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Battle of Hansan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date: 14 August 1592
Location: The eastern coast of Hansan Island
Result: Decisive Korean victory
Combatants
Fleet of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Korean navy
Commanders
Japan
Wakizaka Yasuharu
Wakizaka Sabei
Watanabe Shichi'emon
Korea
Yi Sun-Shin
Won Kyun
Yi Eok Ki
Strength
Japan
73 ships
Korea
60 ships
Casualties
Japan
59 ships
9,000 deaths
Korea
no ships lost
19 dead and 114 wounded
Introduction
The Battle of Hansan (or Battle of Hansan-do) was one of the most important battles of the Seven-Year War. In August 14, 1592, Admiral Yi Sun-sin destroyed, near the Korean island Hansando, over 59 Japanese ships and killed over 9,000 Japanese soldiers. Yi's success in this battle became a turning point in the Korean-Japanese Seven-Year War.
Prelude
Admiral Yi, along with the small fleet of seven ships of Admiral Won Kyun, had fought two campaigns across the southern coast of Korea. Admiral Yi Eok Ki joined Admirals Yi and Won for the third campaign. In all, over 100 Japanese ships were sunk and they had suffered thousands of casualties, a significant percentage of the troops in the invasion. Admiral Yi and the combined Korean fleet did not lose any ships and had only 11 dead 26 wounded up to that point.
Hideyoshi had made it absolutely imperative to his commanders that the naval situation must be put under control; the Korean fleets destroyed and the supply routes to the Yellow Sea secured. Japanese commander Wakizaka Yasuharu was ordered to wait and combine his fleet with the forces of Kato Yoshiaki and Kuki Yoshitaka to seek out and destroy the Korean fleet. However, it would take some time for Kato and Kuki to assemble their ships so Wakizaka went out alone with 73 ships.
In the meantime, Admiral Yi was planning a third campaign and worked with Admirals Won and Yi Eok Ki in combined operations and practiced a novel, new fighting formation that was in the shape of a crane's wing.
The Battle (Phase 1)
Admiral Yi has received intelligence from a local farmer that a large Japanese fleet (which happen to be Wakizaka's ships) was making its way west towards him and was currently anchored north of the Kyonnaeryang strait, a narrow channel between Koje Island and the mainland.
In August 14th, the next morning, Admiral Yi sent out six panokson battle ships across the channel to lure out Wakizaka's fleet. Wakizaka took the bait and all his ships chased Yi's six ships through the channel and into the broad open sea in front of Hansan Island. At this time, Admiral Yi began to employ the crane wing formation.
The Crane Wing Formation
In the two other campaigns, the Koreans had either met the Japanese ships in a straight battle line or if space was limited, in a circular or rolling method of attack, where their ships attacked in relays to sustain a continuous bombardment. Although these tactics were effective, considerable numbers of Japanese escaped to swim ashore. The crane wing formation was designed to not just sink ships, but to annilate the enemy.
The formation itself resembled a "U" shape, with the heaviest battleships in the center and ligher ships on the wings. Reserves would be behind the ships in the center and plug gaps as the formation expanded. The "U" shape would also allow for interlocking fields of fire and each Japanese ship would be hit from several angles.
The Japanese tactic was to put their fastest ships in the vanguard to keep the Korean ships occupied, then move their larger ships rapidly to close the range and grapple and board the Korean ships. However, this tactic played right into the Admiral Yi's plan, as the Japanese rowed deeper into the trap. The volume and range of Korean cannon fire prevented the Japanese from employing their favorate tactic and finally, the crane wing formation enveloped and surrounded the Japanese.
The Battle (Phase 2)
Wakizaka Yasuharu was a highly aggressive commander and one of the legendary "Seven Spears of Shizugatake," the battle that solidified Hideyoshi's claim to be Oda Nobunaga's successor. It is clear from his tactics in the Battle of Hansan that Wakizaka threw all caution aside. Wazikaka not only followed the six Korean ships through the Kyonnaeryang Strait with his entire fleet of 73 ships, but pressed as quickly as possible into the center of the crane wing formation, oblivious to the danger ahead.
By positioning the Korean fleet in a U-Shape, Admiral Yi was quickly able to surround much of the Japanese fleet. The battle continued from the mid-morning to the late afternoon. Commanders Wakizaka Sabei and Watanabe Shichi'emon were killed. Commander Manabe Samanosuke committed seppuku aboard his sinking, burning ship. After loosing 59 ships, Wakizaka retreated with his remaining 14 ships. Most of the surviving ships were damaged and had to be ditched in some of the surrounding islands that dotted the southern Korean coast. Only a few ships ever made it back to the Japanese base at Pusan Harbor. This was the first time in recorded Samurai history that a Japanese commander of Wakizaka's caliber fled the field of battle in the presence of the enemy.
Aftermath
Admiral Yi's victory at Hansan Island effectively ended Hideyoshi's dreams of conquering Ming China, which was his original reason for invading Korea. The supply routes to the Yellow Sea must be open in order for his troops to have enough supplies and reinforcements to invade China. Konishi Yukinaga, the commander of the contingent of troops in Pyongyang could not move further north due to lack of supplies, nor could more troops be sent to him because there was not enough food to feed them. It took five times as much resources in food and men to move supplies via the land route over Korea's primitive roads. Furthermore, moving supplies overland left them vulnerable to attacks by Korean guerilla forces that were becoming increasingly active as the war progressed.
After the battle of Hansan Island (and the battle of Angolpo shortly afterwards) Hideyoshi found it necessary to give a direct order his naval commanders to cease all unnecessary naval operations and limit activity to the immediate area around Pusan Harbor. He told his commanders that he would come to Korea personally to lead the naval forces himself, a claim he would never fulfill.
The Battle of Hansan Island was the most important battle of the Seven-Year War. It ensured that all the fighting would be in Korea, not China, and that Pyongyang would be the furthest northwestern advance of the Japanese armies (to be sure, Kato Kiyomasa's second contingent's brief march into Manchuria was Japan's northern most advance, however, this operation had little military significance). It can be argued that the battle was one of the most important in East Asian history up to that point. Had Hideyoshi been able to invade China and conquer a large part of it, his plans were to also invade the Philippines and other commercially important islands in the East and South China seas. Hideyoshi's larger war plans, supported in many written documentation, was nearly identical to Imperial Japan's blue print for conquest in the second half of the 20th century.
International Recognition
George Alexander Ballard (1862-1948), a vice admiral of Royal Navy, complimented Admiral Yi's winning streaks by the Battle of Hansando highly in his book like this:
'"This was the great Korean admiral's crowning exploit. In the short space of six weeks(*actually about 9 weeks, May 7, 1592 ~ July 7, 1592) he had achieved a series of successes unsurpassed in the whole annals of maritime war, destroying the enemy's battle fleets, cutting his lines of communication, sweeping up his convoys, imperilling the situation of his victorious armies in the field, and bringing his ambitious schemes to utter ruin. Not even Nelson, Blake, or Jean Bart could have done more than this scarcely known representative of a small and cruelly oppressed nation; and it is to be regretted that his memory lingers nowhere outside his native land, for no impartial judge could deny him the right to be accounted among the born leaders of men."(The Influence of the Sea on The Political History of Japan, 57p)'
Edited by WangKon936, 12 February 2006 - 04:14 PM.
