From left to right: DPRK Defence Minister Choe Yong-gon, Commander of the First Corp of the KPA, Kim Chaek, politician Kim Il, ‘Great Leader’ Kim Il-sung, and General Kang Kon with the first Type 49 submachine guns, a licensed copy of the Soviet PPSh-41. This embryonic Stalinist state was guided by the first of a dynasty, the ‘Great Leader’, Kim Il-sung. On September 9th, 1948, the birth of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the north, with its capital at Pyongyang. Source: Īfter an attempt to reunify the two states failed, on August 15th, 1948, the Republic of Korea was proclaimed in the south, with its capital at Seoul and president Syngman Rhee. There, they waited for the US troops that landed on the peninsula on September 8th. On August 15th, the troops of the Soviet Red Army crossed the border that separated the Soviet Union from Korea, advancing without meeting Japanese resistance and entering victoriously into Pyongyang on August 24th.Īs previously agreed with the Western Allies, the Soviet troops ended their advance about halfway down the Korean peninsula, where the 38th parallel passes through.

Foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of KoreaĮxactly 3 months after the end of the hostilities in Europe, on August 8th, 1945, Stalin declared war on Japan. The T-34-85s were used extensively in the first phases of the Korean War, where they were the only medium tanks used by the Chinese and North Koreans along with a few T-34-76s. Thanks to these supplies, by 1948, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and its army, the Korean People’s Army (KPA), were able to equip themselves with relatively modern medium armored vehicles capable of far outclassing the troops of the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) of the southern Republic of Korea (ROK). Medium Tank – ~2,000 Purchased Source: Īfter fighting during the final stages of World War II, from the spring of 1944 until May 1945, the T-34-85 was then supplied to states under the influence of the Soviet Union, such as Poland, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (1948-Present)

Greatest tank battles korean war