A Korean Miscellany [Photographs]

Discussion in 'Korea' started by Charley Fortnum, Jul 21, 2019.

  1. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I don't know the first thing about post-war armour.

    These two are now gate guardians at an active army base in Goyang, South Korea, but I have no idea of the model, vintage.

    Anybody?

    SmartSelect_20190721-163345_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163236_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163311_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163419_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163442_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163510_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20190721-163540_Gallery.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2020
  2. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    M48 Patton
    1950s era.
     
  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Thanks.

    Were they any good? Aesthetically speaking, they have a pleasingly squat profile.

    They're also immaculate despite being outside. I think they must have the national service lads out there with cloths once a week.

    There are a couple of APCs at the next gate, but rain was threatening.
     
  4. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    The M48 was a good tank. I don't think I could tell you which model of M48 those are, but the tank did receive technical upgrades into the 1970s.
     
  5. SDP

    SDP Incurable Cometoholic

    The M48 was an early incarnation and quite soon (believe I'm correct in saying that) replaced by the M60 Patton which had a bigger gun and less of a tendency to burst into flame when hit. The tank - presumably the M60 'version' - is the US Vietnam standard tank: very successful history. I believe a number were sunk - not sure whether US or Far East (Thailand?) as a wildlife and diving attraction a few years ago.
     
    Charley Fortnum likes this.
  6. chrisgrove

    chrisgrove Senior Member

    The tank in the picture is an M48A2 - different rear decks from the earlier ones. As far as I know, the M60 never went to Vietnam; the M48 was quite capable of dealing with the few NVA tanks encountered, though some were later fitted with the 105mm gun (M48A5).
    Chris
     
    Charley Fortnum and Chris C like this.
  7. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Huh, wikipedia agrees with you - I didn't know this: "The M60 AVLB [bridgelayer] and M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle were the only variants of the M60 series deployed to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War."
     
  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Must be one of the most successful US armoured exports after Sherman.
    Seem to crop up in so many nation's armouries when the Cold War getting was good, and 'interim' designs were readily replaced.

    A1 was only made in mild steel so near all are A2-5

    Late '53 for the first batch.
    Had a look in an old Janes from 1976 & still in service then with Israel & Germany (under their own specific variants - extra smoke & IR on the Germans - local cupola & some British 105 guns for the Israelis), along with Greece, Jordan, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, US, Vietnam - still undergoing modernisation that year.

    For many of those states - "Maybe a bit strapped? Opposing the red menace? Here, have some tanks."
     
    Charley Fortnum and Chris C like this.
  9. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    A couple more things that came up on my rambles.

    First, as soon as you get north of the latitude of Seoul, all across the peninsula, you start to find these pre-arranged obstacles, concrete tunnels and bridges that can be demolished to block key routes. The way I've had it explained to me by a non-military minded layman is that they already contain the required charges, but having poked around the one below (on the east coast), I think it far more likely that they have hollow cavities into which the requisite charges can be inserted in seconds.

    If anybody knows better, he or she should feel free to correct me!

    This one is small, others are far larger.

    SmartSelect_20200823-194724_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-194746_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-194836_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-194808_Gallery.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2022
    Dave55 likes this.
  10. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

  11. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I stayed in Inje (in-jay) last night, a county in Gangwondo, the north-eastern (and most mountainous) region of South Korea.

    We stopped to look at the waterfall pictured and--to the dismay of my wife--I spotted a war memorial on the hill opposite.

    The unit, the Baekgol Brigade translates as 'White Bones', who were a military guerrilla force active in occupied territory. In truth, they were at roughly battalion strength (before suffering over 50% casualties), but the term brigade was employed to deceive the enemy as to their strength. Their commander, Chae Myung-shin, went on to high rank and influence, notably leading South Korean forces in Vietnam:

    Chae Myung-shin - Wikipedia

    SmartSelect_20200823-195714_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-201059_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-195750_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200231_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200243_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200835_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200258_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200817_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200917_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-200950_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-201004_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200823-201041_Gallery.jpg

    Roughly translated details:
    https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&pto=aue&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://ko.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%B0%B1%EA%B3%A8%EB%B3%91%EB%8B%A8&usg=ALkJrhitKUxW867h9oEAjrAtT5y8GhIFwg

    And here:
    https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&pto=aue&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://brunch.co.kr/@militarybox/20&usg=ALkJrhgO5GW43mlHUX75qchfjAbV_lJzng
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2022
    Dave55 and Tolbooth like this.
  12. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Last, a few weeks back, my family and I were out in the countryside at an acorn-pancake restaurant (yes, you read that correctly) in Paju, Gyeonggi-do (province). The place was full and the staff gave us a number and a twenty minute wait, which I used climbing an adjacent hill after spotting something in the carpark.

    Sorry if these shots are a little dull, but if anybody has any input about what I was looking at, I'd love to hear it.

    Initial clue:

    SmartSelect_20200823-203438_Gallery.jpg

    There's a whole line of trenches and bunkers going from the plain up, over and along the forested ridge of the hill. They seem old (50s, 60s? Look at the rock-work), but they have clearly been renovated in recent years (there's a modern flagpole near the base).

    The local farmer is using a number of them to cultivate mushrooms.

    The nearest landmark is Yagcheonsa, a significant Buddhist Temple on the same side of this hill.

    SmartSelect_20200823-203523_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203534_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203543_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203554_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203605_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203616_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203626_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203636_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203728_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-204738_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203728_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203742_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203757_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203811_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203823_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203833_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203845_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203857_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203915_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200823-203929_Gallery.jpg
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2020
  13. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I happened to be on this road yesterday, but I must have misremembered because I only found one.

    20200831_135606.jpg SmartSelect_20200831-135720_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20200831-135811_Gallery.jpg

    By pure fluke, we also drove past a fairly large memorial for the forces of the Philippines on the edge of Goyang City.

    SmartSelect_20200831-140107_Gallery.jpg

    SmartSelect_20200831-140325_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140229_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140358_Gallery.jpg
    20200831_141424.jpg

    The City war memorial--more like a shrine--has also been relocated to the same site:

    SmartSelect_20200831-143238_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140608_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140657_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140806_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140855_Gallery.jpg
    SmartSelect_20200831-140938_Gallery.jpg

    View after crossing the the road, facing roughly away from the site.

    SmartSelect_20200831-135940_Gallery.jpg
     
    JimHerriot and Tolbooth like this.
  14. chrisgrove

    chrisgrove Senior Member

    Charlie
    You may like to know that the tank shown in your last post is an M47 - an earlier tank than the M48 in your earlier post.
    Chris
     
    Charley Fortnum likes this.
  15. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I didn't realise that to be honest.

    The trip there was a flying visit while my wife drank her iced-coffee in the car.

    Any idea about that personnel carrier?
     
  16. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Charley,

    The wheeled armoured car in Post 3 looks like a Cadillac Gage Commando armoured car, minus a turret. Wiki has a lengthy entry: Cadillac Gage Commando - Wikipedia

    It was produced after the Korean War. The Philippines did use them, not South Korea.

    Your photo has an odd feature not found on Google images, the slated ventilation at the front and the vehicle appears to be lying lower than it should. Perhaps with the passage of time the suspension has failed and the tyre pressure is nil.
     
    Charley Fortnum likes this.
  17. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Well, done David--and thanks for that.

    Most peculiar, then, to find it as a 'gate guardian', although--as you can see from the memorial above--men from the Philippines were active around the area. That said, the date of first manufacture makes it most unlikely that they were still around. Probably arrived via the Americans.

    Today's jaunt was a failure. I'd hoped to find the site of a massacre that occurred in autumn 1950, soon after the reoccupation of the city, but owing to faulty information, I climbed the wrong hill and found only a modern fortification and a lot of warnings about wild boars. That said, subsequent research over coffee has identified the correct hill, frustratingly close to the one I was on, but rain was threatening (there's a typhoon on the way, so I'll have to make a return trip there before long.

    Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre (Korean: 고양 금정굴 민간인 학살 Hanja: 高陽衿井窟民間人虐殺 Goyang Geunjeong Cave civilian massacre) was a massacre of over 153 unarmed civilians conducted between 9 October 1950 and 31 October 1950 by police in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do district of South Korea. After the victory of the Second Battle of Seoul, South Korean authorities arrested and summarily executed several individuals along with their families on suspicion of sympathizing with North Korea. The killings in Goyang coincided with the Namyangju Massacre in nearby Namyangju.

    In 1995 the bodies of the 153 victims were excavated by their families. In June 2006 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission demanded that the South Korean government apologize and erect a monument for the victims. However, the government did not show any intention of following through on the TRCK recommendation. In 2007 the Truth and Reconciliation Commission again demanded that the government apologize, provide compensation, and erect a memorial for the victims; however, the government still refused. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission also clarified most of the victims, including 8 teenagers and 7 women, had no relation to rebels.

    On November 28, 2011, the Seoul central court ordered the South Korean government to apologize, pay reparations and fund a memorial to the victims' families.


    Source:
    Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre - Wikipedia
     
  18. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Time to use in Seoul (daughter at a birthday party), so we went up the road to Yongsan:

    War Memorial of Korea - Wikipedia

    No attempt at logic or order and no time for artistic framing. There's an awful lot on display outside and more within.

    Memorial Batch 1

    SmartSelect_20220220-145437_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145541_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145559_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145611_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145624_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145635_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145647_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145713_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145726_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145741_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145758_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145830_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145855_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-145951_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150029_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150046_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150107_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150132_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150154_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150308_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151137_Gallery.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2022
    4jonboy, Tolbooth and Owen like this.
  19. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Vehicles & weaponry

    SmartSelect_20220220-150326_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150345_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150404_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150422_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150448_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150500_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150512_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150527_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150539_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150553_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150631_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150644_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150656_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150709_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150721_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150735_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150751_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150807_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150838_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150851_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150905_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150917_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150822_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150929_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-150944_Gallery.jpg
     
    4jonboy, Tolbooth and Owen like this.
  20. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Stuff that flies and some rolls of honour.

    SmartSelect_20220220-151000_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151012_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151025_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151036_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151101_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151114_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151126_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151237_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151256_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151339_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151351_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151402_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151413_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151424_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151437_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151448_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151204_Gallery.jpg SmartSelect_20220220-151218_Gallery.jpg
     

Share This Page