The 19th Infantry Division was a military formation of the Korean People's Army. It defended the Kumchon area north of Kaesong with the 27th Division. The United States 1st Cavalry Division began attacking on October 9, 1950, along the main highway from Kaesong to Kumchon. The US 8th Cavalry had to stop repeatedly and wait for engineer troops to clear mines from the road. Halfway to Kumchon on the twelfth the 8th Cavalry was halted by a North Korean strongpoint, defended by tanks, self-propelled guns, and antiaircraft weapons. In spite of a sixteen-plane air strike and a 155-mm howitzer barrage, the strongpoint held.