Battle of Yongsan The Battle of Yongsan was an engagement between United Nations ( UN ) and North Korean ( NK ) forces early in the Korean War from September 1 – 5 , 1950 , at Yongsan in South Korea . It was part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously . The battle ended in a victory for the United Nations after large numbers of United States ( US ) and South Korean troops repelled a strong North Korean attack . During the nearby Second Battle of Naktong Bulge , the North Korean People ' s Army broke through the US Army ' s 2nd Infantry Division lines along the Naktong River . Exploiting this weakness , the NK 9th Division and NK 4th Division 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 North Korean and US forces for Yongsan . The North Koreans were able to briefly capture Yongsan from the 2nd Infantry Division , which had been split in half from the penetrations at Naktong Bulge . Lieutenant General Walton Walker , seeing the danger of the attack , brought in the 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 North Koreans 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 . From the outbreak of the Korean War and the invasion of South Korea by the North , the North Korean People ' s Army had enjoyed superiority in both manpower and equipment over both the Republic of Korea Army and the United Nations forces dispatched to South Korea to prevent it from collapsing . The North Korean strategy was to aggressively pursue UN and ROK forces on all avenues of approach south and to engage them aggressively , attacking from the front and initiating a double envelopment of both flanks of the unit , which allowed the North Koreans to surround and cut off the opposing force , which would then be forced to retreat in disarray , often leaving behind much of its equipment . From their initial June 25 offensive to fights in July and early August , the North Koreans used this strategy to effectively defeat any UN force and push it south . However , when the UN forces , under the Eighth United States Army , established the Pusan Perimeter in August , the UN troops held a continuous line along the peninsula which North Korean troops could not flank , and their advantages in numbers decreased daily as the superior UN logistical system brought in more troops and supplies to the UN army . When the North Koreans 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 NK 6th Division , and later the NK 7th Division , engaged the US 25th Infantry Division at the Battle of Masan , initially repelling a UN counteroffensive before countering with battles at Komam - ni and Battle Mountain . These attacks stalled as UN forces , well equipped and with plenty of reserves , repeatedly repelled North Korean attacks . North of Masan , the NK 4th Division and the US 24th Infantry Division sparred in the Naktong Bulge area . In the First Battle of Naktong Bulge , the North Korean division was unable to hold its bridgehead across the river as large numbers of US reserve forces were brought in to repel it , and on August 19 , the NK 4th Division was forced back across the river with 50 percent casualties . In the Taegu region , five North Korean divisions were repulsed by three UN divisions in several attempts to attack the city during the Battle of Taegu . Particularly heavy fighting took place at the Battle of the Bowling Alley where the NK 13th Division was almost completely destroyed in the attack . On the east coast , three more North Korean divisions were repulsed by the South Koreans at P ' ohang - dong during the Battle of P ' ohang - dong . All along the front , the North Korean troops were reeling from these defeats , the first time in the war their strategies were not working . September push . In planning its new offensive , the North Korean command decided any attempt to flank the UN force was impossible thanks to the support of the UN navy . 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 . 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 . A secondary objective was to surround Taegu and destroy the UN and ROK units in that city . As part of this mission , the North Korean units would first cut the supply lines to Taegu . On August 20 , the North Korean commands distributed operations order s to their subordinate units . The North Koreans called for a simultaneous five - prong attack against the UN lines . These attacks would overwhelm the UN defenders and allow the North Koreans to break through the lines in at least one place to force the UN forces back . Five battle groupings were ordered . The center attack called for the NK 9th Division , NK 4th Division , NK 2nd Division , and NK 10th Division break through the US 2nd Infantry Division at the Naktong Bulge to Miryang and Yongsan . Battle . On the morning of September 1 the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the NK 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 American line . The 3rd Regiment had been left at Inch ' on , but division commander Major General Pak Kyo Sam felt the chances of capturing Yongsan were strong . As the NK 9th Division approached Yongsan , its 1st Regiment was on the north and its 2nd Regiment on the south . The division ' s attached support , consisting of one 76 mm artillery battalion from the NK I Corps , an antiaircraft battalion of artillery , two tank battalions of the NK 16th Armored Brigade , and a battalion of artillery from the NK 4th Division , gave it unusually heavy support . Crossing the river behind it came the 4th Division , a greatly weakened organization , far understrength , short of weapons , and made up mostly of untrained replacements . A captured North Korean document referred to this grouping of units that attacked from the Sinban - ni area into the Naktong Bulge as the main force of NK I Corps . Elements of the 9th Division reached the hills just west of Yongsan during the afternoon of September 1 . On the morning of September 1 , with only the shattered remnants of E Company at hand , the US 9th Infantry Regiment , US 2nd Infantry Division had virtually no troops to defend Yongsan . Division commander 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 . 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 west of Yongsan an estimated 300 North Korean troops engaged A Company in a fire fight . M19 Gun Motor Carriage s of the 82nd AAA Battalion supported the engineers in this action , which lasted several hours . Meanwhile , with the approval of General Bradley , D Company moved to the hill immediately south of and overlooking Yongsan . 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 . 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 . In its position , D Company not only commanded the town but also its exit , the road to Miryang . North Koreans had also approached Yongsan from the south . The US 2nd Division Reconnaissance Company and tanks of the 72nd Tank Battalion opposed them in an intense fight . In this action , 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 North Korean machine guns . Turner and this tank came under heavy North Korean 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 North Korean soldiers crossed the low ground around Yongsan and entered the town from the south . The North Koreans now attempted a breakthrough of the Engineer position . After daylight , they were unable to get reinforcements into the fight since D Company commanded the town and its approaches . In this fight , which raged until 11 : 00 , the engineers had neither artillery nor mortar support . D Company remedied this by using its new 3 . 5 - inch and old 2 . 36 - inch rocket launchers against the North Korean infantry . The fire of the 18 bazookas plus that from machine guns and the small arms of the company inflicted very heavy casualties on the North Koreans , who desperately tried to clear the way for a push eastward to Miryang . Tanks of A and B Companies , 72nd Tank Battalion , at the southern and eastern edge of Yongsan shared equally with the engineers in the intensity of this battle . The 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 North Korean dead and destroyed equipment . 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 . Among them were F and G Companies , which were not in the path of major North Korean crossings and had succeeded in withdrawing eastward . They had no crew - served weapons or heavy equipment . In midafternoon September 2 , tanks and the reorganized US 2nd Battalion , 9th Infantry , attacked through A Company , 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion , into Yongsan , and regained possession of the town at 15 : 00 . Later , two bazooka teams from A Company , 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion , knocked out three T - 34 tanks just west of Yongsan . American ground and air action destroyed other North Korean tanks during the day southwest of the town . By evening the North Koreans had been driven into the hills westward . In the evening , the 2nd Battalion and A Company , 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion , occupied the first chain of low hills beyond Yongsan , the engineers west and the 2nd Battalion northwest of the town . For the time being at least , the North Korean drive toward Miryang had been halted . In this time , the desperately undermanned US units began to be reinforced with Korean Augmentees ( KATUSAs . ) However , the cultural divide between the KATUSAs and the US troops caused tensions . At 09 : 35 September 2 , while the North Koreans were attempting to destroy the engineer troops at the southern edge of Yongsan and clear the road to Miryang , Eighth United States Army commander Lieutenant General Walton Walker spoke by telephone with Major General Doyle O . Hickey , Deputy Chief of Staff , Far East Command in Tokyo . He described the situation around the Perimeter and said the most serious threat was along the boundary between the US 2nd and US 25th Infantry Division s . 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 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 . 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 US Marines if and when Walker considered it necessary . A few hours after this conversation , at 13 : 15 , Walker attached the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to the US 2nd Division and ordered a co - ordinated attack by all available elements of the division and the marines , with the mission of destroying the North Koreans east of the Naktong River in the 2nd Division sector and restoring the river line . The marines were to be released from 2nd Division control as soon as this mission was accomplished . September 3 counterattack . 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 . A decision was reached that the marines would attack west at 08 : 00 on September 3 astride the Yongsan - Naktong River road ; the 9th Infantry , B Company of the 72nd Tank Battalion , and D Battery of the 82d AAA Battalion would attack northwest above the marines and attempt to re - establish contact with the US 23rd Infantry ; the 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion , remnants of the 1st Battalion , 9th Infantry , and elements of the 72nd Tank Battalion would attack on the left flank , or south , of the marines to reestablish contact with the 25th Division . Eighth Army now ordered the US 24th Infantry Division headquarters and the US 19th Infantry Regiment to move to the Susan - ni area , south of Miryang and east of the confluence of the Nam River and the Naktong River . There it was to prepare to enter the battle in either the 2nd or 25th Division zone . 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 . Between 03 : 00 and 04 : 30 September 3 , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade moved to forward assembly areas . 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 . During the night , A Company of the engineers had considerable fighting with North Koreans and never reached its objective . At dawn September 3 , A Company attacked to gain the high ground which was part of the designated Marine line of departure . The company fought its way up the slope to within of the top , which was held by the firmly entrenched North Koreans . At this point the company commander caught a North Korean - 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 . The Marine attack started at 08 : 55 across the rice paddy land toward North Korean - held high ground westward . The 1st Battalion , 5th Marines , south of the east - west road , gained its objective when North Korean soldiers broke under air attack and ran down the northern slope and crossed the road to Hill 116 in the 2nd Battalion zone . Air strikes , artillery concentrations , and machine gun and rifle fire of the 1st Battalion now caught North Korean 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 . North of the road the 2nd Battalion had a harder time , encountering heavy North Korean fire when it reached the northern tip of Hill 116 , west of Yongsan . The North Koreans held the hill during the day , and at night D Company of the 5th Marines was isolated there . In the fighting west of Yongsan Marine armor knocked out four T - 34 tanks , and North Korean crew members abandoned a fifth . That night the marines dug in on a line 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 . 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 . That night torrential rains made the troops miserable and lowered morale . The North Koreans were unusually quiet and launched few patrols or attacks . The morning of September 4 , the weather was clear . The counterattack continued at 08 : 00 September 4 , at first against little opposition . North of the road the 2nd Battalion quickly completed occupation of Hill 116 , from which the North Koreans had withdrawn during the night . South of the road the 1st Battalion occupied what appeared to be a command post of the NK 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 North Korean dead and destroyed and abandoned equipment . By nightfall the counterattack had gained another . That night was quiet until just before dawn . The North Koreans then launched an attack against the 9th Infantry on the right of the marines , the heaviest blow striking G Company . It had begun to rain again and the attack came in the midst of a downpour . In bringing his platoon from an outpost position to the relief of the company , Sergeant First Class Loren R . Kaufman encountered an encircling North Korean force on the ridge line . He bayoneted the lead scout and engaged those following with grenades and rifle fire . His sudden attack confused and dispersed this group . Kaufman led his platoon on and succeeded in joining hard - pressed G Company . In the ensuing action Kaufman led assaults against close - up North Korean positions and , in hand - to - hand fighting , he bayoneted four more North Korean soldiers , destroyed a machine gun position , and killed the crew members of a North Korean mortar . American artillery fire concentrated in front of the 9th Infantry helped greatly in repelling the North Koreans in this night and day battle . September 5 counterattack . That morning , September 5 , after a 10 - minute artillery preparation , the American troops moved out in their third day of counterattack . 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 . There , at midmorning , on the high ground ahead , they could see North Korean troops digging in . The marines approached the pass between the two hills and took positions in front of the North Korean - held high ground . At 14 : 30 approximately 300 North Korean infantry came from the village of Tugok and concealed positions , striking B Company on Hill 125 just north of the road and east of Tugok . Two T - 34 tanks surprised and knocked out the two leading Marine M26 Pershing tanks . Since the destroyed Pershing tanks blocked fields of fire , four others withdrew to better positions . Assault teams of B Company and the 1st Battalion with 3 . 5 - inch rocket launchers rushed into action , took the tanks under fire , and destroyed both of them , as well as an armored personnel carrier following behind . The North Korean infantry attack was brutal and inflicted 25 casualties on B Company before reinforcements from A Company and supporting Army artillery and the Marine 81 mm mortars helped repel it . September 5 was a day of heavy casualties everywhere on the Pusan Perimeter . 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 , and none missing in action , for a total of 126 battle casualties . Total American battle casualties for the day were 1 , 245 men . It is unknown how many North Koreans were killed or wounded on that day , but they likely suffered heavy casualties . 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 . He had vainly protested against releasing the brigade , believing he needed it and all the troops then in Korea if he were to stop the North Korean offensive against the Pusan Perimeter . At 00 : 15 , September 6 , the marines began leaving their lines at Obong - ni Ridge and headed for Pusan . They would join the 1st Marine Regiment and 7th Marine Regiment in forming the new 1st Marine Division . 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 North Korean division . Even though remnants of the NK 9th Division , supported by the low strength NK 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 . The NK 9th and 4th divisions were not able to resume the offensive . Just after midnight on September 6 , the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was ordered back to Pusan in order to travel to Japan and merge with other Marine units to form the 1st Marine Division . 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 . MacArthur responded by assigning the 17th Infantry Regiment , and later the 65th Infantry Regiment , would be added 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 . Aftermath . The North Korean 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 . Only a few hundred from each division returned to North Korea after the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge . The majority of the North Korean troops had been killed , captured or deserted . The exact number of North Korean casualties at Yongsan is impossible to determine , but a substantial amount of the attacking force was lost there . All of NK II Corps was in a similar state , and the North Korean army , exhausted at Pusan Perimeter and cut off after Inchon , was on the brink of defeat . 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 . This included about 180 casualties it suffered during the First Battle of Naktong Bulge the previous month . American forces were continually repulsed but able to prevent the North Koreans from breaking the Pusan Perimeter . The division had numbered 17 , 498 on September 1 , but was in excellent position to attack despite its casualties . 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 . Once again the fatal weakness of the North Korean Army 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 . By September 8 , the North Korean attacks in the area had been repulsed .