I have several books on Korean War armor but I haven't found anything on non-armor artillery. Which is ironic because in the last half of the Korean War, artillery was used extensively and tanks most used as artillery as well.

It was essentially the same as that used in WW II except for the M41 155mm HMC.

KL

I was thinking not merely of the artillery itself but how it was set up.

It was essentially the same as it was in WW II.

KL

The same as it was in World War II except not as much worry about detection and counter battery so it was often out in the open with no concealment.

Throughout 1950 there was a lot of shoot and scoot with artillery often being the last ones to leave. Always one more fire mission.

Just Google "Korean War artillery" and lots of images come up. One forgets that Korea is ice cold in the winter with everyone in parkas and hot and dry in summer with many crews shirtless.

All,
The posts so far about the differences between US WW2 artillery and US Korean War artillery are accurate to a point.

For towed artillery, the artillery weapons used in the Korean War were updated and renamed WW2 pieces. Most of the changes were to bring the carriages to the latest specifications and to exchange the highway tread tires with non-directional tread tires. The Army also finally replaced the confusing model naming scheme with something more user friendly. It must be remembered that the initial period of the Korean war was a war of movement and more resembled WW2 while the later portion was static and more resembled WW1. So, if you are modeling a diorama artillery weapons from the later war period would usually be dug in. There are many photos available on the net showing the various position styles and layouts.

For self-propelled field artillery, there are more differences than similarities. In WW2 only 2 prototypes of the M40 155mm Gun Motor Carriage saw limited battlefield testing in last months of WW2 as part of Zebra Project. In Korea, there were two battalions of the weapon where it completely replaced the WW2 M12. Like the M40, the M43 Howitzer Motor Carriage saw only a single prototype combat tested in WW2 while in Korean there were two battalions in action. The M37 105mm Howitzer Motor carriage only saw combat in Korea. The M41 155mm Howitzer Motor Carriage also only saw action in Korea. The highly successful M7 “Priest” 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage was the most numerous self-propelled artillery weapon system in the US order of battle in Korea. Many were updated to the M7B2 variant during the Korean War to allow greater gun elevation due to the mountainous terrain. Once the fighting turned static, the self-propelled weapons were usually dug in. Photos of the dug in SP positions vary from simple dozer cuts with pushed up berms to elaborate sandbagged positions.

Rick

I did have the idea of Chinese soldiers overrunning a position that the UN troops had to abandon in a surprised hurry, such as a gun position. I figured a big gun would be most suitable for the purpose-no markings to worry about and from what you said, artillery were the last items to be pulled out.

The AFV Club M59 Long Tom would be perfect.

There were a number of retreats where artillery units suffered serious casualties. The 555th FAB during withdrawal near Kapyong was caught at night by the CCF and although they did man their 105mm howitzers but were forced to abandon 13 out of 18 howitzers.
Yet some artillery units stood and defeated CCF attacks. The 92nd FAB with M41s near Kapyong conducted a successful defense in 1951.

Both occurred during the action that saw the loss of the Gloucesters. By this time the US and South Koreans had lost 303 artillery pieces.

One WWII gun apparently not used was the towed 155mm gun. The SP M40 was used. There was at least one towed 8 inch howitzer FAB and even a 240mm Howitzer FAB. The 8 inch gun was also not used.
Clair Blair's The Forgotten War is a very good account of the War with much information on artillery units used in that War.

Grant

Sorry, I didn't See Gino's post before posting mine.

In Jack Galloways - Last Call of the Bugle he describes Australian Troops acting as the Rearguard in the retreat from the north coming across a freshly bugged out Artillery battery of I believe M1 155 Howitzers and all the attendent gear of the Gunners including their much treasured Winter Sleeping bags. A lot of the BN reequipped from this . Type Korean War Artillery in Google images from many good images of such including the M1 155, 8" gun, M101, 25 pdr etc

Reading with interest. Sounds like a good Campaign!

Robert Jan

Actually, the M1A1 and M59 were both used during the Korean War. There are numerous photos of both in action.
VR, Russ

Thanks, Russ. Tried to find one but couldn't.
Grant

There are photos of the M59 in Korea being towed by HSTs found in the copy of "Axis & Allied" article on the "Long Tom" in action, and somewhere here on Armorama is a posting about the M1A1 with two photos of an overturned M1 behind a Diamond-T in Korea when I asked a question about the Diamond-T as a prime mover, but I can't put my finger on it right now. I'll have to dig around.
VR, Russ

I did some digging, and found my original posting on the Diamond-T, and it was Frenchy (of course!) who came up with the Korean War photos of a Diamond-T and an overturned M1A1. Here's a link to the string:

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/269956&page=1

The background story of this accident must have been interesting. I can only assume there was another prime mover involved here "off camera" with two overturned "pigs" in the picture. It's definitely Korea, note the Eighth Army patch painted on the helmet. Since there's a soldier assigned to Eighth Army in the picture, it could be assumed this is a Corps or higher separate Artillery Battalion maybe? I served with the 9th Divarty in 1981-2 as a Chemical-O and trained as an FO, and we had the M114 (the Vietnam equivalent of the WWII M1). It was a very accurate peice--but we called it the "pig" due to its weight.
VR, Russ

Thank you, Russ. I looked at the thread. Don't have that book.
Grant

Bronco 25 pdr is a close match for Canadian Artillery. We used a lot of US-sourced equipment, but not in this case.

I want to say we also had 17 pdr used by the Infantry Bde in the DF role.

The re-designation of artillery did not occur until after the Armistice was signed, 1955 or so.

KL