Quote:
Originally Posted by Wraith601
The UN forces had plenty of Pershings, Centurions, and upgraded Shermans that all outmatched the T-34 that the Chaffee really wasn't needed. Also Korea really isn't very good tank country from what I understand, so the need for scout tanks really wasn't there.
Besides from what I've read the NK tanks crews were nowhere near as well trained and experienced as comparable Soviet crews and as a result the performance of the T-34 in Korea isn't indicative of its true capabilities.
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All of the above is true up to a point. Remember that our Division organization charts at the time called for Reconnaisance Battalions to be equiped with "Light" tanks. At that time it was the Chaffees as all Stuarts were no longer part of our inventory.
Our General staff wasn't all that technically educated either then or WW II where they used lightly armored tank destroyers as main battle tanks.
As for NK crew training, they had the same limitations as the Soviet crews of WW II where only every fifth tank had a radio. The TC's of the rest of them had to stick their unarmored heads out of the hatches to see which way they should go or if there was a target for them.