Battle of Bloody Ridge The Battle of Bloody Ridge was a ground combat battle that took place during the Korean War from August 18 to September 5 , 1951 . Located in hills north of the 38th parallel north in the central Korean mountain range , the battle was fought between the communist North Korean forces of the Korean People ' s Army ( KPA ) and United Nations forces consisting of Republic of Korea Army ( ROK ) units and the U . S . 2nd Infantry Division . Background . 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 ( with many twists and turns along the way ) from east to west , through the middle of the Korean peninsula , a few miles north of the 38th parallel . UN and communist forces jockeyed for position along this line , clashing in several relatively small but intense and bloody battles . Bloody Ridge began as an attempt by UN 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 UN supply road . Battle . The 36th ROK Regiment made the initial attack . It succeeded in capturing most , but not all , of the ridge after a week of fierce fighting that at times was hand to hand . It was a short - lived triumph , for the following day the North Koreans recaptured the mountain in a fierce counterattack . The next UN assault was made by the 9th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division . The battle raged for ten days , as the North Koreans repulsed one assault after another by the increasingly exhausted and depleted U . S . forces . After repeatedly being driven back , the 9th 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 . Fighting continued , however , and 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 Infantry Regiment , occupied positions immediately behind the main ridge which threatened to cut off any North Korean retreat . The combination of frontal attack s , flanking movements and incessant bombardment by artillery , tanks and airstrikes ultimately decided the battle . Finally , on September 5 , the North Koreans abandoned the ridge after UN forces succeeded in outflanking it . After withdrawing from Bloody Ridge , the North Koreans set up new positions just away on a seven mile ( 11 km ) long ( 11 km ) hill mass that was soon to earn the name Heartbreak Ridge . Aftermath . The American soldiers called the piece of terrain they had taken " Bloody Ridge " , which indeed it was : 2 , 700 UN and perhaps as many as 15 , 000 communists were casualties , almost all of them killed or wounded with few prisoners being taken by either side . The much higher communist casualties were probably caused by : 1 . Discipline in the KPA was poor , and constraining orders so strict to the point where subordinate leaders were often not allowed to withdraw under any conditions , in which case the entire unit would be blooded . 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 , UN forces had an overwhelming advantage in artillery and air support ; indeed , the communists had no air support . An enormously destructive " rain of fire " could be brought by UN units against North Korean and Chinese forces which they could not answer in kind .