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Here’s some information about the Korean war

And here’s the part about the fights around Waegwan, where I lived from 2004 to 2006

South of Waegwan, Hill 268 represented a critical terrain feature, for the main highway ran along the east bank of the Naktong River. The NKPA’s tank-supported 3d Division defended this southern approach to the Waegwan-Taegu road. The hill was important tactically because of a gap in the enemy line to the south. The British 27th Brigade held vital blocking positions at the lower side of this gap, just above strong forces of the NKPA’s 10th Division.

Follow up:

Moving along the east bank of the Naktong on 19 September, the 5th Regimental Combat Team, which was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, began a full regimental assault against Hill 268. After a hard day of fighting the 5th took the hill, except for its northeast slope. By nightfall the 5th Infantry’s 3d Battalion was on the hill; its 1st Battalion was pushing northwest toward another enemy position; and its 2d Battalion had captured Hill 121, one and a half miles north of Hill 268 and one mile short of Waegwan.

The battle for Hill 268 continued the next morning as more than two hundred NKPA soldiers in log-covered bunkers fought the 3d Battalion. Three flights of U.S. Air Force F–51 Mustang fighters dropped napalm, fired rockets, and strafed the enemy bunkers. Following the air strikes, the 5th Regimental Combat Team again struck at the bunkers, where, in many cases, the North Koreans fought to the last man. By noon the 5th controlled both the summit and slopes of the position.

With the loss of these key positions, the 3d Division’s defenses around Waegwan broke apart and its troops began a panic-stricken retreat across the Naktong. Aerial observers estimated that fifteen hundred North Koreans crossed to the west side of the Naktong just above Waegwan. Further reports indicated that the roads north of the town were jammed with enemy soldiers in groups of ten to three hundred.

On 19 September the 5th Infantry’s 2d Battalion traversed the Naktong River, took Waegwan, moved through the town to the southwest slope of Hill 303, and secured the hill on the twentieth. By the afternoon of the following day the entire 5th Regimental Combat Team was on the other side of the Naktong, and in a span of five days the 5th had crushed the 3d Division’s right flank and part of its center. The enemy’s advance positions on the road to Taegu, where the 1st Cavalry Division’s 5th Cavalry found battle, were thus rendered indefensible.

You can still find old bunkers and big holes all over these mountains.
There was some incident at the Waegwan bridge as well, but I can’t find the information about that right now.

(originally posted: 2005-06-12)