page_title: Battle of Nam River
section_title: US 2-27th Infantry counterattack
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Nam River / Battle / US 2-27th Infantry counterattack
caption_attribution_description: 2-27th Infantry advances on a recaptured road during the battle of the Nam River in 1950. (Korean War)
context_page_description: The Battle of Nam River was an engagement between United Nations Command and North Korean forces early in the Korean War from August 31 to September 19, 1950, in the vicinity of the Nam River and the Naktong River in South Korea. It was a part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously. The battle ended in a victory for the United Nations after large numbers of United States Army troops were able to repel a Korean People's Army attack across the river.
  Positioned in defense of Masan during the Battle of Masan, the US 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division took up positions along the Nam River, one of the many tributaries of the Naktong River on the southern flank of the Pusan Perimeter. The KPA 7th Division effected a crossing of the river on August 31, and though the 35th Infantry was able to stem the KPA advance, thousands of KPA troops were able to exploit a hole in the line and surround the regiment. What followed was an intense battle in which the US and KPA units were heavily engaged all along and behind the Kum River line. Eventually, though, the KPA force was routed and defeated by the US troops.
context_section_description: By mid-afternoon, Kean felt that the situation was a severe threat to the integrity of the division's line. He ordered the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, to attack behind the 35th Infantry, because a large part of the division's artillery there was under direct KPA infantry attack. During the morning hours of September 1, when the KPA 7th Division troops had attacked, the first American unit they encountered was G Company, 35th Infantry, at the north shoulder of the gap. While some KPA units peeled off to attack G Company, others continued on and engaged E Company, 2 miles (3.2 km) downstream from it, and still others attacked scattered units of F Company all the way to its 1st Platoon, which guarded the Namji-ri bridge. There, at the extreme right flank of the 25th Division, this platoon drove off a KPA force after a fierce fight. By September 2, E Company had destroyed most of a KPA battalion in heavy fighting.
  Of all the 2nd Battalion units, G Company received the hardest blows. Before dawn of September 1, KPA troops had G Company platoons on separate hills under heavy assault. Shortly after 03:00 they overran the 3rd Platoon, Heavy Mortar Company, and drove it from its position. These mortarmen climbed Hill 179 and on its crest joined the 2nd Platoon of G Company. Meanwhile, the 3rd Platoon of G Company, on a low hill along the Nam River 4 miles (6.4 km) from its juncture with the Naktong River, was also under close quarters attack. After daylight, Captain LeRoy E. Majeske, G Company commander, requested artillery concentrations and air strikes, but they were slow to come. At 11:45, the KPA had almost reached the crest of the hill, and only a narrow space separated the two forces. A few minutes later Majeske was killed, and Second Lieutenant George Roach, commanding the 3rd Platoon, again reported the situation and asked for an air strike. The US Air Force delivered the strike on the KPA held side of the hill, and this checked the assaults. By this time many KPA troops had captured and occupied foxholes in the platoon position and from there threw grenades into other parts of the position. One of the grenades killed Roach early in the afternoon. Sergeant First Class Junius Poovey, a squad leader, now assumed command. By 18:00, Poovey had only 12 effective troops left in the platoon, 17 of the 29 men still living were wounded. With ammunition almost gone, Poovey requested and received authority to withdraw into the main G Company position. After dark, the 29 men, three of them carried on stretchers, withdrew, covered by the arrival of US tanks. The group reached the G Company position on Hill 179 at 23:30.
caption: Troops of the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry traverse the recaptured Engineer Road.
exif: {}