KPA attacked C Company on Battle Mountain and routed it. Officers could collect only 40 men to bring them back into position. Many ROK police on P'il-bong also ran from the fight, and only 56 of them remained in their defensive positions. American officers used threats and physical force to get others back into position. A 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 attack Battle Mountain, and began sending stronger attacks to capture the two peaks. In the face of these, 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, American artillery and mortars fired concentrations on C Company's former position, and fighter-bombers, in 38 sorties, attacked the crest of Battle Mountain, using napalm, fragmentation bombs, rockets and machine guns. This action forced the company commander and his remaining 25 men off Battle Mountain after they had held it for 20 hours, having declined a call to surrender from the KPA. A platoon of E Company, except for about 10 men, also left its position on the mountain as soon as the attack progressed. On the regimental left, an ROK patrol from K Company's position on Sobuk-san captured the commanding officer of the KPA 15th Regiment, but he was killed a few minutes later while trying to escape. The patrol removed several intelligence documents from his body. During the day of fighting on Battle Mountain and P'il-bong, the KPA drove off the ROK police from the 24th Infantry's left flank on Sobuk-san. 24th Infantry troops continued to straggle from their positions, ignoring commands from officers to stay in place. Both African-American and white officers, infuriated by the disobedience, wrote sworn statements implicating the deserters. The situation was so severe that those who stayed in their positions were often given Bronze Star Medals with Valor Devices because they were so far outnumbered in the fighting. Battle Mountain changed hands so often during August that there is no agreement on the exact number of times. The