Seoul Falls Again: Chinese Forces Capture South Korea's Capital

Seoul fell for the second time in six months. Chinese and North Korean forces entered the city on January 4, 1951, after UN forces — led by the US Eighth Army — chose to abandon it rather than fight street by street. Three weeks earlier, 300,000 Chinese troops had crossed the Yalu River and shattered the American advance. The UN commander, General Matthew Ridgway, had taken over the Eighth Army after its previous commander died in a jeep accident on Christmas Day. Ridgway found an army that had stopped believing it could win. He relieved officers, walked the front lines, and pinned grenades to his chest so his soldiers could find him in a fight. The counteroffensive began in January. By March, Seoul was back in UN hands. It changed hands four times total. The city Seoulites live in today was built from rubble.