Battle of Heartbreak Ridge

Overview

The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, also known as the Battle of Wendengli, 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.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge ran from 13 September to 15 October 1951, lasting approximately one month and resulting in approximately 3,700 United Nations casualties against an estimated 25,000 North Korean casualties. The engagement followed directly from Bloody Ridge: after withdrawing from that position, Korean People's Army forces established new defensive lines on a 7-mile hill mass only 1,500 yards away, and those fortifications were assessed as even more formidable than those at Bloody Ridge. The battle illustrates the character of the Korean War's middle phase, in which tactical withdrawals did not yield ground so much as relocate prepared defenses to adjacent terrain, forcing attritional assaults to be repeated at each successive ridgeline with heavy cost to both sides.

Tactics

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)