Lake Changjin

Chosin Reservoir
장진호 (Korean)
Chosin Reservoir
Location	Changjin County, North Korea
Coordinates	40°29′54″N 127°12′7″E
Type	Lake

Lake Changjin
Chosŏn'gŭl	장진호
Hancha	長津湖
Revised Romanization	Jangjinho
McCune–Reischauer	Changjinho

Lake Changjin (Korean: 장진호), known widely in the West as Chosin Reservoir (Japanese: 長津湖), is a lake located in Changjin County, North Korea. It is most famously known for being the site of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which was an important battle in the Korean War.

Etymology

The term Chosin was derived from the Japanese pronunciation of the place; the Chōshin Reservoir. However, it is most likely more of how the Japanese colonials referred to the place as oppose to the actual hanja name of the place read as Japanese kanji. That is because when the hanja of characters used for the word "Changjin" read out as Japanese kanji, it reads as Nagatsu mizuumi. So it is possible that the Japanese called the place Chōshin deriving the word from Joseon. However, that has yet to be verified.

Geography

Lake Changjin is an artificial lake created by the building of a dam on the Changjin River. Water is diverted to the Heuknim Stream, a tributary of the Seongcheon River, to operate the Changjin River Power Plant. It is known as the source of the Taedong River, which flows south to Pyongyang.

In the lower reaches of the Changjin River there is another power plant with an artificial lake, Langrim Lake, which is also called the second Changjin Lake.

History

Main article: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir took place about a month after the People's Republic of China entered the Korean War and sent the People's Volunteer Army (PVA) 9th Army to infiltrate the northeastern part of North Korea. On 27 November 1950, the Chinese force surprised the US X Corps commanded by Major General Edward Almond at the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather soon followed. Between 27 November and 13 December, 30,000 United Nations Command troops (later nicknamed "The Chosin Few") under the field command of Major General Oliver P. Smith were encircled and attacked by about 120,000 Chinese troops under the command of Song Shilun, who had been ordered by Mao Zedong to destroy the UN forces. The UN forces were nevertheless able to break out of the encirclement and to make a fighting withdrawal to the port of Hungnam, inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese. The retreat of the US Eighth Army from northwest Korea in the aftermath of the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River and the evacuation of the X Corps from the port of Hungnam in northeast Korea marked the complete withdrawal of UN troops from North Korea.

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

References

• Appleman, Roy (1990), Escaping the Trap: The US Army X Corps in Northeast Korea, 1950, vol. 14, College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Military History Series, ISBN 978-0-89096-395-1
• Guang, Ting (光亭) (April 2007), Dong, Min Jie (董旻杰) (ed.), "Ice and Blood, Changjin Lake (冰血长津湖)", Der Strum (突击) Magazine Korean War Special Issue (in Chinese), Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Inner Mongolian People's Publishing House (内蒙古人民出版社), ISBN 978-7-204-08166-0
• Russ, Martin (1999), Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950, New York, New York: Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-029259-6
• Roe, Patrick C. (2000), The Dragon Strikes: China and the Korean War, June-December 1950, Novato, California: Presidio, ISBN 978-0-89141-703-3
• Tucker, Spencer C.; Kim, Jinwung; Nichols, Michael R.; Pierpaoli, Paul G. Jr.; Zehr, Norman R. (2000), Encyclopedia of the Korean War: A Political, Social, and Military History, vol. I, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-1-57607-029-1
• Ye, Yumeng (叶雨蒙) (2007). 东线祭殇 [Mourning the Eastern Front]. Beijing: 解放军文艺出版社. ISBN 978-7-5033-2045-3.