On this solo episode of Battles & Banter, Avery briefly discusses the Battle of Bloody Ridge that was fought during the Korean War. 70 years ago today, the battle began on August 18, 1951 between the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division/35th ROK Infantry Regiment and conglomerated North Korean units on a massive ridgeline located in the Gangwon Province of South Korea. The battle was fought due to the North Koreans having observation posts too close to the UN lines, and the big brass decided that the hill and ridge formations in the vicinity needed to be secured as the infamous Peace Talks took place many miles away in Kaesong. By September 5th, nearly 1,000 South Korean and almost 3,000 American soldiers had been listed killed/missing, wounded, or captured; the North Koreans sustained roughly 15,000 casualties, 4,000 of which were killed outright. Avery highlights the battle as the beginning of the "Attrition" period of the Korean War, where warfare would resemble something more out of the 1910s rather than the 1950s; Bloody Ridge would be the first of many fruitless battles to come before the war would end so stay tuned for more!