Japanese Invasions of Korean :Imjin War :Rise of admiral Yi Sun-sin :1592 War :Life History
Japanese Invasions of Korean :Imjin War :Rise of admiral Yi Sun-sin :1592 War :Life History
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| Yi Sun-sin |
In the previous article in our series coveringthe medi Japanese Invasions of Korea, After performing this river crossing withconsiderable ingenuity, Kato was shocked upon seeing the banners of his rival flying overthe city’s battlements. He had been beaten again by mere hours, withboth arriving on June 12th. Kuroda Nagamasa and his third contingent,as well as Ukita Hideie’s 10,000 arrived on June 16th, 1592. The Korean capital itself was occupied withlittle bloodshed. The Korean court evacuated to Pyongyang, and according to some sources, angered by their king’s abandonment of them, the angry citizensburned many of the royal residences. Now that the capital had been taken, the Japanese armies set out to consolidate their gains. The countryside was pillaged largely withoutresistance. However, some Korean forces were still inthe field. When the Japanese started raiding the areacalled Yangju directly to the north of Seoul, commander of the minor Korean unit decidedto use their complacency against them. The Japanese started pillaging Yangju, andat that point, the Koreans appeared near the village. This drew the attention of the invaders, anda group of them moved against the Koreans, who upon contact dropped their weapons andstarted running towards the nearby mountains. They were chased by the Japanese, but it wasa trap – as soon as the enemy entered the mountain pass, the Koreans hiding here surroundedand destroyed this unit. Although the invaders lost only around 100troops in this minor battle, it improved the morale of the Korean armies, and forced thedaimyos to be more careful in their raiding. Konishi and Kato - bitter rivals to the end- were split up again, their contingents marching to quell the northwestern Pyongan province,and the far northeastern province of Hamgyong respectively. Both were expected to reach the Chinese frontierat the Yalu and Tumen rivers during their expeditions. Further more, an 11,000 strong third contingen twould seize Hwanghae province, stopping short of Konishi’s far-flung venture. 14,000 men of the fourth contingent would march east to quell the eastern coastal lands of Gangwon while 25,100 troops of the fifth would subdue the west coast province of Chungcheong. 15,700 soldiers of the sixth division setout for the bypassed Cholla province, while 30,000 men of the seventh would hold the crucialbeachhead province of Kyongsang. Finally, Ukita Hideie’s 10,000 would hold Seoul itself and the neighboring Kyonggi province. Hideie himself was appointed by Hideyoshias an interim supreme commander. Japanese consideration now turned to logisticsand supply. However, when Kato moved his troops to thenorth, he found that the Koreans under Gim Myeongwon had forced-marched their army toblock the Japanese on the opposite side of the Imjin river. Although the Japanese had 20 thousand troopsand outnumbered the Koreans almost 2:1, the latter were in a great position to defend. The rains had flooded the river, making thecrossing even more difficult for Kato. Before the Japanese approached the area, Gimhad already burned the nearby forests and moved all of the boats in the area to thenorth coast. He knew that reinforce ments were on the way,and was planning on waiting in his excellent defensive stance. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have fullcontrol, and half of the army was commanded by the courtier Han Ung-in. The battle of the Imjin river started on July6th, 1592. On the first day, the armies exchanged arrowand cannon volleys, but as the distance between two was significant, neither side sufferedmuch. On the second day, the Koreans received 3000cavalry reinforcements. For Kato, it was clear that he had to do somethingto make the enemy move, or otherwise his situation would become untenable, so he ordered 3/4of his army to retreat. The experienced Gim has already seen thistactic fighting the Jurchen in the north, but inexperienced general Sin Hal was surethat he was about to score a glorious victory, and decided to attack. Han Ung-in supported him, and even orderedthe execution of one of the generals who opposed the attack. Gim couldn’t let the army advance without him, so had no choice but to join Sin Hal when the latter started crossing the river. Soon the entire Korean army was on the southside of the Imjin river. Showing no signs of resistance, the 5000 Japanese started fleeing, which only encouraged Sin Hal. Both armies entered a mountainous area tothe south, and immediately after the Koreans were deep enough, Kato gave the order: musketssent volley after volley into the pursuers. The battle was over in a matter of minutes. The Japanese lost almost no troops, whilemore than 10 thousand Koreans were dead, with only a portion of the cavalry managing toflee back across the river. Kato was now free to move north, but logisticswas still a huge problem for the invading army. With its task of ferrying eight armies nowcomplete, the 700-ship strong Japanese fleet began probing west from Busan, along the treacherousKorean south coast. They were moving directly towards Cholla,where the Yi Sun-shin held command. The Korean navy as a whole was in a dire state,as most of the vessels of Gyeongsang were burned or scuttled. The commander of the remaining ships, Won Gyun went into hiding among the many coves and inlets along Korea’s southern coast,and sent a letter to Admiral Yi asking for help. But before he acted, Yi started gathering intelligence on Japanese naval movements. Moreover, he hoped to organise a united fleetof 90 ships with other admirals in the area. Some of Yi’s men were executed and their heads were displayed to the others in order to improve defeatist moods. However on June 12th - the day Seoul fellto Japanese ground forces - Yi was forced to sail. King Seonjo’s court issued orders for himto unite his vessels with those of Won Gyun. On June 13th, Yi Sun-shin led his fleet outof Yeosu harbour. It was made up of 39 fighting vessels - 24large panoksons, 15 smaller decked hyeupson fighting ships, and 46 lighter scout ships known as ‘sea ears’. After rendezvousing with Won at Dang’po,Yi slowly sailed to the east. As his makeshift navy rounded the edge ofKoje Island and began working its way north, a scout ship approached them with a messagethat a fleet of Japanese ships was at anchor in Ok-po port. This village was situated inside a large baynot too far up the coast of Koje island, so it was there that the first naval battle ofthe war would be fought. As Korean naval forces entered the bay, Yiordered his smaller ships to the flanks while the heavier warships, including Yi’s flagship,formed a line in the centre. He sent a message to each of his captains,warning them not to give way, but to ‘stand like mountain castles’. Then, he ordered an advance. More than 50 enemy transports were at anchorin front of Ok-po village. Most were unmanned, ransacking the villagein search of loot and setting fire to houses. Only when Korean ships neared them were theyseen by the Japanese, due to the fact that smoke from the burning village obscured theirvision. The Japanese hastily rushed back to theirships, attempting to lift anchor and then hugging the coast rather than heading forthe open sea. Yi’s fleet attacked, engaging the Japaneseat a distance and encircling them before opening fire with cannons and fire arrows to the beatof their admiral’s war drum. Though Japanese arquebusiers attempted tofire back, the distance meant that Yi’s enemies could not attempt boarding actions,and they were gradually destroyed one ship at a time. When this fleet had broken, its crewmen deador fleeing back to shore , five more ships were spotted in the evening near Happo, fourof which were also destroyed by Yi. 26 ships of the Japanese navy were destroyed on thefirst day, without a single loss for Yi Sun-shin’s armada. The next morning, 13 additional Japanese shipswere spotted near Jinhae. Yi once again destroyed 11 out of that numberwithout suffering any losses. During these victories, Admiral Yi was oftenamused by the exotic trophies taken from enemy ships, particularly their elaborately ornatehelmets, which were sent to the king Seonjo alongside the news of the victory. The harrowing experience of civilians Yi encounteredafter Ok’po further enraged him, providing proof to him of Japan’s savagery. The admiral then retreated back to Yeosu inorder to reorganise his forces. These naval defeats made the Japanese realisethat the Korean navy was not yet defeated, and they sent a force of ships to deal withYi in early July. Being notified of this expedition to destroyhim, the admiral sailed east on July 8th with only 23 warships. He had discarded the smaller ‘sea ear’scout ships and replaced them with something altogether more formidable and far more famous- the kobukson, otherwise known as the turtle ship. The turtle ship was twenty-eight metres long,nine metres wide, and six metres high, making it a fairly large ship for the time. It sat low in the water, which allowed itto come in under the massive Japanese castle ships and blast their hulls with cannon fireand archery. A sloping roof of planks bristling with ironspikes was also laid on top of the hull, encasing the vessel like the shell of a turtle, hencethe name. Around 15 of the advanced Korean cannons weremounted on each of these ships, along with a platform of archers. With his ships ready for battle, Admiral Yisailed for Sacheon, where around 50 Japanese ships were anchored, including 12 warships. The Japanese troops were fortified on thecliffs above the bay, where the Japanese commander - Wakizaka Yasuharu - made his command post. Though Yi realised that he could not risk closing with an enemy which possessed suchfire support from the land, he also knew the Japanese capacity for arrogance. So, he sent a small force into the bay asbait and then had it turn and retreat, as though fleeing in terror. Seeing this apparent display of weakness,Yasuharu’s men ran down from the heights and embarked on their ships, pursuing Yi’snavy into the middle of the bay. Witnessing the success of his lure, the Korean admiral ordered an assault, with the invincible turtle ships leading the advance. They crashed into the middle of the enemyformation and unleashed a storm of cannon fire and arrows in all directions, causingmassive losses among the Japanese vessels. The nimbler Korean vessels were also againable to avoid Japanese boarding actions. As his forces neared victory and the enemyships sank one at a time, Yi was hit by a stray arquebus bullet in the shoulder, butremained stoic. After the enemy fleet had been destroyed,Yi supposedly withdrew a knife and dug the bullet out with it. When the battle was over, every ship whichhad pursued him lay burning on the sea or sunk. Victories kept on coming in the days afterSacheon. Firstly, at Dang’po , Admiral Yi defeateda 21-ship strong Japanese fleet, once again using his turtle ships to break apart andwreak havoc within the enemy formation. Soon after, the Koreans advanced on a 26 stronganchored enemy armada at Danghangp’o . All but one of the Japanese vessels were destroyedafter Yi lured them into the open and smashed their battle line to pieces. The land war was still not going well, butYi made sure the position of his realm was supreme on the sea. Back in Japan, Hideyoshi was livid at thecontinued resistance of this small Korean fleet, and angrily ordered his admirals WakizakaYasuharu, Kato Yoshiaki, and Kuki Yoshitaka to cease their useless inland plundering andannihilate Yi Sun-shin. The advancing armies needed supplies and reinforcements,but the Korean navy was stopping them. At the time, Yasuharu’s 82 vessel fleetwas the only one ready for the upcoming fight, and the proud daimyo chose to act alone. He would gain the glory from crushing Yi. The following morning - August 15th - Admiral Yi deployed his fleet in a bay near the island of Hansando. Admiral Won wanted to just attack Yasuharu’sfleet, but Yi refused. Rather than meeting Yasuharu’s fleet inthe narrows of Kyonnaerang where Yi’s ships might collide with one another, he sent sixpanokson warships forward as bait for a trap. When these ships emerged into visual rangeof the enemy, they switched direction and fled. Predictably, the victory-hungry Japanese fleetcame barrelling in pursuit. As they emerged into the open sea, the Korean fleet spread into a semicircular Crane’s Wing formation, light vessels on the flanks,while the heavier ships formed a sturdy centre. When everything was in place, Yi ordered acharge. Immediately the more nimble wings envelopedall of Yasuharu’s vessels, darting in and out whilst showering the enemy with cannonfire and archery. At the same time, the heavier centre - frontedby three turtle ships - smashed directly into the enemy formation. Shooting from all sides, the monstrous turtleships tore many Japanese ships apart with cannon, while the heavy panokson warshipsstayed at a distance, using their advantage in artillery to tear into the Japanese. In particular, metal-cased fire bombs wereshot from mortars located on the decks of panokson craft. Only when the opposing ships were crippleddid the admiral give the order to board and finish them off in melee. After many hours of this drubbing, Yasuharurealised he was defeated and fled to a fast ship, barely managing to escape. Two of his relatives - Wakizaka Sabei and Watanabe Shichi’emon - were not so lucky, and were killed in the fighting. Of 82 Japanese vessels that had sailed through Kyonnaerang that day, only 14 survived the Battle of Hansando. The two colleagues of Yasuharu whom he hadleft behind before the battle - Yoshitaka and Yoshiaki - were quickly informed of thedisaster. They set sail immediately and reached Angolp’o,where they ran into the battered remnants of Yasuharu’s forces. One day later on the 16th of August 1592,favourable winds prompted Yi to follow his defeated foe, arriving outside the Angolp’oharbour and deploying his navy in the crane’s wing formation once again.
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