Battle of Yongsan

Coordinates: 35°27′15″N 128°31′31″E / 35.45417°N 128.52528°E / 35.45417; 128.52528
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Battle of Yongsan
Part of the
Yongsan, South Korea
35°27′15″N 128°31′31″E / 35.45417°N 128.52528°E / 35.45417; 128.52528
Result United Nations victory
Belligerents

 United Nations

 North KoreaCommanders and leaders United States Laurence B. Keiser
United States Edward A. Craig Pak Kyo Sam
Lee Kwon Mu
Units involved United States 2nd Infantry Division
United States 1st Provisional Marine Brigade 9th Division
4th DivisionStrength 20,000 14,500

The Battle of Yongsan was an engagement between

Battle of Pusan Perimeter and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously. The battle ended in a victory for the UN after large numbers of United States Army (US) repelled a strong Korean People's Army
(KPA) attack.

During the nearby

Naktong River. Exploiting this weakness, the KPA 9th and 4th Divisions
attacked to Yongsan, a village east of the river and the gateway to the UN lines of supply and reinforcement for the Pusan Perimeter. What followed was a fight between KPA and US forces for Yongsan.

The KPA were able to briefly capture Yongsan from the 2nd Infantry Division, which had been split in half from the penetrations at Naktong Bulge.

US Marine Corps 1st Provisional Marine Brigade
to counterattack. In three days of fierce fighting, the Army and Marine forces were able to push the KPA out of the town and destroy the two attacking divisions. The win was a key step toward victory in the fight at the Naktong Bulge.

Background

Pusan Perimeter

Main article:
Battle of Pusan Perimeter

From the outbreak of the Korean War and the invasion of South Korea by the North, the KPA had enjoyed superiority in both manpower and equipment over both the

superior UN logistical system brought in more troops and supplies to the UN forces.[4]

Topographic map of a defensive line along the southeast tip of a peninsula
Map of the Pusan Perimeter Defensive line in September 1950 the Kyongju corridor is the northeasternmost sector.

When the KPA approached the Pusan Perimeter on August 5, they attempted the same frontal assault technique on the four main avenues of approach into the perimeter. Throughout August, the KPA

P'ohang-dong during the Battle of P'ohang-dong.[13] All along the front, the KPA troops were reeling from these defeats, the first time in the war their tactics were not working.[14]

September push

Main article:
The Great Naktong Offensive

In planning its new offensive, the KPA command decided any attempt to flank the UN force was impossible thanks to the support of the UN naval forces.[12] Instead, they opted to use frontal attack to breach the perimeter and collapse it; this was considered to be the only hope of achieving success in the battle.[4] Fed by intelligence from the Soviet Union, the North Koreans were aware of the UN forces building up along the Pusan Perimeter and that they must conduct an offensive soon or they could not win the battle.[15] A secondary objective was to surround Taegu and destroy the UN units in that city. As part of this mission, the KPA would first cut the supply lines to Taegu.[16][17]

On August 20, the KPA commands distributed

Yongsan.[19]

Battle

Main article: Second Battle of Naktong Bulge
Naktong River
, September 3

On the morning of September 1 the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the KPA 9th Division, in their first offensive of the war, stood only a few miles short of Yongsan after a successful river crossing and penetration of the US line.

Major General Pak Kyo Sam felt the chances of capturing Yongsan were strong.[22]

As the KPA 9th Division approached Yongsan, its 1st Regiment was on the north and its 2nd Regiment on the south.

Naktong Bulge as the main force of KPA I Corps. Elements of the 9th Division reached the hills just west of Yongsan during the afternoon of September 1.[23][25]

On the morning of September 1, with only the shattered remnants of E Company at hand, the US

Major General Laurence B. Keiser in this emergency attached the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion to the regiment. The US 72nd Tank Battalion and the 2nd Division Reconnaissance Company also were assigned positions close to Yongsan. The regimental commander planned to place the engineers on the chain of low hills that arched around Yongsan on the northwest.[23]

North Korean attack

A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, moved to the south side of the Yongsan-Naktong River road; D Company of the 2nd Engineer Battalion was on the north side of the road. Approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Yongsan an estimated 300 KPA troops engaged A Company in a fire fight.

M19 Gun Motor Carriages of the 82nd AAA Battalion supported the engineers in this action, which lasted several hours.[23] Meanwhile, with the approval of the Assistant Division Commander Brigadier General Joseph S. Bradley, D Company moved to the hill immediately south of and overlooking Yongsan.[23] A platoon of infantry went into position behind it. A Company was now ordered to fall back to the southeast edge of Yongsan on the left flank of D Company. There, A Company went into position along the road; on its left was C Company of the Engineer battalion, and beyond C Company was the 2nd Division Reconnaissance Company. The hill occupied by D Company was in reality the western tip of a large mountain mass that lay southeast of the town.[23] The road to Miryang came south out of Yongsan, bent around the western tip of this mountain, and then ran eastward along its southern base.[20] In its position, D Company not only commanded the town but also its exit, the road to Miryang.[23][27]

The KPA had also approached Yongsan from the south.

Sergeant First Class Charles W. Turner of the Reconnaissance Company particularly distinguished himself. He mounted a tank, operated its exposed turret machine gun, and directed tank fire which reportedly destroyed seven KPA machine guns. Turner and this tank came under heavy KPA fire which shot away the tank's periscope and antennae and scored more than 50 hits on it. Turner, although wounded, remained on the tank until he was killed. That night KPA soldiers crossed the low ground around Yongsan and entered the town from the south.[29][30]

The KPA now attempted a breakthrough of the Engineer position.

company commander was the only officer of D Company not killed or wounded in this melee, which cost the company 12 men killed and 18 wounded. The edge of Yongsan and the slopes of the hill south of the town became covered with KPA dead and destroyed equipment.[29]

Reinforcements

While this battle raged during the morning at Yongsan, commanders reorganized about 800 men of the 9th Infantry who had arrived in that vicinity from the overrun river line positions.

Korean Augmentees (KATUSAs) However, the cultural divide between the KATUSAs and the US troops caused tensions.[34]

At 09:35 September 2, while the KPA were attempting to destroy the engineer troops at the southern edge of Yongsan and clear the road to Miryang,

Chief of Staff, Far East Command in Tokyo.[32] He described the situation around the Perimeter and said the most serious threat was along the boundary between the US 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions.[31] He described the location of his reserve forces and his plans for using them. He said he had started the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, under Brigadier General Edward A. Craig, toward Yongsan but had not yet released them for commitment there and he wanted to be sure that UN commander General of the Army Douglas MacArthur approved his use of them, since he knew that this would interfere with other plans of the Far East Command.[35] Walker said he did not think he could restore the 2nd Division lines without using them. Hickey replied that MacArthur had the day before approved the use of the Marines if and when Walker considered it necessary.[32] A few hours after this conversation, at 13:15, Walker attached the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to the US 2nd Division[36] and ordered a co-ordinated attack by all available elements of the division and the Marines, with the mission of destroying the KPA east of the Naktong River in the 2nd Division sector and restoring the river line.[31][33] The Marines were to be released from 2nd Division control as soon as this mission was accomplished.[32][37]

September 3 counterattack

A man sits on a jeep with his hands on his head
A North Korean POW captured by US Marines along Naktong Bulge, September 4.

A conference was held that afternoon at the US 2nd Division command post attended by leaders of the Eighth Army, US 2nd Division, and 1st Marine Brigade.

Nam River and the Naktong River. There it was to prepare to enter the battle in either the 2nd or 25th Division zone.[32]

The troops holding this line on the first hills west of Yongsan were G Company, 9th Infantry, north of the road running west through Kogan-ni to the Naktong; A Company, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, southward across the road; and, below the engineers, F Company, 9th Infantry.[41] Between 03:00 and 04:30 September 3, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade moved to forward assembly areas.[39] The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines assembled north of Yongsan, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines south of it. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines established security positions southwest of Yongsan along the approaches into the regimental sector from that direction.[38][41]

During the night, A Company of the engineers had considerable fighting with KPA and never reached its objective.[40] At dawn September 3, A Company attacked to gain the high ground which was part of the designated Marine line of departure.[39] The company fought its way up the slope to within 100 yards (91 m) of the top, which was held by the firmly entrenched KPA.[41] At this point the company commander caught a KPA-thrown grenade and was wounded by its fragments as he tried to throw it away from his men. The company with help from Marine tank fire eventually gained its objective, but this early morning battle for the line of departure delayed the planned attack.[42]

The Marine attack started at 08:55 across the rice paddy land toward KPA-held high ground 0.5 miles (0.80 km) westward.

Air strikes, artillery concentrations, and machine gun and rifle fire of the 1st Battalion now caught KPA reinforcements in open rice paddies moving up from the second ridge and killed most of them. In the afternoon, the 1st Battalion advanced to Hill 91.[42]

North of the road the 2nd Battalion had a harder time, encountering heavy KPA fire when it reached the northern tip of Hill 116, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Yongsan.[39] The KPA held the hill during the day, and at night D Company of the 5th Marines was isolated there.[42] In the fighting west of Yongsan Marine armor knocked out four T-34 tanks, and KPA crew members abandoned a fifth.[40] That night the Marines dug in on a line 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Yongsan. The 2nd Battalion had lost 18 killed and 77 wounded during the day, most of them in D Company. Total Marine casualties for September 3 were 34 killed and 157 wounded. Coordinating its attack with that of the marines, the 9th Infantry advanced abreast of them on the north.[42]

September 4 counterattack

Just before midnight, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, received orders to pass through the 2nd Battalion and continue the attack in the morning.[39] That night torrential rains made the troops miserable and lowered morale. The KPA were unusually quiet and launched few patrols or attacks. The morning of September 4, the weather was clear.[42][43]

The counterattack continued at 08:00 September 4, at first against little opposition.[44] North of the road the 2nd Battalion quickly completed occupation of Hill 116, from which the KPA had withdrawn during the night. South of the road the 1st Battalion occupied what appeared to be a command post of the KPA 9th Division. Tents were still up and equipment lay scattered about. Two abandoned T-34 tanks in excellent condition stood there. Tanks and ground troops advancing along the road found it littered with KPA dead and destroyed and abandoned equipment. By nightfall the counterattack had gained another 3 miles (4.8 km).[42]

That night was quiet until just before dawn. The KPA then launched an attack against the 9th Infantry on the right of the Marines, the heaviest blow striking G Company.

hand-to-hand fighting, he bayoneted four more KPA soldiers, destroyed a machine gun position, and killed a mortar crew. US artillery fire concentrated in front of the 9th Infantry helped greatly in repelling the KPA in this night and day battle.[47]

September 5 counterattack

That morning, September 5, after a 10-minute artillery preparation, the American troops moved out in their third day of counterattack.[48] It was a day of rain. As the attack progressed, the marines approached Obong-ni Ridge and the 9th Infantry neared Cloverleaf Hill where they had fought tenaciously during the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the month before.[39] There, at midmorning, on the high ground ahead, they could see KPA troops digging in. The Marines approached the pass between the two hills and took positions in front of the KPA-held high ground.[47]

At 14:30 approximately 300 KPA infantry came from the village of

armored personnel carrier following behind.[39] The KPA infantry attack was brutal and inflicted 25 casualties on B Company before reinforcements from A Company and supporting Army artillery and Marine 81 mm mortars helped repel it.[47][49]

September 5 was a day of heavy casualties everywhere on the Pusan Perimeter.[50] Army units had 102 killed, 430 wounded, and 587 missing in action for a total of 1,119 casualties. Marine units had 35 killed, 91 wounded, for a total of 126 battle casualties. Total American battle casualties for the day were 1,245 men.[47] It is unknown how many KPA were killed or wounded on that day, but they likely suffered heavy casualties.[51]

North Koreans repulsed

During the previous night, at 20:00 September 4, General Walker had ordered the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade released from operational control of the 2nd Division effective at midnight, September 5.

1st Marine Division.[47][50] This was done after a heated disagreement between Walker's command and MacArthur's command. Walker said he could not hold the Pusan Perimeter without the Marines in reserve, while MacArthur said he could not conduct the Inchon landings without the Marines.[49] MacArthur responded by assigning the US 17th Infantry Regiment and later the US 65th Infantry Regiment to Walker's reserves, but Walker did not feel the inexperienced troops would be effective. Walker felt the transition endangered the Perimeter at a time when it was unclear if it would hold.[52][53]

The American counteroffensive of September 3–5 west of Yongsan, according to prisoner statements, resulted in one of the bloodiest debacles of the war for a KPA division. Even though remnants of the KPA 9th Division, supported by the low strength KPA 4th Division, still held Obong-ni Ridge, Cloverleaf Hill, and the intervening ground back to the Naktong on September 6, the division's offensive strength had been spent at the end of the American counterattack.[50] The KPA 9th and 4th divisions were not able to resume the offensive.[42]

Aftermath

The KPA 4th and 9th Divisions were almost completely destroyed in the battles at Naktong Bulge. The 9th Division had numbered 9,350 men at the beginning of the offensive on September 1. The 4th Division numbered 5,500.[18] Only a few hundred from each division returned to North Korea after the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge. The majority of the KPA troops had been killed, captured or deserted. The exact number of KPA casualties at Yongsan is impossible to determine, but a substantial amount of the attacking force was lost there.[51] All of KPA II Corps was in a similar state, and the KPA, exhausted at Pusan Perimeter and cut off after Inchon, was on the brink of defeat.[54]

The US casualty count at Yongsan is also difficult to know, as the division's scattered units were engaged all along the Naktong Bulge without communication and total casualty counts in each area could not be ascertained. The US 2nd Infantry Division suffered 1,120 killed, 2,563 wounded, 67 captured and 69 missing during its time at the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge.[55] This included about 180 casualties it suffered during the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the previous month.[56] American forces were continually repulsed but able to prevent the KPA from breaking the Pusan Perimeter.[57] The division had numbered 17,498 on September 1, but was in excellent position to attack despite its casualties.[58] The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade suffered 185 killed and around 500 wounded during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, most of which probably occurred at Yongsan.[56]

Once again the fatal weakness of the KPA had cost it victory after an impressive initial success-its communications and supply were not capable of exploiting a breakthrough and of supporting a continuing attack in the face of massive air, armor, and artillery fire that could be concentrated against its troops at critical points.[42][48] By September 8, the KPA attacks in the area had been repulsed.[35]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 392
  2. ^ Varhola 2000, p. 6
  3. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 138
  4. ^ a b Appleman 1998, p. 393
  5. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 367
  6. ^ Bowers, Hammong & MacGarrigle 2005, p. 149
  7. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 369
  8. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 130
  9. ^ Alexander 2003, p. 139
  10. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 353
  11. ^ Alexander 2003, p. 143
  12. ^ a b Catchpole 2001, p. 31
  13. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 136
  14. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 135
  15. ^ a b Fehrenbach 2001, p. 139
  16. ^ Millett 2000, p. 508
  17. ^ Alexander 2003, p. 181
  18. ^ a b Appleman 1998, p. 395
  19. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 396
  20. ^ a b c d e Millett 2000, p. 532
  21. ^ Catchpole 2001, p. 33
  22. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 459
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h Appleman 1998, p. 460
  24. ^ Catchpole 2001, p. 34
  25. ^ Alexander 2003, p. 182
  26. ^ a b c Fehrenbach 2001, p. 148
  27. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 146
  28. ^ a b c Millett 2000, p. 533
  29. ^ a b c d Appleman 1998, p. 461
  30. ^ a b Alexander 2003, p. 183
  31. ^ a b c d Millett 2000, p. 534
  32. ^ a b c d e f Appleman 1998, p. 462
  33. ^ a b c Alexander 2003, p. 184
  34. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 149
  35. ^ a b Catchpole 2001, p. 36
  36. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 147
  37. ^ Catchpole 2001, p. 35
  38. ^ a b c Fehrenbach 2001, p. 150
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Alexander 2003, p. 185
  40. ^ a b c d Millett 2000, p. 535
  41. ^ a b c Appleman 1998, p. 463
  42. ^ a b c d e f g h i Appleman 1998, p. 464
  43. ^ a b Fehrenbach 2001, p. 151
  44. ^ Millett 2000, p. 536
  45. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 152
  46. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 153
  47. ^ a b c d e f Appleman 1998, p. 465
  48. ^ a b Millett 2000, p. 537
  49. ^ a b Alexander 2003, p. 186
  50. ^ a b c d Fehrenbach 2001, p. 154
  51. ^ a b Appleman 1998, p. 603
  52. ^ Alexander 2003, p. 187
  53. ^ Fehrenbach 2001, p. 158
  54. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 604
  55. ^ Ecker 2004, p. 16
  56. ^ a b Ecker 2004, p. 20
  57. ^ Ecker 2004, p. 14
  58. ^ Appleman 1998, p. 382

Sources

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