page_title: Chinese Spring Offensive
section_title: Kapyong (22-25 April)
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese Spring Offensive / Battle / First offensive (22-30 April) / Kapyong (22-25 April)
caption_attribution_description: English: AWM Caption: Kapyong, South Korea. June 1952. A panoramic view from the left of A Company's, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), position at Kapyong facing the direction from which the Communists advanced.
context_page_description: The Chinese Spring Offensive, also known as the Chinese Fifth Phase Offensive, was a military operation conducted by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War. Mobilizing three field armies totaling 700,000 men for the operation, the Chinese command conducted their largest offensive operation since their Second Phase Offensive in November and December 1950. The operation took place in the summer of 1951 and aimed at permanently driving the United Nations Command forces off the Korean peninsula.
  The offensive's first thrust fell upon the units of US I Corps and US IX Corps on 22 April but was halted at the No-Name Line north of Seoul by 30 April. On 15 May 1951, the PVA and Korean People's Army commenced the second impulse of the Spring Offensive and attacked the Republic of Korea Army and US X Corps in the east. Although initially successful, they were halted by 22 May. On 20 May, perceiving that the enemy were overextended the US Eighth Army counterattacked the exhausted PVA/KPA forces, inflicting heavy losses.
context_section_description: In the Kapyong sector, the offensive saw the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade establish blocking positions in the Kapyong Valley, also one of the key routes south to the capital, Seoul. The two forward battalions—3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) and 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2 PPCLI)—occupied positions astride the valley and hastily developed defences on 23 April. As thousands of ROK soldiers began to withdraw through the valley, the PVA infiltrated the brigade position under the cover of darkness, and assaulted the Australians on Hill 504 during the evening and into the following day. Although heavily outnumbered, the 27th Brigade held their positions into the afternoon before the Australians withdrew to positions in the rear of the brigade on the evening of 24 April, with both sides having suffered heavy casualties. The PVA then turned their attention to the Canadians on Hill 677, but during a fierce night battle they were unable to dislodge them. The fighting helped blunt the PVA offensive and the actions of the Australians and Canadians at Kapyong were important in helping to prevent a breakthrough on the United Nations Command central front, and ultimately the capture of Seoul. The two battalions bore the brunt of the assault and stopped an entire PVA division during the hard-fought defensive battle. The next day the PVA withdrew back up the valley to their north, in order to regroup for the second impulse of the offensive.
caption: Kapyŏng River, South Korea. This area witnessed one of the offensive's engagements during the Battle of Kapyong.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Tag 0x0000": "0", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2005:10:27 11:46:16", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7050", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "798", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "800"}