Battle of Bloody Ridge - Aftermath

Aftermath

The American soldiers called the piece of terrain they had taken "Bloody Ridge", which indeed it was: 2,700 U.N. 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, U.N. 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 U.N. units against North Korean and Chinese forces which they could not answer in kind.