What weapons did the French and Belgians/Luxembourg contingent carry in Korea?

[KVLG]

Did they carry American arms, or Belgian, or French or German from WWII?

[LineDoggie]

US and were issued M43 Field Uniforms

[gaijinsamurai]

I believe the Belgians/Lux carried FN49 rifles, chambered in .30-06.

90% sure.....

[gaijinsamurai]

link....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FN-49

[KVLG]

I believe the Belgians/Lux carried FN49 rifles, chambered in .30-06.

90% sure.....

The Belgian Army made the first real contract for 2,000 of those new rifles on Aug. 24, 1950, not including the earlier 130 rifles obtained for testing. And the Luxembourgers received the first 1,500 rifles on May 5, 1951. Before they received them, they may have used American weaponry. When did the Belgian/Luxenbourg contingent arrive in Korea, btw?

[Clown123]

The Belgian Army made the first real contract for 2,000 of those new rifles on Aug. 24, 1950, not including the earlier 130 rifles obtained for testing. And the Luxembourgers received the first 1,500 rifles on May 5, 1951. Before they received them, they may have used American weaponry. When did the Belgian/Luxenbourg contingent arrive in Korea, btw?

Luxenbourg - Nov. 1950 - 1 volunteer platoon.
Belgian - Jan 1951 - 1st Bataillon Belge, Aug 1951 - 2nd Bataillon Belge.

Not sure about the weapons. Maybe British .303 Enfiled?

[Pandemonium]

During their first actions our troops used lee-enfields, after the battle at Imjin, the remains of the troops went to Chango-Ri where they were reformed and retrained and they received there new Fn-rifles

[Clown123]

During their first actions our troops used lee-enfields, after the battle at Imjin, the remains of the troops went to Chango-Ri where they were reformed and retrained and they received there new Fn-rifles

That might be right. I found some of their photos with Lee-Enfields.

This is Luxemburg platoon with British equipment on Oct 1950.

[baboon6]

During their first actions our troops used lee-enfields, after the battle at Imjin, the remains of the troops went to Chango-Ri where they were reformed and retrained and they received there new Fn-rifles

Makes sense since the Belgian battalion initially formed part of British 29 Infantry Brigade, from I think Jan to Aug 1951, but was then attached to the US 3rd Infantry Div for the remainder of the war.

[gilgoul]

apparently, and logically, since the french regiment was incorporated in the 2nd infantry division, they were using USGI equipment and weaponry.
here are some photos found on a french site corroborating the use of US equipment (BTW, my father used also US weqpons in algeria from 58 to 61)
http://site.voila.fr/coree

[theholeinthedonut]

The question what weapons the luxembourgish platoon used during the Korean war is not an easy one to answer. First of all the LU-army changed their small arms inventory during the war, and the Belgo-luxembourgish battalion was re-equipped and reassigned in Korea, afaik after the battle of the Imjin.

The first contingent (January 1951 - September 1951)was equipped with british infantry weapons, Lee-Enfield rifles, Bren light machine guns as well as Vickers Mk 1 machine guns, probably also Sten SMG's and Webley Mk IV revolvers.

There are many pics of the first contingent using US made weapons, M1 and M2 carbines, 1911 A1 pistols, I can't tell for sure if the Garand was used.

The second contingent (March 1952 - January 1953) was equipped with SAFN Mod 49 rifles, I can't tell you though if they left Luxembourg with this weapon or if they were still equipped with british small arms when they left for Korea and changed to the FN in country.
There were also Thompson M1A1 SMG's and Browning M1919 A4 /A6 machine guns in use as well as the 57 mm M18A1 RCR.

website about the Belgian-Luxembourgish battalion.

http://www.belgian-volunteercorps-korea.be/fotogallery.htm

[Sewen]

......

website about the Belgian-Luxembourgish battalion.

http://www.belgian-volunteercorps-korea.be/fotogallery.htmhttp://img193.imageshack.us/img193/2843/broedersgrootgailly.jpg (http://img193.imageshack.us/i/broedersgrootgailly.jpg/)


The Gailly brothers - their story is pretty well known.

Both were officers in the airborne, and both did two tours in Korea. Etienne (to the right) was well known because he won the bronze medal in the marathon at the 1948 London olympics.
Pierre Gailly went MIA in March 1953:
He was on a reconnaissance plane that got shot down and crashed into no man's land. A patrol led by his brother Etienne attempted to reach the wreckage, but failed. That night the wreckage came under friendly artillery fire, called in to deny the Chinese acces to the maps that were on the plane.
The remains of Capt. Pierre Gailly & the pilot have never been found.