UN (so supplies - specifically ammo - would be interusable). Of course though, that meant that Yes: China was playing both sides of the conflict. The Peoples Volunteer Army was organized and placed under UN control specifically to avoid a direct war with America.

Peoples_Volunteer_Army_-_Wikipedia

 

[jonesy]

Both sides used surplus World War II weapons. At the beginning of the war NK forces captured a lot of the opposing weaponry and armed several of their own divisions with them. The Chinese had a supply of surplus Japanese weaponry, but also US weapons given to the nationalist government during WWII. Most of the weapons that NK forces purchased came from the Soviets, and was WWII vintage. Most ammunition on the NK side came from Soviet Russia, while most on the UN side came from US.

The major tech development was the widespread use of modern jets. Also the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals.

 

[El Mahdi]

The major tech development was the widespread use of modern jets. Also the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals.

...and the use of Alan Alda as a psyops weapon.

 

[garrowolf]

cool thanks!
I'm trying to have a weapons list for all the tech levels in my game. This may take a while!

 

[Wik]

The major tech development was the widespread use of modern jets. Also the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals.

And the MASH units were able to be used primarily due to the creation of the helicopter, which had only been used in I think Burma during the second world war. During Korea, the helicopter was used as a medical device and a recon device. Modern paramedicine owes its roots to Korea and Vietnam.

I think Napalm was also a major tech development. And I know that, at the end of the war, an inquiry led to the creation of the assault weapons used afterwards, so I think it's safe to assume that Korea saw more use of submachine guns than was common in WW2.

 

[jonesy]

cool thanks!
I'm trying to have a weapons list for all the tech levels in my game. This may take a while!

If you're trying to do historically accurate tech levels make the requirement for the introduction of the F-86 Sabre the introduction of the MiG-15.

The Sabre came into service in 1949 but they were only brought to Korea in 1950 after it became apparent just how powerful the new MiG's were. And even then the Sabres didn't do that well until the F-86F.

And I know that, at the end of the war, an inquiry led to the creation of the assault weapons used afterwards, so I think it's safe to assume that Korea saw more use of submachine guns than was common in WW2.

I don't know about that, but we've had both assault rifles and submachineguns in service since 1927. The Soviets and us borrowed designs back and forth before and after the Winter War.

 

[Wik]

If you're trying to do historically accurate tech levels make the requirement for the introduction of the F-86 Sabre the introduction of the MiG-15.

The Sabre came into service in 1949 but they were only brought to Korea in 1950 after it became apparent just how powerful the new MiG's were. And even then the Sabres didn't do that well until the F-86F.


I don't know about that, but we've had both assault rifles and submachineguns in service since 1927. The Soviets and us borrowed designs back and forth before and after the Winter War.

The end of the korean war, a commission was done which found (not surprisingly) that whichever side shot the most rounds usually one. This led to the M1 Garand Rifle (a semi automatic) being replaced by the M16 (an automatic).

Before that, automatics were left primarily in the hands of machine gun squads, and urban attack squads which carried Thompson sub machine guns. And the Thompson wasn't really that great of a weapon. I know my grandfather carried the Canadian equivalent in WW2, and often "lost" it in favour of the Lee Enfield.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The end of the korean war, a commission was done which found (not surprisingly) that whichever side shot the most rounds usually one. This led to the M1 Garand Rifle (a semi automatic) being replaced by the M16 (an automatic).

Before that, automatics were left primarily in the hands of machine gun squads, and urban attack squads which carried Thompson sub machine guns. And the Thompson wasn't really that great of a weapon. I know my grandfather carried the Canadian equivalent in WW2, and often "lost" it in favour of the Lee Enfield.

Well, it's a bit more convoluted than that. The WWII squad included the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) as its suppression weapon. Post Korea, the M14 was created to provide selectable automatic firepower for every rifleman in the squad; the M16 didn't come on the scene in quantity until about 1965.

The modern assault rifle was really created by the Germans in WWII, adopted shortly thereafter by the Russians with the Ak47, and didn't see western armies in quantity until the M16 (rifles like the M14, G3, and FN FAL being more battle rifles than assault rifles) -- but were largely not present on Korean battlefields. SMGs were, but SMGs are poor cousins to true assault rifles, sharing high rate of fire but lacking range and accuracy.

Korean war tech at the individual level was pretty much WWII standard US and Russian equipment. Vehicles did advance with another generation of armored personnel carriers and tanks, but the big changes were in the sky with jet aircraft and helicopters now widespread (though both made their combat debut in WWII). Napalm was also a WWII development, but became much more widespread in Korea as a means to defeat "human wave" attacks.

 

[haakon1]

Korean war tech at the individual level was pretty much WWII standard US and Russian equipment. Vehicles did advance with another generation of armored personnel carriers and tanks, but the big changes were in the sky with jet aircraft and helicopters now widespread (though both made their combat debut in WWII). Napalm was also a WWII development, but became much more widespread in Korea as a means to defeat "human wave" attacks.

Good summary.

Keep in mind that while the primary protagonists were the US and Communist China, plus their respective Korean allies, many other countries took part in the UN coalition protecting the ROK (South Korea). That allows for a lot of interesting character choices for an RPG.

Listing by # of KIA per Wikipedia:

-- Commonwealth - UK and its Empire, plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa

-- NATO members or future members - Turkey, France, Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

-- Others: Colombia, Thailand, Philippines, Ethiopia

-- Providing medical support only: Denmark, India, Italy, Norway, Sweden

Korean War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia