Battle of Sacheon (1598)

The Battle of Sacheon (泗川) was a siege by Korean and Chinese forces against the Japanese fortification of Sacheon from 28 to 29 September 1598, during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea. The Japanese were able to withstand the siege, and due to a fortuitous explosion in the Chinese artillery unit's powder magazine, attacked and drove off the Chinese and Korean army. There are conflicting accounts of how many men participated and how many were killed, but all accounts agree that the Japanese garrison was heavily outnumbered and emerged victorious.

Battle of Sacheon
Part of the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)
Date October 1598 Location Sacheon, in today's South Gyeongsang province, South Korea Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Japan	Ming Joseon
Commanders and leaders
Shimazu Yoshihiro	Dong Yiyuan
Strength
8,000[1]	Sources:[needs copy edit] Swope: 15,000+[2] Hawley: 26,800 Ming troops, 2,300 Joseon troops, 29,100 total[1] Turnbull: 36,700[3] Japan: 200,000[2]
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Sources:[needs copy edit] Korea: 7-8,000 Chinese soldiers killed[4] Japan: 30,000-38,700[5][3]

Force numbers

There are various numbers given by different sources on the forces involved during the battle. Some Japanese sources provide exaggerated claims that 200,000 troops attacked Sacheon, but this would have represented all Ming-Joseon troops deployed in the entire war at the time. According to Stephen Turnbull, the Ming attacked Sacheon with a total of 36,700 troops. However, this is also an exaggeration according to Kenneth Swope, who believes that Turnbull inflated the numbers to justify the Shimazu claim that they killed 33,700 allied troops during the battle. Swope gives a total of more than 15,000 allied troops led by Dong Yiyuan, who attacked Sacheon. Samuel Hawley claims that Dong had 26,800 Ming troops under his command while Chong Ki-ryong led 2,300 Joseon troops for a total of 29,100 allied troops that attacked Sacheon. Hawley provides a figure of 8,000 Japanese troops defending Sacheon under the command of Shimazu Yoshihiro. Yoshihiro claims that that his men killed 38,700 enemy troops in the battle while two Korean accounts states that between 7,000-8,000 Chinese troops were killed, mostly while they were attempting to flee.^[5][3][2]

Siege

Koreans and their Ming Chinese allies began pushing south in 1598, reclaiming territory lost to the Japanese in the battles of the preceding years. By September, an allied force of Ming soldiers under the command of Dong Yiyuan and Joseon soldiers led by Chong Ki-ryon, was ready to lay siege to the newer, larger Sacheon castle.^[4][6]

The allied forces began their assault at midnight on 28 September. The old castle fell quickly at about 3:00 am on 29 September, and the Japanese split their force in three, retreated and sallied forth from the new castle's three gates. A big fire suddenly appeared at the rear of the besiegers and sent them into chaos. The Japanese stormed forth and defeated them. The attacking army suffered heavy casualties, although the exact number is disputed.^[7]