Naval Battle of Myongnyang
| date | October 26, 1597 |
|---|---|
| place | Myongnyang Strait , between Jindo Island and the Korean Peninsula |
| output | Victory of Korea |
| consequences | Cutting off supplies from the Army of Japan |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 133 combat ships and 200 supply and troop transports | 13 Panokseon |
| losses | |
|
31 ships by direct sinking, approx. 92 ships irreparably damaged; |
at least two dead and three wounded |
The naval battle of Myongnyang was a naval battle as part of the Imjin War . It took place on October 26, 1597 (16th day in the 9th month according to the Chinese calendar ) between a Japanese naval fleet and the Korean naval fleet in the Myongnyang Strait . This battle is one of the most remarkable naval victories in military history due to the numerical imbalance of the armed forces involved.
prehistory
During the first attempt at invasion of Korea by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army in 1592, the Japanese armed forces initially achieved great success due to the ailing condition of the Korean army and military bureaucracy. But the Korean naval commander Yi Sun-sin had shown foresight and was well prepared for an invasion by Japanese troops. Thanks to his strategic prudence, the intensive use of cannons and a new type of combat ship , Yi succeeded in seriously jeopardizing the supply of the invading army, which had to be carried out over the sea, even with the larger naval units. In Japan, therefore, Admiral Yi began to be legitimately viewed as the only serious threat to the annexation of China and Korea, which made him the target of Japanese decision-makers.
In order to render him harmless, a double agent was sent to the Korean royal court in 1597 to convince King Seonjo that the Japanese fleet wanted to launch a major attack at a certain point in time. As expected, Seonjo ordered Admiral Yi to intercept and destroy the Japanese fleet. However, Yi refused to obey the order because he did not trust the message and the area where the landing was supposed to take place was too treacherous to navigate. Seonjo then wanted to sentence him to death for high treason. However, Yi had won great sympathy from the people and some high officials, including his old childhood friend and then Prime Minister Ryu Seong-ryong , and in order not to risk a rebellion, Seonjo instead ordered him to be tortured and subsequently demoted to ordinary soldier. In his place, General Won Gyun , a colleague and rival of Yi, was appointed admiral of the Korean fleet.
Although Gyun also distrusted the news, he nevertheless followed Seonjo's orders and attacked the Japanese fleet in the naval battle of Chilchonryang on August 27, 1597. In doing so, however, he fell into a trap in which almost the entire Korean fleet was wiped out. Overall, only twelve of the former 169 ships and 200 men escaped the sea battle on the Korean side, as their commander Bae Seol had recognized the hopelessness of the situation before the battle and therefore deserted the battlefield with his ships when it began. Gyun died shortly after the battle after he fled with his ship to a nearby island before the end of the battle, but was then killed by the Japanese garrison soldiers there.
When news of Gyun's catastrophic defeat reached the royal court, Yi was rehabilitated with immediate effect and his rank as naval admiral restored. Yi rallied the twelve remaining ships, and even managed to get another panokseon that local craftsmen had just barely been able to complete. Through a recruiting mission through the Jeolla-do province , he was able to gather more marines and volunteers around him until he had reached a manpower of 1500 fighters. When King Seonjo learned of the wretched condition of the fleet, he ordered Yi to abandon the fleet and join the land forces instead. But Yi refused and informed the royal court:
“ During the past five or six years ... the Japanese have not been able to take Chung Chun and Cholla [Jeolla] provinces immediately because our navy has disrupted their sea routes. Your humble servant commands no less than twelve ships. If I attack my opponent with the utmost effort, I am firmly convinced that they can be repulsed even in this situation. The complete dismantling of our navy would not only please the enemy, but would also allow them to use the sea route along Chung Chu Province and even sail up the Han River, which is my greatest fear. Even if our navy is small in number, I promise you that as long as I live the enemy will never despise us. (Quoted from the Collected Works of Yi Sun-Shin , Volume 9) "
Based on this resolute statement, Seonjo reversed his decision and allowed Yi to continue his battle at sea. Bae Sol deserted again on October 12, but was later tracked down by the Korean authorities in his hometown and executed in front of the enemy for cowardice. On the evening before the battle, Yi gave his fleet commanders a speech that was both encouraging and admonishing, which is one of his most cited speeches:
“ One of the principles of the strategy is: 'He who is ready to die will live and he who wants to live will die.' The strategy also says: 'If a defender guards an important entrance with all his might, he can even scare 1000 enemies.' For men in your position, these words are worth more than gold. I expect you to strictly obey my orders. If you refuse to command you will be sentenced strictly under martial law, even if it is a minor mistake. "
When news of Yi's reinstatement reached the Japanese, the commanders of the Japanese fleet - Tōdō Takatora , Katō Yoshiaki , Wakisaka Yasuharu, and Kurushima Michifusa - saw themselves attempting to deal the fatal blow to Yi and the Korean fleet, and with over 330 ships broke the originally intended to supply the Japanese Conquest Corps for Hansong , from their base in Busan . A small Japanese scout squadron tracked down Yi's fleet on October 17, but was quickly routed. To compensate for the overwhelming superiority of the enemy, Yi lured the Japanese to the Myongnyang Sea Route between the island of Jindo and the Korean peninsula.
Course of the battle
Through careful research and information from the locals, Yi had specifically selected the strait as the site for the upcoming battle. The current in this narrow area was strong, treacherous, and changed direction several times a day. In addition, the channel was very narrow, which would affect the numerical superiority of the Japanese.
The Japanese, still confident of their success at Chilchonryang and given Yi's apparent inferiority, entered the street in groups as the current was favorable for their advance. Yi was waiting for them at the other end with his ships at anchor. When the ships of the Japanese head of the fleet finally got into the bottleneck, they began to wedge into one another due to the current; then Yi gave his fleet the order to open fire. The cannon fire wreaked havoc on the fleet in the straits, and Yi attacked. His admirals, however, intimidated by the overwhelming force of the enemy, initially hesitated to participate in the attack, so that Yi's ship was quickly encircled.
In this dilemma, Yi came to the aid of the fact that a corpse floating in the water was identified as Kurushima Michifusa , who had already died in the first phase of the battle. Yi had the body fished out of the sea and hung the head from the top of the ship's mast, which significantly lowered the morale of the Japanese soldiers, and the stamina of the flagship in even this desperate situation gradually moved the other Korean commanders to join the battle to intervene. When the current in the canal finally turned again, the wrecked Japanese ships consequently ran aground on their following units, which caused utter chaos among the Japanese. At the same time, Yi used the changing current for a frontal attack, which hit the enemy fleet very effectively and finally forced them to retreat.
Of the 133 Japanese warships that took part directly in the battle, 31 were sunk on site and a further 92 were probably so badly damaged that they had to be abandoned after the battle. On the Japanese side, several thousand soldiers were killed in addition to Kurushima; many of them drowned from being unable to swim in the strait's treacherous currents after falling overboard. The Koreans, on the other hand, lost only a handful of men and not a single one of their ships.
Notes on the course of the battle
- According to some more modern views, the narrowness of the Yi Canal allowed several steel cables to be stretched under the surface of the water across its full width, which, together with the current, were intended to prevent the Japanese from maneuvering. However, about 300 meters wide, the canal is too wide to allow the use of sufficiently strong ropes / chains for such an operation, and there was not enough time to procure such cables to have them available before the start of the battle have and get ready. Such tactics are not discussed in Yi's war diary, Nanjung Ilgi , and must therefore be classified as fictitious.
- In more modern depictions of the battle, Kurushima Michifusa is referred to as the daimyo whose head ended up as a trophy on Yi's flagship. However, contemporary reports - including Yi's war diary and the Chinbirok ("Book of Improvements") by Yu Song-nyon - instead speak of a certain Kano Matashiro (written "Matashi" by the Koreans and Chinese). It is not known whether these are two different names for the same person or two different people.
Effects
The devastating Japanese defeat at Myongnyang not only had a lasting impact on the military and logistical effects on both sides of the war, but also had a major effect on their morale. In addition, this battle once again proved the skill of Admiral Yi and is regarded as a masterpiece of warfare due to the initially unequal relationship between the two armed forces.
For the Japanese land forces, this Korean naval victory meant a considerable impediment to the supply of their military operations. The conquest of the capital Hanseong , which had already been scheduled , was suspended for an indefinite period due to the defeat, and the Japanese land forces finally had to withdraw. In addition, the Japanese naval force lost naval control over the waters near Korea, which encouraged China to send larger troops to support Korea and allowed the Koreans to expand their fleet again. The Japanese army lost more and more ground in Korea over the course of the next few months, until it only held a few isolated bases on the south coast of the country and finally withdrew completely in the following year.
As a direct consequence of the defeat of Japan, the Japanese commanders decided to conduct a revenge expedition to Asan , Yi's home , where they burned the village and murdered Yi's youngest son, Myon (November 23, 1597; the 14th day of the 10th month after the Chinese Calendar).
Today's views
The Myeongnyangdaecheopbi monument was erected at the site of the naval battle and declared the 503rd National Cultural Treasure in 1969. Victory is still celebrated at this point with an annual festival.
filming
- 명량 ' The Admiral - Roaring Currents '. Director: Kim Han-min . ROK 2014.
See also
literature
- Yi Sun-sin (Author), Son Pow-key (Ed.): Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin. Yonsei University Press 1977, OCLC 3483127 .
- Yu Song-nyong (Author), Choi Byong-hyon (Translator): The Book of Corrections. Reflections on the National Crisis during the Japanese Invasion of Korea 1592-1598 . Korea Research Monograph 28. Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, California 2002, OCLC 1557290768 .
- Sung-do Jho: Yi Sun-Shin: A National Hero of Korea. Chinhae, Naval Academy 1970, OCLC 1324241 .
- Jung-ja Holm: Admiral Yi Soon-shin. A brief overview of his life and work . Diamond Sutra Recitation Group , ISBN 0-9779613-0-3 .
- Kim Hoon : "Sword Singing". Translated by Heidi Kang and Ahn Sohyun, at Edition Delta, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-927648-22-7 .
- koreanhero.net: Yi Sun-Shin: A National Hero of Korea. (accessed on October 28, 2011)
- Admiral Yi Sun-Shin (accessed October 28, 2011)
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online: Yi Sun-Shin (accessed October 28, 2011)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b I Sun-sin: Nanjung Ilgi , p. 316.
- ↑ Holm, p. 27.
- ^ Admiral Yi Sun-sin - A Korean Hero . The Battle of Myongnyang, A Maritime Miracle . KoreanHero.Net , archived from the original on September 28, 20100 ; accessed on May 14, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
- ^ I Sun-sin: Nanjung Ilgi , p. 311; Holm, p. 28.
- ↑ prkorea.com: Quotes and Poems by Admiral Yi Sun-sin . Retrieved January 20, 2013.
- ↑ Holm, pp. 27-29.
- ^ I Sun-sin: Nanjung Ilgi , p. 315.
- ↑ Yu Songnyong, S. 213th
- ↑ Nanjung Ilgi , pp. 321-322.
- ↑ Holm, p. 42.
- ↑ Yisunsin.Prkorea.com: Historical Sites following the traces of Yi Sun-sin: Myeongnyangdaecheopbi Monument & Jindo Bridge (accessed November 1, 2011)
- ^ Festivals in Jeollanam-do: The Great Festival of Myeongnyang ( Memento from August 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )