Battle of Hwanggan The Battle of Hwanggan was an engagement between United States and North Korean forces that took place on July 23 – 29 , 1950 , on a road north of the village of Hwanggan in southern South Korea , early in the Korean War . The battle ended in a victory for the North Koreans after US troops were forced to withdraw south . The US Army ' s 27th Infantry Regiment , 25th Infantry Division , newly arrived in Korea , was moved to a road north of Hwanggan to block the North Korean People ' s Army ' s 2nd Division , advancing following the Battle of Taejon . In an unusually good first performance , the 27th Infantry was able to delay the North Korean division for almost a week , inflicting heavy casualties on it while suffering few casualties of their own . The North Koreans eventually were able to overwhelm the US forces with sheer numbers , capturing Hwanggan and pushing the American units further south . However , the action solidified the 27th Infantry ' s position as a valuable reserve unit for the US Eighth Army during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter . The 27th would go on to distinguish itself in several critical battles , including the Battle of the Bowling Alley . Background . Outbreak of war . Following the invasion of the Republic of Korea ( South Korea ) by its northern neighbor , the Democratic People ' s Republic of Korea ( North Korea ) , and the subsequent outbreak of the Korean War , the United Nations decided to commit troops to the conflict on behalf of South Korea . The United States sent ground forces to the Korean peninsula with the goal of fighting back the North Korean invasion and to prevent South Korea from collapsing . However , US forces in the Far East had been steadily decreasing since the end of World War II in 1945 , and at the time the closest forces were the 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth United States Army , which was headquartered in Japan . The division was understrength , and most of its equipment was antiquated due to reductions in military spending . Regardless , the 24th Infantry Division was ordered into South Korea . The 24th Infantry Division was the first US unit sent into Korea with the mission to take the initial " shock " of North Korean advances , delaying much larger North Korean units to buy time to allow follow - on forces to arrive . The division was consequently outnumbered and outgunned for several weeks as it attempted to delay the North Koreans , making time for the 7th Infantry Division , 25th Infantry Division , 1st Cavalry Division , and other Eighth Army supporting units to move into position . South Korean forces in the meantime were systematically defeated and forced south along Korea ' s east coast , with entire divisions being overrun by the North Koreans ' superior firepower and equipment . Advance elements of the 24th Infantry Division were badly defeated in the Battle of Osan on July 5 , during the first battle between American and North Korean forces . For the first month after the defeat of Task Force Smith , 24th Infantry Division soldiers were repeatedly defeated and forced south by the North Korean force ' s superior numbers and equipment . The regiments of the 24th Infantry Division were systematically pushed south in battles around Chochiwon , Chonan , and Pyongtaek . The 24th Infantry Division made a final stand in the Battle of Taejon , being almost completely destroyed in the process but delaying North Korean forces from advancing until July 20 . By that time , the Eighth Army ' s force of combat troops was roughly equal to North Korean forces attacking the region at around 70 , 000 for each side , with new UN units arriving every day . North Korean advance . In the east , the North Koreans advanced immediately after taking Taejon . Four North Korean divisions split up and approached the UN lines along separate routes . The NK 15th Division was the first to move against the US 25th Infantry in the Battle of Sangju on July 20 , where the division ' s US 24th Infantry would be quickly pushed back by the North Korean advance . In the meantime , the NK 3rd Division engaged the newly arrived US 1st Cavalry at the Battle of Yongdong on July 22 , where that division would also perform poorly . The NK 6th Division moved further south , where it would confront the US 29th Infantry Regiment at the Hadong Ambush on July 27 , effectively destroying one of the regiment ' s battalion s . The US units were performing extremely poorly in their first engagements against North Korean units , as a combination of shortages of supplies and lack of experienced soldiers and officers plagued the UN forces at this stage of the war . Battle . 27th Infantry advance . As other North Korean forces were closing on Yongdong , the NK 2nd Division continued its advance down the road from Hwanggan to Poun , having arrived in Taejon too late for the fight there . Its orders were to pass through that town and come out on the main Seoul – Pusan highway at Hwanggan , about east of Yongdong , placing it in the rear of the 1st Cavalry Division and on its main supply road . Responding to the threat , the Eighth Army ordered the US 27th Infantry Regiment of the US 25th Infantry Division to block the advance . After arriving in Korea , the regiment went to the Uisong area , north of Taegu . On July 13 , it moved from there to Andong to support South Korean troops , but before it entered action in the fight in that city , it suddenly received orders to move to Sangju to assist the 25th Infantry Division ' s other two regiments in that battle . En route , it received still other orders to change its destination to Hwanggan , and it closed there in an assembly area on the night of July 22 – 23 . The 27th Infantry ' s mission at Hwanggan was to relieve the exhausted and decimated South Korean units retreating down the Poun road . In the meantime it lost large numbers of its experienced officers as they were shifted to the US 24th Infantry . In carrying out Eighth Army ' s orders to block the Poun road , regimental commander Colonel John H . Michaelis , a West Point graduate known as an effective commander , assigned the 1st Battalion , 27th Infantry , to make contact with the first North Korean attacks . On the morning of July 23 , Lieutenant Colonel Gilbert J . Check moved the 1st Battalion northward toward Poun from the Hwanggan assembly area . He took up defensive positions in the evening near the village of Sangyong - ni , south of Poun . The battalion assumed responsibility for that sector at 17 : 00 after South Korean troops fell back through its position . However , the battalion was unable to ascertain from the retreating soldiers the NK 2nd Division ' s status or threat . North Korean attack . In the evening of July 23 , 1st Battalion sent a 30 - man patrol northward to locate the North Koreans . Near Poun , the patrol spotted a North Korean column approaching . The platoon took up superior positions and ambushed the column as it passed with all its weapons . The North Koreans halted their advance , thinking they had encountered a major position , and held back until daylight . When they turned back , the US patrol returned to the 1st Battalion lines at 04 : 00 on July 24 . It suffered six men missing to an unknown number of North Korean casualties . Check ' s 1st Battalion was not attacked until 06 : 30 on July 24 , shortly after daybreak in a heavy fog that allowed the North Koreans to approach very close to the US positions before they were observed . Two US infantry companies on either side of the road on low ridges held the forward positions . North Korean mortar fire fell on the men there , and then T - 34 tanks appeared at the bend in the road and opened fire with their main cannons and machine guns as they approached . North Korean infantry followed the tanks . Although the two rifle companies stopped the North Korean infantry , the tanks penetrated their positions and fired into the battalion command post which was behind B Company . This tank fire destroyed several vehicles and killed the medical officer . A company commander knocked out one tank but was injured in the process . On the right flank , north of the road , the North Koreans overran the battalion observation post and B Company ' s outpost line . This high ground changed hands three times during the day . While the infantry fight was in progress , and shortly after the first tank penetration , five more T - 34s came around the road bend toward the US 71st Tank Battalion . Check had called for an air strike when the first tanks appeared . Three F - 80 Shooting Star s arrived and immediately dived on the approaching group of tanks , destroying three of them with 5 - inch rockets . Altogether , bazooka , artillery , and air strikes knocked out six North Korean tanks during the morning , either within or on the edge of the 1st Battalion position . In its first engagement with American troops , the NK 2nd Division lost all but two of the eight tanks that had been attached to it a few days earlier at Chongju . US withdrawal to Hwanggan . The fight continued into the evening , and after dark the 1st Battalion disengaged and withdrew through the 2nd Battalion immediately behind it . Both Check and the regimental commander , Michaelis , expected the North Koreans to encircle the 1st Battalion position during the night if it stayed where it was . The North Koreans were apparently unaware of the 1st Battalion withdrawal , because the next morning , July 25 , two North Korean battalions in a double envelopment came in behind the positions 1st Battalion held the night before , but in front of Major Gordon E . Murch ' s 2nd Battalion . There the North Koreans were caught in the open by the combined fire of American tanks , artillery , and mortar , and the 2nd Battalion ' s automatic and small arms fire . The North Koreans suffered large numbers of casualties in this attack . Surviving remnants of the two North Koreans battalions withdrew in confusion . The 2nd Battalion took about 30 prisoners . The NK 2nd Division pushed forward in spite of the casualties , and that afternoon elements of it were flanking the 27th Infantry ' s main position . Michaelis issued an order about 22 : 00 for another withdrawal to high ground near Hwanggan . The withdrawal started near midnight with heavy fighting still in progress on the right flank . Murch took control of all nine US tanks and put them on line facing north , where they attacked North Korean troops approaching on the road . Mortar fire fell along the battalion line and the road behind it . F Company and the nine tanks covered the 2nd Battalion withdrawal . Second defensive line . On July 26 , 1st Battalion , US 35th Infantry arrived on the 27th Infantry ' s right flank . However , the next day the regimental left flank came under attack where a large gap existed between C Company , the westernmost unit of the 27th Infantry , and the US 7th Cavalry Regiment , the nearest unit of the US 1st Cavalry Division . C Company lost and regained a peak three times during the day . More than 40 casualties reduced its strength to approximately 60 men . B Company also lost heavily in action , falling to a strength of about 85 men . By the morning of July 28 the North Koreans had penetrated the 1st Battalion ' s line , forcing C Company to withdraw in the face of heavy North Korean infantry attack . At this point Colonel Michaelis went to the 1st Cavalry Division command post in Hwanggan and asked division commander Major General Hobart R . Gay for permission to withdraw his regiment through that division . Gay telephoned the Eighth Army headquarters and asked if he should attack in an effort to relieve the pressure on the 27th Infantry , or if that regiment should withdraw into the 1st Cavalry Division ' s area , move south to Kumch ' on , and then turn toward Sangju to rejoin the 25th Division . The Eighth Army decided the 27th Regiment should withdraw , as Gay feared it would quickly be surrounded if it tried to hold its position . Before dawn on July 29 , the 27th Infantry Regiment withdrew through the 1st Cavalry Division lines at Hwanggan to a position about east of Kumch ' on . That afternoon Michaelis received orders from Eighth Army to move to Waegwan on the Naktong River near Taegu , as army reserve , instead of joining the 25th Division in the Sangju area . Aftermath . The 27th Infantry Regiment lost 53 men killed , 221 wounded , and 49 missing , a total of 323 battle casualties during the battles along the Hwanggan road . However , it was able to delay the North Korean division for five days in this effort . The NK 2nd Division suffered heavily during this time to US artillery and armor , some estimates placing its losses above 3 , 000 men in the battles along the road . The US 1st Cavalry Division initially took the 27th Infantry ' s place on the line , but retreated without engaging the NK 2nd Division after movement by the NK 3rd Division threatened to take Kumch ' on and block the US division ' s route of supply . The division was driven to the Naktong River by July 31 , having taken 916 battle casualties at Hwanggan and Sangju in its first ten days on the line . Tactically , the North Koreans had been successful in pushing the US forces south and capturing the ground , but the American units had bought strategically valuable time to set up the Pusan Perimeter . The battle set the standard for the 27th Infantry , which performed unusually well in the fight . In contrast , other units of both the 25th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions in their first engagements at Yongdong and Sangju performed very poorly , prompting Walker to order the US forces to stop retreating , and " stand or die . " The US 27th Infantry would go on to be used as an emergency reserve during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter , where it particularly distinguished itself at the Battle of the Bowling Alley . The regiment ' s quality performance in the Hwanggan fight was crucial in the decision to make it a " fire brigade . "