previous engagements, so Kean sent 432 National Police to the area the next day and placed them in this gap, ensuring the North Koreans would not be able to exploit any holes in the line. Battle Opposing the US 24th Infantry at Battle Mountain was the KPA 6th Division, which had been engaging Task Force Kean since August 5. The division, which had originally numbered 10,000, had suffered 4,000 casualties thus far fighting at the Pusan Perimeter. However it brought in 3,100 South Koreans forcibly conscripted from neighboring towns to replenish its ranks. The South Koreans fought as ordered, though the KPA dispatched rearguard soldiers with them to shoot any who attempted to desert, defect, or surrender. US 24th Infantry repulsed The first attack against the mountain line of the 24th Infantry came on the morning of August 18, when the KPA overran several E Company positions on the northern spur of Battle Mountain and killed the company commander. During the day, Lieutenant Colonel Paul F. Roberts succeeded Lieutenant Colonel George R. Cole in command of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Infantry there. The next day, the KPA attacked C Company on Battle Mountain and routed it. Officers could collect only 40 men to bring them back into position. Many National Police on P'il-bong also ran from the fight, and only 56 of them remained in their defensive positions. US officers used threats and physical force to get others back into position. A gap in the line north of P'il-bong existed in the 24th Infantry lines at the close of the day, and an unknown number of KPA were moving into it. On August 20, the KPA 6th Division intensified its efforts to capture Battle Mountain, and began sending stronger attacks to capture the two peaks. In the face of attack, all of C Company except the company commander and about 25 men abandoned their position on Battle Mountain. Upon reaching the bottom of the mountain those who had fled reported erroneously that the company commander had been killed and their position surrounded, then overrun by the KPA. On the basis of this misinformation, US artillery and mortars fired concentrations on the position, and fighter-bombers, in 38 sorties, attacked the crest of Battle Mountain, using napalm, fragmentation bombs, rockets, and machine guns, forcing the 26 remaining men off Battle Mountain after they had held it for 20 hours. In this time