Concurrently, US Eighth Army was to launch a general attack all along its front to fix and hold the KPA's main combat strength and prevent movement of units from the Pusan Perimeter to reinforce the threatened area in his rear.

According to the estimate, the KPA's Perimeter forces could maintain its defenses after diverting three divisions to the Seoul area, and that it remained capable of offensive action.

On the 15th, the 3rd Battalion had returned to regimental control from attachment to the 1st Cavalry Division; it was assigned to make the main attack as it had not been involved in the previous two weeks of heavy fighting.

KPA resistance was stubborn and effective until about mid-afternoon when the North Koreans began to retreat toward the Naktong; many became casualties along the river by heavy automatic fire from B Battery, 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion and the 23rd Regimental Tank Company − this special task force had been formed to take advantage of such breaks in the fighting.

Four North American F-51 Mustangs performed air strikes just ahead of the 38th Infantry, contributing heavily to the 2nd Battalion's capture of Hill 208 overlooking the Naktong River.

A North Korean supply cache buried in the sand and hidden in culverts on the east bank near the crossing, including 125 tons of ammunition and new rifles still packed in grease.

At the lower side of this gap the British 27th Infantry Brigade held vital blocking positions just above strong forces of the KPA 10th Division.

Once landed on the other side, the regiment was to attack north along the west bank of the Naktong to a point opposite Waegwan where it would strike the main highway to Kumch'on.

The 24th Reconnaissance Company and the 19th Infantry Regiment were to cross at the same time a little farther south and block the roads leading from Songju, a KPA concentration point, some 6 miles (9.7 km) west of the river.

By nightfall there was a line of vehicles backed up for 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the Kumho, making it clear that the regiment would not be in position to cross the Naktong that evening after dark as planned.

As midnight came and the hours passed, Church began to fear that daylight would arrive before the regiment could start crossing and the troops consequently would be exposed to possibly heavy casualties.

Despite nightlong efforts to break the traffic jam and get the assault boats, troops, and equipment across the Kumho and up to the crossing site, it was 05:30, 19 September, before the first wave of assault boats pushed off into the Naktong 6 miles (9.7 km) below Waegwan and just south of the village of Kumnan-dong (35°55′16″N 128°24′32″E / 35.921°N 128.409°E / 35.921; 128.409) on the west side, Hill 174 and its long southern finger ridge dominated the crossing site.

A KPA gun shelled the crossing site sporadically but accurately all day, causing some British casualties and hampering the ferrying of supplies for the 19th Regiment.

The permanent bridges at Waegwan, destroyed in early August by the 1st Cavalry Division, had not been repaired by the North Koreans except for ladders at the fallen spans to permit foot traffic across the river.

[1]: 557 On 22 September the 24th Division was concentrated west of the river with its immediate objective to drive 20 miles (32 km) northwest to Kumch'on, headquarters of the KPA field forces.

The great volume of fire from supporting twin-40 and quad-50 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun vehicles was of greatest help, however, in enabling the troops to make a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) advance which bypassed several KPA groups.

An air strike with napalm and fragmentation bombs helped its 2nd Battalion on 21 September break KPA resistance on Hill 239, the critical terrain overlooking Ch'ogye.

[1]: 559–60 On the afternoon of 22 September the 2nd Division completed a bridge across the 400 feet (120 m) stream at the Sadung ferry site, and was ready to start moving supplies to the west side of the river in support of its advanced units.

[1]: 561–2 North of Taegu on the Tabu-dong road units of the KPA 13th Division fought the 8th Cavalry Regiment to a standstill during the first three days of the Eighth Army offensive.

The KPA attacked the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry, repeatedly on Hill 570, the dominating height east of the mountain corridor, 10 miles (16 km) north of Taegu.

The KPA on either side of the Tabu-dong road had some formidable defenses, with a large number of mortars and small field pieces dug in on the forward slopes of the hills.

KPA artillery, mortar, and automatic weapons crossfire from the Walled City area of Ka-san east of the road and the high ground of Hill 351 west of it turned back the regiment with heavy casualties.

This latter road curved northeast, winding along a narrow valley floor hemmed in on both sides by high mountains all the way to Tabu-dong, 8 miles (13 km) away.

This road presented a picture of devastation, dead oxen, disabled T-34 tanks, wrecked artillery pieces, piles of abandoned ammunition and other military equipment and supplies littered its course.

[1]: 567 In the battle-scarred Kigye (36°02′53″N 129°13′12″E / 36.048°N 129.220°E / 36.048; 129.220)-An'gangni-Kyongju area of the ROK I Corps sector, units of the Capital Division fought their way through the streets of An'gang-ni on 16 September, the day the UN offensive got under way.

This once formidable organization, originally composed largely of Korean veterans of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, was all but destroyed, its strength stood at approximately 2,000 men.

Two days later the Missouri again shelled these dike positions under observed radio fire direction by Colonel Emmerich, Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) adviser to the ROK 3rd Division.

Eighth Army intelligence on that day estimated the situation to be one in which, "although the enemy is apparently falling back in all sectors, there are no indications of an over-all planned disengagement and withdrawal."

[1]: 571–2 Nowhere on 16 September, when Eighth Army began its offensive, did it score material gains except in certain parts of the 2nd Division zone where the 38th and 23d Infantry Regiments broke through decimated KPA forces to reach the Naktong River.

Until 19 September there was everywhere the stoutest KPA resistance and no indication of voluntary withdrawal, and, generally, UN advances were minor and bought only at the cost of heavy fighting and numerous casualties.