Battle of Bun'ei
| date | November 20, 1274 |
|---|---|
| place | Hakata Bay near today's Fukuoka on Kyushu in Japan |
| output | Mongol invasion repulsed |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Japan / Kamakura Shogunate |
|
| Commander | |
|
Liu Fuheng (Chinese), Hong Tagu (Korean) |
|
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
The battle of bun'ei ( Jap. 文永の役 , Bun'ei no eki ), also known as First Battle of Hakata Bay , was the first invasion attempt by the Mongols in Japan during the Bun'ei - era . After the capture of the islands of Tsushima and Iki , Kublai Khan's fleet moved towards the main Japanese islands and landed in Hakata Bay, a short distance from Kyushu's administrative center, Dazaifu . Their - for the time - superior weapons as well as their sophisticated war tactics had allowed the Mongols to create an empire, but numerically they were clearly inferior to the samurai available in Japan . The Japanese had mobilized warriors at the news of the loss of the islands and strengthened the defenses. The Mongols were forced to retreat after only a day of fighting and returned to Korea after a storm threatened their ships that night.
The battle
After landing in the bay, the Mongols quickly took over the city of Hakata (now a borough of Fukuoka ), but were attacked by a number of samurai shortly afterwards. At first the samurai were hopelessly inferior. They were used to individual fights and had little to counter the organization of the attackers. The Mongols fought on horseback, firing heavy volleys of arrows at the samurai group. They also had some sort of catapult for launching bombs, and their infantry used phalanx- like tactics to keep the samurai at a distance with their shields and spears. Although they were ultimately unable to defeat the Mongols, the Japanese fought hard and caused heavy losses for their opponents.
Follow-up events
Despite their initial success, the Mongols did not pursue the samurai any further inland to the defenses at Dazaifu. This is probably due to the lack of local knowledge, the expectation of Japanese reinforcements and the heavy losses of the Mongols. The Mongols - who, according to some opinions, were just a reconnaissance force and not the main invasion force - withdrew to the ships, perhaps to regroup and attack again the following day.
The following night the Mongols lost about a third of their fleet in a storm. They withdrew to Korea - probably at the urging of their Korean seamen and captains. A second attempt at invasion was only made seven years later (→ Battle of Kōan ).
literature
- Paul K. Davis: 100 Decisive Battles. From Ancient Times to the Present . ABC-Clio, Oxford a. a. 1999, ISBN 1-85109-337-0 .