The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge (Korean: 단장의 능선 전투; Hanja: 斷腸의 稜線 戰鬪; French: Bataille de Crèvecœur), also known as the Battle of Wendengli (Chinese: 文登里战斗; pinyin: Wéndēnglǐ Zhàndòu), was a month-long battle in the Korean War which took place between 13 September and 15 October 1951. After withdrawing from Bloody Ridge, the Korean People's Army (KPA) set up new positions just 1,500 yards (1,400 m) away on a 7-mile (11 km) long hill mass. If anything, these defenses were even more formidable than on Bloody Ridge.
The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge was one of several major engagements in the hills of North Korea a few miles north of the 38th Parallel, the pre-war boundary between North and South Korea, near Chorwon. For the Chinese, this battle is often confused with the Battle of Triangle Hill, which occurred a year later.
Background
During the battle, Eighth Army commander General James Van Fleet had submitted an outline plan, called Talons, to United Nations commander General Matthew Ridgway envisioning an advance of 1–15 miles (1.6–24.1 km) to remove the sag in the Eighth Army's eastern front. Ridgway had turned down more ambitious plans for an amphibious landing near Wonsan and for a deep advance into North Korea, but he had no objection to a modest ground offensive. Preparations for Talons continued until 5 September, when Van Fleet evidently took a close look at the final casualty totals from Bloody Ridge. Since Talons would be on a much larger scale, Van Fleet decided that the operation was not worth the probable cost in lives and material. Instead he informed Ridgway that he favored sustaining his "tidying up" on the Eighth Army right flank during the remainder of September, using "elbowing" tactics without any definite objective line assigned. Around 1 October he would stop his offensive operations in the east, then launch an attack in the west with the U.S. I Corps about the middle of the month, provided the armistice negotiations permitted. If this I Corps maneuver were successful, Van Fleet would follow up with an amphibious operation on the east coast near Tongch'on. This would link up with a land advance northeast from Kumhwa. The quick change in plans surprised Ridgway, but he posed no objection to the continuation of the limited objective attacks on an opportunistic basis. The proposed amphibious assault, however, Ridgway would only approve for planning purposes.
Acting swiftly, Van Fleet issued a general directive to his corps commanders on 8 September, emphasizing limited objective attacks, reconnaissance, and patrolling. He followed up the directive the same day with instructions to X Corps to take the ridge just north of Bloody Ridge and another north of the Punchbowl. Since the KPA opposite X Corps had just sustained a defeat on Bloody Ridge, Van Fleet thought that immediate thrusts would keep them off balance and capture the new ridge lines before the KPA had a chance to recover. X Corps assigned the task of taking the peaks north of Bloody Ridge to the 2nd Infantry Division. The objective was the southern tip of a long, narrow ridge running north and south between the Mundung-ni Valley on the west and the Sat'ae-ri Valley on the east; spur ridges arching east and west from the main ridge caused one observer to describe the objective as the "spinal column of a fish, with hundreds of vertebrae." Possession of the central ridge would prevent the KPA from using the adjacent valleys to attack the X Corps defense lines west of the Punchbowl. Heartbreak Ridge, as the objective was later named by news correspondents covering the action, had three main peaks. At the southern terminus was Hill 894, which commanded the approach from Bloody Ridge, 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south; Hill 931, the highest peak in the ridge, lay 1,300 yards (1,200 m) to the north; and 2,100 yards (1,900 m) north of Hill 931 rose the needlelike projection of Hill 851.
After withdrawing from Bloody Ridge, the KPA had fallen back to prepared bunkers, trenches, and gun positions covering the approach ridges to Heartbreak that were just as strongly fortified and well camouflaged as those previously encountered by the 2nd Infantry Division. The respite between the end of the Bloody Ridge battle on 5 September and the assault on Heartbreak Ridge eight days later permitted the KPA to strengthen their defenses even further and to reinforce the units guarding the ridge and its approaches. In the Mundung-ni Valley, the KPA 12th Division of the III Corps controlled the hills on the western side of the Suip-ch'on River, while the 6th Division of the same corps was responsible for the Heartbreak Ridge and Sat'ae-ri Valley sectors. Aerial reconnaissance had revealed that the KPA had been very active in the Heartbreak Ridge area, grouping artillery and mortar units in the valleys flanking the ridge. But the heavy woods and undergrowth had veiled the elaborate fortifications and concealed the fact that the 2nd Infantry Division was again faced with the task of breaching the KPA's main line of resistance. Within the 2nd Division, there was considerable difference of opinion on the extent of the expected KPA reaction to an attack on Heartbreak Ridge. Colonel Edwin Walker, the artillery commander, felt that the North Koreans would "fight like hell" for it, while some members of the staff believed that the response would be less vigorous. Brigadier General Thomas F. Deshazo, the acting division commander, evidently was among the latter group. He decided to use one regiment, the 23rd and its attached French Battalion, rather than two in the assault force. Approaching from the east across the Sat'ae-ri Valley, the 23rd, under Colonel James Y. Adams, would cut Heartbreak between Hills 931 and 851. One battalion would then turn north to seize Hill 851, while a second would move south to capture Hills 931 and 894. As soon as Hill 894 came under the control of the 23rd, the 9th Infantry Regiment, under Colonel John M. Lynch, would advance and take Hill 728, 2,000 yards (1,800 m) to the west and slightly south of Hill 894.
Battle
Initial assault (13–27 September)
On 13 September, the elements of the 2nd Division were in position and ready to attack. The French Battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar, had taken over the positions of the 38th Infantry Regiment on Hill 868, a little over 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Hill 931, and the 38th had become the division reserve, with responsibility for surveillance of the Kansas line. The 9th Regiment was poised to advance on Hill 728 when the 23rd Regiment gained Hill 894. Direct support for the 23d Regiment would come from the 37th Field Artillery Battalion, under Lieutenant colonel Linton S. Boatright, and its 105 mm howitzers, while the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm howitzer), 96th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm howitzer), 38th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm howitzer) and Battery C of the 780th Field Artillery Battalion (8-inch howitzer) provided general support. The 37th and 38th Field Artillery Battalions were located about 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Heartbreak Ridge. The 96th and 503rd were approximately 7 miles (11 km) south and 9 miles (14 km) southeast of the objective, respectively, while the battery from the 780th was near Yach'on-ni, about 11 miles (18 km) south of Heartbreak.
At 05:30 the artillery preparation began, and for thirty minutes the guns pounded KPA positions on or near Heartbreak Ridge. Then Adams gave the signal to start the 23d's attack. The 3rd Battalion, under Lieutenant colonel Virgil E. Craven, led the way in a column of companies, followed by the 2nd Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant colonel Henry F. Daniels. As the assault troops moved north from Hill 702 up the Sat'ae-ri Valley to reach the east-west spur ridge that would serve as the approach to Heartbreak, the KPA spotted them. Heavy artillery and mortar fire from Heartbreak Ridge positions and from the heights around Sat'aeri town began to pour in on the men of the 23rd Regiment. Despite the growing number of casualties, Craven's forces pressed on, closely followed by Daniels' men. As the 3rd Battalion arrived at the east-west spur and headed up the hill to split the Heartbreak Ridge line, it ran into a hornet's nest. The KPA 1st Regiment, 6th Division, manned a series of concealed, mutually supporting bunkers that covered the approach ridge with machine guns and small arms. Added to the artillery and mortar fire that the KPA observers were directing upon the two attack battalions, the automatic weapons and rifle fire forced the assault force to halt and dig in on the toe of the spur. The prospects for a swift penetration of the KPA lines vanished as night fell; the 23rd had come up against the KPA's main defenses and another Bloody Ridge-like experience loomed ahead.
When reports of the 23rd's situation reached General de Shazo, he realized that he had underestimated the KPA's defensive capacity. Since the 9th Regiment, under Lynch, was already in position for its contemplated attack on Hill 728, on 14 September, de Shazo directed Lynch to use his regiment against Hill 894 instead. A successful seizure of Hill 894 could relieve some of the pressure on the 23rd Regiment. The 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment, advanced from Yao'dong up the southwest shoulder of Hill 894 on 14 September, supported by tanks of Company B, 72nd Tank Battalion, the heavy mortar company, and a battalion of 155 mm howitzers. By nightfall the 2nd Battalion had climbed to within 650 yards (590 m) of the crest of Hill 894 against light resistance. The attack continued on 15 September and by afternoon, the height was swept clear of the KPA. Up to this point the 2nd Battalion had had only eleven casualties, but the next two days cost the battalion over two hundred more as the KPA counterattacked fiercely and repeatedly in a vain effort to drive it off the crest. Possession of Hill 894 by the 9th Regiment failed, however, to relieve the pressure on the 23rd as it sought again to cut the ridge line between Hills 931 and 851. The KPA's firepower kept the assault forces pinned down on the lower slopes. On 16 September Adams ordered his 2nd and 3rd Battalions to shift from the column formation they had been using to attack abreast. Thus, while the 3rd Battalion renewed its drive due west, the 2nd Battalion swung to the southwest and approached Hill 931 along another spur. In the meantime, C Company of the 1st Battalion passed through the positions of the 9th Regiment on Hill 894 and tried to take Hill 931 from the south. The three-pronged attack made little headway against the heavy curtain of fire laid down by the KPA. Secure in their strongly fortified bunkers, the KPA defenders waited until the artillery and air support given to the 2nd Division assault forces was lifted, then returned to their firing positions. As the 23rd Regiment's soldiers climbed the last few yards toward the crest, the KPA opened up with their automatic weapons, rifles, and grenades. Since the KPA controlled the Mundung-ni Valley, which offered defiladed and less steep access routes to Heartbreak Ridge, the problem of reinforcement and resupply was not difficult to resolve. In fact, General Hong Nim, commander of the KPA 6th Division, managed to send the fresh 13th Regiment in to replace the 1st Regiment on 16 September without any trouble. For the U.S. 2nd Division, the outlook was rather grim. The narrow Pia-ri Valley, southwest of Heartbreak, was jammed with vehicles and exposed to KPA artillery and mortar fire. Korean civilian porters frequently abandoned their loads along the trails and bolted for cover when the KPA got too close. To keep the front-line units supplied with food, water, ammunition, and equipment and to evacuate the casualties often required that American infantrymen double as carriers and litter bearers. The rugged terrain and the close KPA surveillance of the approaches to Heartbreak Ridge made their jobs very hazardous and time consuming, for it could take up to ten hours to bring down a litter case from the forward positions held by the 23d Regiment.