Battle of Chungju
| date | June 8, 1592 |
|---|---|
| place | the Tangeum-dae hill near the city of Chungju, Korean Peninsula |
| output | Victory of japan |
| consequences | Taking of Hanseong |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
Konishi Yukinaga |
Shin Rip † |
| Troop strength | |
| 18,700 men (first invasion division) | approx. 8,000 cavalrymen |
| losses | |
|
approx. 500 fallen |
approx. 3,000 fallen |
The Battle of Chungju ( Japanese 忠州 の 戦 い , Chūshū no tatakai or 弾 琴台 の 戦 い , Dankindai no tatakai , "Battle of Tangeum-dae") was a land battle as part of the Imjin War . It took place on June 8, 1592 (28th day in the 4th lunar month according to the Chinese lunisolar calendar ) between the First Japanese Invasion Division under Konishi Yukinaga and a Korean cavalry force near the city of Chungju .
prehistory
On April 14, 1592, the Joseon Kingdom was ravaged by a Japanese invasion force under the command of Toyotomi Hideyoshi . The reason for this invasion was Hideyoshi's plan to conquer the Chinese Ming Empire , using the Korean peninsula as a land bridge and springboard for the attack. Korea's King Seonjo had refused to accept the Japanese presence in his country without resistance, but had decided that Hideyoshi would not attack his empire. Therefore the Japanese attack was not entirely unexpected, but due to the lack of preparation on the part of Korea, the Japanese succeeded in conquering the port city of Busan in just one attempt and securing it as a base for their sea supplies.
The Japanese army split into three divisions , which moved north towards the country's capital, Hanseong . The resistance of the Chosun forces was generally ineffective due to the cumbersome military bureaucracy of the empire and the arquebuses that the Japanese carried as one of their main weapons: Often the affected commanders withdrew further, and those who tried to offer serious resistance to the Japanese , were defeated with only a few losses on the opposing side. Korean Generals Shin Rip and Yi Il , both successful cavalry officers, were eventually assigned by the king to stop the enemy before they could reach the capital.
Course of the battle
Shin Rip, who had received the supreme command of the forces posted for this battle, intended to meet the Japanese under conditions in which he could take advantage of his cavalry force. For this reason he withdrew to the fortress of the city of Chungju, the vicinity of which, which was bordered by the Hangang and Tangcheon rivers , was a flat plain, which would actually have provided favorable terrain for a cavalry attack. However, Shin Rip made several tactical fallacies:
- Out of ignorance or overconfidence, he did not include the effectiveness of the Japanese arquebuses in his battle planning;
- the battlefield chosen by him was covered with dense vegetation and padded with rice fields, which considerably hindered a rapid advance of a cavalry force ;
- a strategically much more favorable position, the mountain pass of Choryang further south, which the Japanese division had to pass on the way to Hanseong, completely ignored Shin as a battlefield, since he apparently considered his cavalry to be far superior to the Japanese foot troops.
To get his men to hold the battlefield to the last man, Shin decided to set up his army with his back to the rivers. However, this consideration turned out to be a death trap. Given the musket fire and the superior combat strength of the Japanese infantry , the Korean attack quickly came to a standstill, and with no means of retreat for the defenders, the battle turned into a massacre. Many Korean soldiers perished desperate to throw themselves into the river to escape their enemies. Shin Rip committed suicide himself; According to some reports, by throwing himself into the river and drowning in the waters because of his heavy armor.
consequences
When the news of this catastrophic defeat reached the royal court, King Seonjo fled to Pyongyang with his family and the court . However, this action led to the fact that the people's recognition of their king, who abandoned them in such a crisis, quickly sank into the abyss. The royal palace and various official buildings in Hanseong were then devastated by the angry population. The Japanese divisions captured an abandoned and leaderless capital just a few days later.
See also
literature
- Choson JoongGi, Noon-Eu-Ro Bo-Nen, Han-Gook-Yuk-Sa . 1998 Joong-Ang-Gyo-Yook-Yun-Goo-Won, Ltd.
- Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai Invasion of Korea, 1592–98 . Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2008. ISBN 978-1-84603-254-7
