38°15′18″N 128°02′16.8″E / 38.25500°N 128.038000°E
Battle of Bloody Ridge | |||||||
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Part of the Korean War | |||||||
![]() Map of the Punchbowl, Heartbreak Ridge and Bloody Ridge | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Units involved | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
2,700 [1] |
US Claim: 8,000 dead 7,000 wounded [1] |
The Battle of Bloody Ridge was a ground combat battle that took place during the Korean War from 18 August to 5 September 1951.
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 from east to west, through the middle of the Korean peninsula, located in hills a few miles north of the 38th Parallel in the central Korean mountain range. United Nations and the North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA) and Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) 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 ridge of hills which they believed were being used as observation posts to call in artillery fire on a UN supply road.