The Second Battle of Naktong Bulge was an engagement between United Nations Command (UN) and North Korean forces early in the Korean War from September 1 to September 15, 1950, along the Naktong River in South Korea. It was a 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 Army (US) troops repelled a strong Korean People's Army (KPA) attack.
After the First Battle of Naktong Bulge, the US 2nd Infantry Division was moved to defend the Naktong River line. The division, which was untried in combat, was struck with a strong attack by several KPA divisions which crossed the river and struck all along the division's line. The force of the attack split the 2nd Infantry Division in half, and the KPA were able to penetrate to Yongsan, promoting a fight there.
The urgency of the threat to Pusan Perimeter prompted the US Marine Corps 1st Provisional Marine Brigade to be brought in to reinforce the US Army troops. In two weeks of heavy fighting, the US forces were able to force the KPA out of the Naktong Bulge region. The KPA were outflanked by the Inchon landings on 15 September and on 16 September the UN forces began their breakout from the Pusan Perimeter which drove the KPA from the area.
Background
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 ROKA and the UN forces dispatched to South Korea to prevent it from collapsing. The KPA tactics were to relentlessly pursue ROKA/UN 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 KPA 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 KPA used these tactics to effectively defeat any ROKA/UN force and push it south. However, when the ROKA/UN forces, under the Eighth United States Army, established the Pusan Perimeter in August, the ROKA/UN troops held a continuous line along the peninsula which KPA 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 forces.
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 6th Division, and later the 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 KPA attacks. North of Masan, the KPA 4th Division and the US 24th Infantry Division sparred in the Naktong Bulge area. In the First Battle of Naktong Bulge, the KPA 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 KPA 4th Division was forced back across the river with 50 percent casualties. In the Taegu region, five KPA 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 KPA 13th Division was almost completely destroyed in the attack. On the east coast, three more KPA divisions were repulsed by the ROKA at P'ohang-dong during the Battle of P'ohang-dong. All along the front, the KPA troops were reeling from these defeats, the first time in the war their tactics were not working.
September push
In planning its new offensive, the KPA command decided any attempt to flank the ROKA/UN force was impossible due to the support of the UN naval forces. Instead, they opted to use frontal attack to breach the perimeter and collapse it as the only hope of achieving success in the battle. Fed by intelligence from the Soviet Union the North Koreans were aware the UN forces were building up along the Pusan Perimeter and that it must conduct an offensive soon or it could not win the battle. 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.
On August 20, the KPA commands distributed operations orders to their subordinate units. The plan called for a simultaneous five-prong attack against the ROKA/UN lines. These attacks would overwhelm the ROKA/UN defenders and allow the KPA to break through the lines in at least one place to force the ROKA/UN forces back. Five battle groupings were ordered. The center attack called for the KPA 9th, 4th, 2nd and 10th Divisions to break through the US 2nd Infantry Division at the Naktong Bulge to Miryang and Yongsan.
Battle
During the KPA September 1 offensive, the US 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division was heavily engaged in the Battle of Nam River north of Masan. On the 35th Regiment's right flank, just north of the confluence of the Nam River and the Naktong River, was the US 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. There, in the southernmost part of the 2nd Infantry Division zone, the 9th Infantry Regiment held a sector more than 20,000 yards (18,000 m) long, including the bulge area of the Naktong where the First Battle of Naktong Bulge had taken place earlier in August. Each US infantry company on the river line here had a front of 3,000–4,000 feet (910–1,220 m) and they held only key hills and observation points, as the units were extremely spread out along the wide front.
During the last week of August, US troops on these hills could see minor KPA activity across the river, which they thought was KPA organizing the high ground on the west side of the Naktong against a possible US attack. There were occasional attacks on the 9th Infantry's forward positions, but to the men in the front lines this appeared to be only a standard patrol action. On August 31, the UN forces were alerted to a pending attack when much of the Korean civilian labor force fled the front lines. Intelligence officers reported an attack was coming.
On the west side of the Naktong, KPA Major general Pak Kyo Sam, commanding the KPA 9th Division, issued his operations order to the division on August 28. Its mission in the forthcoming attack was to outflank and destroy the US troops at Naktong Bulge by capturing the Miryang and Samnangjin areas to cut off the US 2nd Division's route of supply and withdrawal between Taegu and Pusan. However, the KPA weren't aware that the US 2nd Infantry Division had recently replaced the US 24th Infantry Division in positions along the Naktong River. Consequently, they expected lighter resistance; the 24th troops were exhausted from months of fighting but the 2nd Division men were fresh and newly arrived in Korea. They had only recently been moved into the line. The KPA began crossing the Naktong River under cover of darkness at certain points.
Battle of Agok
On the southernmost flank of the 9th Infantry river line, just above the junction of the Nam River with the Naktong, A Company of the 1st Battalion was dug in on a long finger ridge paralleling the Naktong that terminates in Hill 94 (35°24′00″N 128°26′20″E / 35.4°N 128.439°E) at the Kihang ferry site. The river road from Namji-ri running west along the Naktong passes the southern tip of this ridge and crosses to the west side of the river at the ferry. A small village called Agok lay at the base of Hill 94 and 300 yards (270 m) from the river. A patrol of tanks and armored vehicles, together with two infantry squads of A Company, 9th Infantry, held a roadblock near the ferry and close to Agok. On the evening of August 31, A Company moved from its ridge positions overlooking Agok and the river to new positions along the river below the ridge line.
That evening Sergeant Ernest R. Kouma led the patrol of two M26 Pershing tanks and two M19 Gun Motor Carriages in Agok. Kouma placed his patrol on the west side of Agok near the Kihang ferry. At 20:00 a heavy fog covered the river, and at 22:00 mortar shells began falling on the US-held side of the river. By 22:15 this strike intensified and KPA mortar preparation struck A Company's positions. US mortars and artillery began firing counterbattery. Some of the A Company men reported they heard noises on the opposite side of the river and splashes in the water.
At 22:30 the fog lifted and Kouma saw that a KPA pontoon bridge was being laid across the river directly in front of his position. Kouma's four vehicles attacked this structure, and after about a minute of heavy fire the bridge collapsed, and the ponton boats used to hold the bridge in place were sunk. At 23:00 a small arms fight flared around the left side of A Company north of the tanks. This gunfire had lasted only two or three minutes when the A Company roadblock squads near the tanks received word by field telephone that the company was withdrawing to the original ridge positions and that they should do likewise.
Kouma's patrol was then ambushed by a group of KPA dressed in US military uniforms. Kouma was wounded and the other three vehicles had to withdraw, but he held the Agok site until 07:30 the next morning with his single tank. In the attack against A Company, the KPA hit the 1st Platoon, which was near Agok, but they did not find the 2nd Platoon northward.
The KPA 9th Division's infantry crossing of the Naktong and attack on its east side near midnight quickly overran the positions of C Company, north of A Company. There the KPA assaulted in force, signaled by green flares and blowing of whistles. The company held its positions only a short time and then attempted to escape. Many of the men moved south, a few of them coming into A Company's ridge line positions near Agok during the night. Most of C Company moved all the way to the 25th Division positions south of the Naktong. On September 1 that division reported that 110 men of C Company had come into its lines.
North Korean crossing
Meanwhile, 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Agok and A Company's position, B Company, 9th Infantry, held a similar position on Hill 209 (35°27′04″N 128°23′37″E / 35.451°N 128.3935°E) overlooking the Paekchin ferry crossing 35°26′24″N 128°22′41″E / 35.44°N 128.378°E) of the river. This ferry was located at the middle of the Naktong Bulge where the Yongsan road came down to the Naktong and crossed it. The US 2nd Infantry Division had planned a reconnaissance mission to start from there the night of August 31, the same night that the KPA I Corps offensive rolled across the river.
Near the end of the month two reconnaissance patrols from the 9th Infantry had crossed to the west side of the Naktong and observed KPA tank and troop activity 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the river. Information obtained later indicated it was in fact the command post of the KPA 9th Division. On August 25, 9th Infantry commander Colonel John G. Hill outlined projected Operation Manchu, which was to be a company-sized combat patrol to cross the river, advance to the suspected KPA command post and communications center, destroy it, capture prisoners, and collect intelligence.
The 9th Infantry Regiment had planned Task Force Manchu on orders from the 2nd Division commander Major general Laurence B. Keiser, which in turn had received instructions from Eighth United States Army commander Lieutenant general Walton Walker for aggressive patrolling. Keiser decided the patrol should cross the river at the Paekchin ferry. The 9th Infantry reserve, E Company, reinforced with one section of light machine guns from H Company, was to be the attack force. The 1st Platoon, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, was to transport it across the river in assault boats the night of August 31. Two heavy weapons companies, D and H, were each to furnish one section of heavy machine guns, one section of 81-mm. mortars, and one section of 75-mm. recoilless rifles for supporting fires. A platoon of 4.2-inch mortars was also to give support.
After dark on August 31, First lieutenant Charles I. Caldwell of D Company and First lieutenant Edward Schmitt of H Company, 9th Infantry, moved their men and weapons to the base of Hill 209, which was within B Company's defense sector and overlooked the Paekchin ferry crossing. The raiding force, E Company, was still in its regimental reserve position about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Yongsan, getting ready with the engineer platoon to move to the crossing site. Hill went forward in the evening with the 4.2-inch mortar platoon to its position at the base of Hill 209 where the mortarmen prepared to set up their weapons.