11-346 Garand Picture of the Day

[Snafu]

British Royal Marines Commandos, put ashore by a U.S. naval vessel deep in the heart of North Korea, plant demolition charges along an enemy rail track on April 13, 1951 near Songjin, South Korea during a daring daylight raid. About 100 yards of the vital Chinese Communist rail line were destroyed within a few miles of two enemy divisions. (AP Photo) #

Information

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[Harlan (Deceased)]

Now, those Royal Marines look like some razor sharp troopers. Nice photo.

[frankderrico]

Yes Harlen, alot of confidence there.....Frank

[Sarge1998]

Why would they bring along a camera?

[browningautorifle]

Staged photo. Note no cam on their faces or equipment. I have a hard time believing it would be done during daylight too.

[Mark in Rochester]

41 Independent Commando moved into Ebisu Camp in the suburbs of Tokyo in January 1951 and all ranks enjoyed a period of R&R. Later, the Unit was transferred to HMAS Commonwealth at the Naval Base at Kure to re-equip, train and absorb reinforcements. Unfortunately, the arrival of key specialists was delayed and the CO became concerned that morale would suffer through prolonged inactivity so plans were made to mount a unit raid to cut the supplies from Manchuria to Hungnam. This was to be a daylight demonstration in force with very considerable support.

On 2 April 1951, 21 Officers and 256 ORs of 41 Independent Commando embarked in the LPD USS Fort Marion (11 LVT, 5 LVT(A) and 13 LC) and the APD USS Begor (4 LC). The Gunfire Support Group comprised a cruiser and two destroyers. Air Support was available from the carriers USS Boxer and USS Phillipine Sea. Six minesweepers were to approach to within 2000 yards of the beach. An SFCP (Shore Fire Control Party), a Tactical Air Support Party, and an Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), to reconnoitre the beach, were attached to the Commando.

After two rehearsals of the Amphibious Group the Force assembled off the objective area where proper consultations between the group commanders became possible for the first time on D-1, 6 April 1951.

Thick fog postponed the landing and reduced the naval bombardment to two hours but, at 0805 7 April, D Tp landed from two LVTs (armoured amphibians) and by 0900 hours the covering force was in position ready for the Assault Engineers, aided by the MT Section, to begin work.

Earlier raids had been directed at culverts and bridges, which could soon be repaired, and tunnels, from which roof falls could easily be removed. (Ideally, a train wrecked in a tunnel would block a line longest). On this raid the target was the embankment. Demolitions were carried out in four phases: first 16 shaped charges were blown to make boreholes, next each borehole was packed with 801lbs of TNT which were detonated. This process was then repeated in the craters to produce a gap in the embankment 100 ft wide and 16 ft deep. Finally 55 anti personnel mines were laid in the craters.

When mining was complete the withdrawal started and the last LVT left the beach at 1555 hrs. The Commando had been ashore for nearly eight hours and, apart from a small group which fired at C Tp from long range, there had been no enemy activity, although an informer reported two division in Songjin 15 miles to the North. There were no landing force casualties but unfortunately 5 villagers had been killed and 15 wounded. These were tended by the SBAs. Apart from this the naval bombardment had inflicted only superficial damage.

The Commando disembarked at Yokosuka and was re-established in Camp McGill on 13 April from where sub unit and unit training continued.

Apart from the Sorye Dong raid on 7 April 1951, all 41 Independent Commando's raids were clandestine operations conducted at night and were in two troop strength or less. The close approach was made in rubber boats, later augmented by SBS type two man canoes. The US LCR(L) (Landing Craft Rubber (Large)) carried 10 men (Coxwain, bowman and eight paddlers) and up to 400lbs of explosives in 10lb packs.

[Bill Hollinger]

More important, why would Harlan's "razor sharp" comment link to a Nikon camera???

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Those non-milsurp related links just started popping up recently. Maybe we should ask a Senior Moderator about them.

[Bob Seijas]

We used that photo on the back cover of a GCA Journal a while back. I had to crop it to fit the portrait format of a cover.

[Badger]

Those non-milsurp related links just started popping up recently. Maybe we should ask a Senior Moderator about them.

They have actually been around for about a year or so...

We're constantly trying to manage our site and control costs, so we can contiune to offer the research and forums for free to anyone who wishes to register. Without those revenue producing methods and the additional kind assistance of people who become Contributing Members (click here), my wife and I wouldn't be able to continue to operate the site.

One way the site earns revenue is using Skimlinks. Besides display banner advertising and other paid sponsorships, we also sometimes get paid a commission if you purchase a product or service that Skimlinks connects to in our content. Their software engine scans our site using specific key words and turns some phrases into links to ads. The correlation between our content and the link they select is always perfectly aligned, such as in this example.

Members don't need to be bothered with it if they don't want to. It is an option that individual members can turn ON or OFF as they wish within their personal User Control Panel under Edit Options (click here). Refer to the pic attached

Regards,
Doug