Third Battle of Seoul
in Seoul, South KoreaCategory: Attraction
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68-2 Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea Print route »
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The Third Battle of Seoul, also known as the Chinese New Year's Offensive, the January–Fourth Retreat (Korean: 1•4 후퇴) or the Third Phase Campaign Western Sector (Chinese: 第三次战役西线; pinyin: Dì Sān Cì Zhàn Yì Xī Xiàn), was a battle of the Korean War, which took place from December 31, 1950 to January 7, 1951 around the South Korean capital of Seoul. In the aftermath of the major Chinese victory at the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, the United Nations Command started to contemplate the possibility of evacuation from the Korean Peninsula. Upon learning of this development, China's Chairman Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese People's Volunteer Army to cross the 38th parallel in an effort to pressure the United Nations forces to withdraw from South Korea.
On 31 December 1950, the Chinese 13th Army attacked the South Korean army's 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions along the 38th parallel, breaching United Nations Forces' defenses at the Imjin River, Hantan River, Gapyeong and Chuncheon in the process. To prevent the Chinese forces from overwhelming the defenders, the U.S. Eighth Army under the command of Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway evacuated Seoul on January 3, 1951.
Although Chinese forces captured Seoul by the end of the battle, the Chinese invasion of South Korea galvanized the United Nations' support for South Korea, while the idea of evacuation was soon abandoned by the United Nations Command. At the same time, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army were exhausted after months of nonstop fighting since the start of the Chinese intervention, thereby allowing the United Nations forces to regain the initiative in Korea.
