The Battle of Bloody Ridge took place during the Korean War from August 18th to September 5th, 1951. Located in hills north of the 38th parallel in the central Korean mountain range, it was fought between the communist North Korean forces of the KPA(Korean People's Army) and U.N.(United Nations)forces consisting of ROK(South Korean)units and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division(U.S. Army). The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁/韓國戰爭), from June 25, 1950 to cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (technically speaking, the war has not yet ended), was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. ... Patch of the United States Army 2nd Infantry Division. ...

By the summer of 1951, the Korean War had reached a stalemate as peace negotiations began at Kaesong. The opposing armies faced each other across a line which ran(roughly speaking) from east to west, through the middle of the Korean peninsula, a few miles north of the 38th parallel. U.N. and communist forces jockeyed for position along this line, clashing in a number of relatively small, but intense and bloody battles.

Bloody Ridge began as an attempt by U.N. forces to seize a series of hills forming a ridge which they believed were being used as observation posts to call in artillery fire on a U.N. supply road. The 36th ROK Regiment made the initial attack. It succeeded in capturing most, but not all, of the ridge after fierce fighting that at times was hand to hand. The KPA then counterattacked, driving the South Koreans off the ridge.

The next U.N. assault was made by the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division. After repeatedly being driven back, it succeeded in capturing one of the hill objectives after two days of heavy fighting. The weather then turned to almost constant rain, greatly slowing the attacks and making operations almost impossible because of the difficulty in bringing supplies through "rivers of mud" and up steep, slippery slopes. The United States army dispatched the 9th Infantry Regiment (the archaic designation of a Battalion size element) to assist the Chinese government during the Boxer Rebellion and China Relief expedition. ...

Fighting continued, however, as casualties mounted. The 2nd Division's 23rd Infantry Regiment joined the attack on the main ridge while the division's other infantry regiment, the 38th, occupied positions immediately behind the main ridge which threatened to cut off any North Korean retreat. The combination of frontal attacks, flanking movements and incessant bombardment by artillery, tanks and airstrikes finally forced the KPA to abandon its positions, which were occupied by the 2nd Infantry Division on September 5th.

The American soldiers called the piece of terrain they had taken, Bloody Ridge, which indeed it was: 2,700 U.N. and perhaps as many as 15,000 communists were casualties, almost all of them killed or wounded, few prisoners being taken by either side.

A few days later, a few miles to the north, the 2nd Infantry Division would be involved in another "ridge" fight, the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was a month long battle in the Korean War. ...

A NOTE ON CASUALTIES

The much higher communist casualties were due, in large part, to two factors:

1. Discipline in the KPA was extremely rigid, to the point where subordinate leaders were often not allowed to retreat under any conditions, in which case the entire unit would be destroyed. And, even when permission was granted for a withdrawal, it often came only after the large majority of troops in the unit had been killed.

2. In most battles,U.N. forces had an overwhelming advantage in artillery and air support; indeed, the communists had no air support whatsoever. An enormously destructive "rain of fire" could be brought by U.N. units against North Korean and Chinese forces which they could not answer in kind.

REFERENCES:

Blair, Clay, THE FORGOTTEN WAR, Times Books, NY(1987)

Fehrenbach, T.R., THIS KIND OF WAR, Macmillan, NY(1964)

Encyclopedia of the Korean War, ed.Spencer Tucker, Checkmark Books, NY(2002)