Siege of Namwon

Siege of Namwon
Part of Imjin War
Date August 12–15 1597 Location Namwon, North Jeolla Result Decisive Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japanese Left Army	Korean Garrison Ming army
Commanders and leaders
Ukita Hideie Konishi Yukinaga Shimazu Yoshihiro So Yoshitoshi Kuroda Nagamasa	Korea: Yi Bok-nam† Yi Chun-won Kim Gyeong-ro† Ma Eung-bang† Oh Eung-jeong† Im Hyeon† Yi Deok-hoe† Jeong Gi-won† Hwang Dae-jung† Shin Ho† Jo Gyeong-nam Ming: Yang Hao Jiang Biao† Mao Cheng Xian†
Strength
around 56800	Korea: 7,000 men 5,000+ civilians Ming: 3,000 men
Casualties and losses
minimal	Korea: almost all killed; one survivor Ming: unknown

Siege of Namwon
Hangul	남원전투
Hanja	南原戰鬪
Revised Romanization	Namwon Jeontu
McCune–Reischauer	Namwǒn Chǒnt'u

Korean Garrison

Korea:
Yi Bok-nam†
Yi Chun-won
Kim Gyeong-ro†
Ma Eung-bang†
Oh Eung-jeong†
Im Hyeon†
Yi Deok-hoe†
Jeong Gi-won†
Hwang Dae-jung†
Shin Ho†
Jo Gyeong-nam

Korea:
7,000 men
5,000+ civilians

Korea:
almost all killed; one survivor

The Siege of Namwon was a battle of the Imjin War (1592-1598). The samurai armies of Japan had invaded the Korean peninsula, and in the summer of 1597 laid siege to the city of Namwon, which was defended by a combined garrison of Korean and Ming Chinese troops. The defenders faced overwhelming odds, and after fierce fighting, the Chinese general entered into secret negotiations with the Japanese commander. In exchange for safe passage for him and his men, they would leave one gate open and undefended. Both sides honored the bargain. The Chinese were allowed to withdraw and the Japanese forces poured into the city. The Koreans fought hard, but were reportedly all killed, with the exception of one survivor.

A Japanese Force of 56,000 soldiers led by Ukita Hideie besieged and assaulted Namwon, defended by 10,000 Korean and Chinese Soldiers and at least 5,000 women and children. The city was protected by a wall, constructed in the northern Chinese style, with a shallow dry moat, and corner gun towers. The Koreans wanted to relocate to the nearby mountains because of their knowledge of the terrain, hoping to play off their strengths and engage in guerrilla warfare. This also would have given them the higher ground. However the Chinese general Yang Yuan demanded the defense of the city claiming that he had fought and won numerous battles in China therefore he knew what strategy would serve them best. He wanted to withstand the siege from within the city walls and threatened to withdraw back to China if his orders were not followed.

As the city was on flat ground, with high ground all around it, the city was immediately placed under arquebus fire from day one, from all sides. General Yi Bok Nam and his cavalry was able to successfully repel the Japanese attack several times. However, with the annual rainfall the flat land was reduced to fields of mud rendering the Korean horsemen and their one great advantage, their steeds, useless.

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Wikipedia