UN Halts North Korea: Taegu Saves the South

United Nations forces repelled a major North Korean offensive at the Naktong River, preventing the fall of Taegu and preserving the shrinking Pusan Perimeter during the war's most desperate weeks. The successful defense bought time for General MacArthur to plan the Inchon landing that would reverse the entire course of the conflict. The battle took place in mid-August 1950, when North Korean divisions attempted to cross the Naktong River at multiple points, aiming to capture Taegu, a critical road junction and the temporary headquarters of the South Korean government. American and South Korean defenders held a perimeter barely 140 miles long and 80 miles deep, the last foothold on the Korean peninsula. The fighting was ferocious and often hand-to-hand, with North Korean troops establishing bridgeheads that had to be destroyed by counterattack. The 27th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Cavalry Division bore the heaviest fighting around the Naktong Bulge, where North Korean penetrations threatened to split the perimeter. Air superiority proved decisive, as American fighter-bombers destroyed supply columns and troop concentrations that North Korean forces could not conceal in daylight. The perimeter held, though barely, and within a month MacArthur's Inchon landing on September 15 struck behind enemy lines, cutting North Korean supply routes and triggering a collapse that sent their forces fleeing north. The defense of the Pusan Perimeter ranks among the most critical holding actions in American military history.