Posted on 11/25/2010 9:25:24 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
South thwarts even bigger attack
Military says strike by howitzers took out equipment
November 25, 2010
North Korea had planned to fire more shells than the roughly 170 rounds that fell on Yeonpyeong Island and the waters around it, but a counterattack by South Korea damaged their equipment, South Korean military officials said yesterday.
The South, however, did not describe the extent of the damage, adding to the list of unanswered questions over the first inland skirmish between the two Koreas since the Korean War.
The attack by the North left two marines and two civilians dead.
“After the North Korean military fired roughly 150 rounds in the first 12 minutes of the attack, they prepared for a bigger attack but were unable to do so once our military retaliated with K9 howitzers,” said a South Korean military official. Another 20 rounds were fired after the initial attack.
The K9 is a South Korean self-propelled howitzer developed for the South Korean military by Samsung Techwin. The weapon can fire six 155-millimeter rounds per minute.
“Because the K9 is very accurate, the North Korean military bases were probably reduced to rubble,” said the official.
South Korean Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young said during a hearing at the National Assembly’s Defense Committee yesterday that images of the North Korean coastline were hard to obtain “because of the clouds in that direction.”
The military could not confirm how much damage had been done by the South’s retaliatory response. The defense minister said military officials were working to determine the extent of the damage.
More questions were lobbed at Kim yesterday, with lawmakers demanding to know why the South Korean military had taken 13 minutes to start firing back after the North initiated firing at 2:34 p.m.
“According to our military tactics, I believe we did very well if we responded in 13 minutes,” said Kim after lawmakers accused the South Korean military of being slow to respond.
The defense minister said the soldiers had to take shelter during the first attacks and rotating the guns in the direction of the attack took time, said Kim. “To fire while you’re on the receiving end is like committing suicide,” said one South Korean military official.
The minister also explained that the North’s attack was unrelated to the joint Hoguk exercise between South Korea and the U.S. and that North Korea had bombarded the island because of monthly shooting exercises near the disputed maritime border between the two Koreas.
“We are indeed in the middle of Hoguk exercises but the training that took place near Yeonpyeong Island was not part of the Hoguk exercises, but monthly shooting exercises,” said Kim.
When asked if any of the South Korean rounds fired during the exercise had crossed the border accidentally, triggering the attack, Kim said the South Korean military prepares “with caution” and keeps their firing “4 to 5 kilometers [2.5 to 3.1 miles] away from the Northern Limit Line.”
North Korea had sent statements before the attack on Tuesday, warning South Korea to halt the Hoguk exercises. Kim said that North Korea had complained about the routine firing exercises in the past, but it was the first time for them to have acted on it.
In a report turned into the Defense Committee of the National Assembly yesterday, the Defense Ministry confirmed that North Korea had fired roughly 170 rounds toward Yeonpyeong Island.
“Around 80 rounds landed on the island, while about 90 rounds landed in the waters surrounding the island,” the report said. The South Korean military fired 80 rounds from K9 howitzers. The Defense Ministry also said troops have been “status ready” for firing since the attack, with five fighter jets on standby.
By Christine Kim [christine.kim@joongang.co.kr]
The K-9 Thunder
S. Korean defense minister resigns; North threatens additional attacks
Earlier reports said counter-battery would not be effective given the NK artillery where in hardened bunkers.
Sheer spin---the fact of the matter is that the DPRK caught the ROK completely flat footed and embarrassed the rather feckless ROK government.
As a cadet, I did my troop leaderhip training with an M109 Howitzer (on which the K9 is based) battery in West Germany. I was amazed at how precise they, and FA in general can be. Even without FO’s, I’d be willing to bet the static Nork positions have been so thoroughly mapped by satellite and recon flights that there’s no reason to doubt the claims the ROKs are making for the results of their counterbattery fire.
So then I take it S.Korea has somebody that upon hearing artillary fire begins immediately counting the shots fired, or is that done by computer these days I wonder.
Good to see the S.Koreans have reciprocal propaganda to combat the BS out of the North. Hope they do well.
I appreciate the S. Korean people. I was stationed there ‘66-’68. Very nice people.
This one is the small one:
Image Shack breaks the link if an image uses too much bandwidth. :(
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
That’s printed and on my cork board now, funniest sh*t I’ve ever seen
I have a question for the towed 155 guys, I can’t remember how long it took us to get out the first round in a quick fire, from the time we braked to the time the lanyard was pulled, it seems like it was so quick that I hesitate to tell it to people unless I am sure that I remember it correctly.
If anyone remembers how quick it could get, please ping me with the figure.
I know the pre-Palidan M109s (SP) practiced a drill they called "hip-shooting" which would take a howitzer on the march and have it halt and prep for a fire mission within a matter of a few short minutes, but I don't recall the exact time standard.
That well exceeded the approved max rate of fire, but the only downside was that we would burn out that little piece that held the primer (so long ago I can't remember what they called it.)
We would stockpile those parts so that we could maintain the 5 rounds per minute rate.
The quick fire was the one where the situation was a unit being overrun, and we needed to get artillery shells into the area to let the attackers know that focused artillery was coming within minutes.
The exercise was that you are driving, and suddenly you have to stop, and the second that you can get a shell into that engagement, you fire it, and then you proceed to improve and refine your firing position.
My section used to win those kind of things, and it seems like it took, far, far less than 10 minutes, back then I would handle the over 200 pound spade myself, to free up an additional digger.
Pretend TWA 800 just fell appart from a bad fuel tank, and they need to make a bigger statement which can't be dismissed, (Trade Center Towers).
They Pretend some mystery event sunk a South Korean Battleship, of unknown origin and it's time to lob off a few hundred fuel-air mortar shells at the South Koreans.
The unfortunately embarrassing thing here is that it is us the United States that they are kicking in the balls and laughing.
It's been several 3:00AM phone calls so far, just like Hillary said.
Nothin, Nadda, Nyet, Bupkis......
Obamma is a pussy. Even Clinton bombed the Chinese embassy for interfering with Bosnia. Obama should call up China and inform them that every relative of Lunakim Jong Ill has had a 2000lb JDAM dropped and will hit in three minutes. Hell, China would wonder why it took so long!
That seemed to take about 10 minutes, but we had the gun laid by then.
In the exercise you describe, how did you proceed to lay the gun?
Donald Rumsfeld killed it.
I just don’t remember the details, it has been almost 40 years since I did that stuff, we also used Chinooks at time though.
Thanks!
:)
I have fun making them from time to time...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.