| Second Phase Campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Korean War | |||||||||
 Chinese soldiers setting up an ambush, late 1950. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 China North Korea | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Douglas MacArthur Walton H. Walker Edward Almond Oliver P. Smith |
Peng Dehuai Han Xianchu Song Shilun | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 358,091[1]: 46 | 300,000–390,000[2][3] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
|
30,000 battle casualties (including 9,549 killed) | ||||||||
The Second Phase Offensive (25 November – 24 December 1950) or Second Phase Campaign (Chinese: 第二次战役; pinyin: Dìèr Cì Zhànyì) of the Korean War was an offensive by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) against United Nations Command (U.S./UN) forces, most of which were soldiers of South Korea and the United States.[2]: 23–24 The two major engagements of the campaign were the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River in the western part of North Korea and the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the eastern part of North Korea.
Casualties were heavy on both sides. The battles were fought in temperatures as low as −30 °C (−22 °F)[7] and casualties from frostbite may have exceeded those from battle wounds. On 23 December 1950 Lieutenant General Walton Walker died in a vehicle accident in Seoul while in command of the U.S. 8th Army. He was the highest ranked U.S. military service member killed in the Korean War.
U.S. intelligence and air reconnaissance failed to detect the large numbers of Chinese soldiers present in North Korea. Thus, the UN units, the Eighth United States Army on the west and the X Corps on the east, kicked off the "Home-by-Christmas" offensive on 24 November with "unwarranted confidence...believing that they comfortably outnumbered enemy forces."[2]: 60 The Chinese attacks came as a surprise. The Home-by-Christmas offensive, with the objective of conquering all of North Korea and ending the war, was quickly abandoned in light of the massive Chinese assault.
The Second Phase Offensive forced all UN forces to go on the defensive and retreat. China had recaptured nearly all of North Korea by the end of the offensive.
- ^ a b c Li, Xiaobing (2014). China's Battle for Korea: The 1951 Spring Offensive. Indiana University Press. p. 45.
- ^ a b c Mossman, Billy (1990). Ebb and Flow: November 1950–July 1951. Center of Military History, United States Army. pp. 54–55.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Appleman, Roy (1992). South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu. Center of Military History, U.S. Army. p. 770. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Some authorities estimate Chinese forces as high as 390,000 men, See Li, 46, but the attrition during their long march southward to the battlefield probably depleted their numbers and 300,000 or slightly more seems the most likely estimate.
- ^ Ecker, Richard E. (2005). Korean Battle Chronology: Unit-by-unit United States Casualty Figures and Medal of Honor Citations. McFarland & Company. p. 62 ISBN 978-0786419807.
- ^ Xue, Yan (徐焰) (1990). 第一次较量：抗美援朝战争的历史回顾与反思 [First Confrontation: Reviews and Reflections on the History of War to Resist America and Aid Korea] (in Chinese (China)). Chinese Radio and Television Publishing House. pp. 59–60.
- ^ Li, Xiaobing (2019). China's War in Korea: Strategic Culture and Geopolitics. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 139. ISBN 978-981-32-9674-9.
- ^ Battle of Chosin Reservoir Archived 2022-01-06 at the Wayback Machine. Estimates of the lowest temperature encountered vary.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).