Siege
1597 siege
The siege of Ulsan (Korean: 울산성 전투; Hanja: 蔚山城戰鬪; MR: Ulsansŏng chŏnt'u) was an unsuccessful Ming-Joseon attempt to capture Ulsan from the Japanese. The siege lasted from 26 January to 19 February 1598.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Siege of Ulsan”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The siege of Ulsan (Korean: 울산성 전투; Hanja: 蔚山城戰鬪; MR: Ulsansŏng chŏnt'u) was an unsuccessful Ming-Joseon attempt to capture Ulsan from the Japanese. The siege lasted from 26 January to 19 February 1598.
Yang Hao, Ma Gui, and Gwon Yul met up at Gyeongju on the 26 January 1598 and marched on Ulsan with an army of 50,000.
The allied army reached Ulsan on 29 January.
The battle began with a false retreat that lured the Japanese garrison into a frontal attack. They were defeated with 500 losses and were forced to retreat to Tosan fortress. The allies occupied the city of Ulsan.
On 30 January the allies bombarded the fortress and then took the outer wall of Tosan. The Japanese abandoned much of their food supplies and retreated into the inner fortress. The allies assaulted the inner fortress, at one point even taking a portion of the wall, but suffered heavy casualties. Their cannons were of no help since the fortress was situated too high to reach. Eventually the attack was called off, and a long siege began.
On 19 February the allied forces attacked again and were repelled. Seeing Japanese reinforcements arrive, Yang Hao decided to lift the siege and withdraw.
Joseon and Ming forces losses according to Ming sources numbered 798 killed at the battle and a further 823 dead by injuries for a total of 1,621 dead. The wounded reached 2,908.
According to Hawley, the Japanese garrison at Ulsan Castle numbered 10,000 men, with less than 1,000 surviving the siege. Two Japanese historical sources claim the Japanese garrison numbered either 20,000 or 23,000.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Siege of Ulsan”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.