Battle of Kunyang 23AD

By the end of the Xin Dynasty, peasants all over China rebelled against the Xin Emperor Wang Mang for years of his incompetent rule. There were calls for the reestablishment of the Han Dynasty which had been over thrown by the Wang Mang. These voices were heard and the leaders of the rebellions Lulin supported Liu Xuan to be emperor of the new Han Dynasty.

The current emperor Wang Mang decided he must destroy the newly constituted Han regime before it could gain momentum. He sent his cousin Wang Yi and his prime minister Wang Xun with several hundred thousand men to attack the Lulin forces.

The Lulin forces were split into two. The first led by Wang Feng, Wang Chang and Liu Xiu while the other was led by Liu Yan. The first part of the Lulin forces were able to take the castles of Kunyang, Dingling and Yanxian, while the other part of the Lulin force had begun to attack Yangguan. However, after hearing of the arrival of the main body of the Xin forces, Liu Yan decided to retreat his forces to Kunyang.

The 9000 strong Lulin force in Kunyang were vastly outnumbered by the Xin armies. Many of the Lulin rebels wanted to scatter and retreat to Jingzhou but Liu Xiu opposed it. He advocated that they guard Kunyang securely as a scattered army would be easily picked off. Liu Xiu also promised to gather all other available troops in the surrounding areas and would attack the Xin forces outside the castle. With the Xin forces approaching, Liu Xiu led 13 horsemen out of Kunyang during the night to rally reinforcements from Dingling and Yanxian.

The Xin commander Wang Li was confident in his overwhelming numbers and stated his army would “annihilate all in his path, massacre the town and dance in its blood” and laid siege to Kunyang. Faced with siege towers and tunnels under the castle walls, the Kunyang defenders fought hard and held on until Liu Xiu returned with reinforcements of 10,000 footmen and cavalry.

By this point the Xin force’s morale was dropping while the Lulin force’s morale was at its peak with Liu’s return. Liu Xiu took a chance to lead 1000 men to engage the Xin forces while another force of 3000 men marched around to the rear of the Xin army and attacked their main camp.

Wang Li still underestimated the Lulin forces and led 10,000 men with Wang Xun to meet the enemy, while the rest of his men were ordered to stand their ground unless ordered to attack. Once Wang Xun was engaged in battle the other Xin forces as ordered were hesitant to assist them. As a result, Liu Xiu killed Wang Xun in battle, as of this moment the Lulin forces burst from the city and attacked the rest of the Xin units. Although having a much larger force, the Xin army suffered a total collapse and broke into retreat.

Unable to gather most of his men, Wang Yi had to withdraw with the remaining several thousand men back to Luoyang. The news of the battle of Kunyang spread throughout the empire and people simultaneously rose everywhere, often killing the local government officials and claiming to be officials under the new Han regime. Within a month, almost the entire empire had slipped out of Xin control. Eventually Liu Xiu managed to bring China back under Han Rule.

Battle of Okehazama 1560

During the 1500s Japan was in Civil War with local warlords seeking control of the country. Imagawa Yoshimoto a leading warlord in the Tōkaidō Region of Japan, led 25,000 men to march on Kyoto. On the march they entered Oda territories belonging to the much weaker warlord Oda Nobunaga.

Imagawa Yoshimoto took the border fortresses of Washizu and Marune before setting up camp in the wooded gorge known as Dengaku-Hazama. Oda’s scouts reported all of this to Oda who then moved his own forces of 2000-3000 men into a temple called Zebshio-ji.

Oda Nobunaga’s force was heavily outnumbered and his own generals urged him to surrender. Oda however had a reputation for being reckless and unpredictable even thought of by some as being mentally unstable, he ignored the advice from his generals instead ordering a dummy army be constructed at Zensho-Ji with a large number of banners to give the impression this was to be the location of his main force.

Meanwhile Oda ordered an attack and led his main force of 2000 men through the forest undetected to the rear of the Imagawa Army camped at Dengaku-Hazama. The Imagawa samurai were celebrating their recent victories at camp and did not expect and attack. A thunderstorm that took place that night shielded Oda’s men’s advance.

As soon as the storm passed, Oda’s men charged into the camp onto the drunk and unprepared army who lost all discipline with large numbers fleeing from their attackers. They left the commander’s tent largely undefended and the Oda warriors closed in. Yoshimoto unaware of what was happening heard the noise and came outside to order his men to quit their drunken activities and return to their posts. By the time he realised that the samurai in front of him were not his own it was too late to organise a defence. Yoshimoto was attacked and although deflected their initial attacks was killed by two of Oda’s samurai Mori Shinsuke and Hattori Koheita.

With Imagawa Yoshimoto dead and only two senior officers left alive, the remaining Imagawa force joined Oda’s army. Soon after the Imagawa faction was no more and Oda Nobunaga was at the front of military power.

Walther Wenck “The Boy General”

Walther Wenck was the youngest General of the branch in the German Army and a staff Officer during World War Two.

He was born on the 18^th September 1900 in Wittenberg. In 1919 he joined the Paramilitary group Freikorps and in 1920 joined the Army of the Weimar Republic. During 1939 until 1942, Wench was Chief of Operations for the 1^st Panzer Division. In 1942 he was an instructor at the War Academy, chief of staff for the LVII Corps, and then the 3^rd Romanian Army on the Eastern Front.

In 1944 he was made chief of staff of Army Group South Ukraine, it was here that he first got the attention of Adolf Hitler with his report on conditions on the Eastern Front saying “As you see my Fuhrer, the Eastern Front in like Swiss cheese, full of holes”. He was reprimanded for using informal language but Hitler commended the “liveliness” of his report!

On the 10^th April 1945, Wenck was appointed commander of the German Twelfth Army in the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. However, as the allies made gains in the Western and Eastern fronts towards Berlin, the German’s lines were backed toward each other. As a result, Wenck’s army’s area of control to his rear and East of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for German civilians fleeing the Soviets in the East. Wenck took great pains to provide food and shelter for the refugees and at one stage the Twelfth Army was feeding more than a quarter of a million people every day.

On 22^nd April 1945 and the Battle of Berlin raged, SS-General Felix Steiner retreated leaving Wenck’s Twelfth Army as Hitler’s last hope of saving Berlin. Wenck was ordered to disengage the Allied forces to his west and attack east, linking up with the Ninth Army to battle the Soviets encircling Berlin. Wenck’s forces met heavy Soviet resistance outside Potsdam and neither the 9^th or 12^th armies were able to progress towards Berlin. However, Wenck’s eastward attack toward Berlin had also been aimed specifically at providing the population and garrison at Berlin with an escape route to areas occupied by Western Allied forces.

On the night of April 28^th Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command that his Army had been forced back and that no attack on Berlin was possible. Instead, Wenck moved his forces towards the forest of Halbe and linked up with the remnants of the Ninth Army. “Comrades, you’ve got to go in once more” Wenck said, “It’s not about Berlin anymore, it’s not about the Reich anymore”. Their task was to save the people from the fighting and advancing Soviets. Wenck’s actions successfully evacuated tens of thousands of troops and civilians across the Elbe River to safety and surrender to Western forces, with Wenck himself being the last one who crossed the river.

Women at War

With the UK recently allowing women into combat roles, we decided to take a look at the role of a few women in conflicts throughout history as this is not a new thing. For as long as conflicts have occurred, women have fought and died alongside men. The following post will be highlighting some of these events and individuals from antiquity to modern day.

Lady Fu Hao

During the 13^th Century BC in China, King Wu Ding was known for forming alliances by marrying a woman from each of the neighbouring tribes, one of these 60 wives was Lady Fu Hao. She took advantage of this marriage and slave-society and rose through the ranks, even leading troops into battle. The Shang Dynasty had been at war with the Tu-Fang for decades until they were defeated by Fu Hao in one decisive battle. She also led soldiers in the following wars against the neighbouring Yi, Qiang and Ba. Fu Hao became the most powerful military leader of the time.

Amage the Sarmatian Queen

 

Amage was the wife of the Sarmatian King Medosaccus in the 4^th Century BC. Polyaenus writes that her husband was more interested in luxury and himself than the country, and as such Amage took over as regent. The Scythians kept sending raiding parties into the Crimea (the Bosporan Kingdom was then an ally of the Sarmatians). Amage sent a message to the Scythian king to cease harassing her people. He ignored her request and she marched 120 warriors to the Scythian camp covering 140 miles in one day. When Amage arrived they took the Scythians by surprise, Amage’s troops killed the King, most of his family and guards only sparing the King’s son because he took an oath to obey her and to not continue the assault on her allies.

Queen Zenobia

Zenobia was a queen of the Palmyrene Empire during the 3^rd Century in Syria, who led a revolt against the Roman Empire. After her husband’s death in 267 she became ruler and expanded the empire, having conquered Egypt and expelling the Romans by the year 269. She ruled Egypt for 3 years until she was defeated in 271 by the Romans.

 

Æthelflæd Lady of the Mercians

Æthelflæd was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex. She became the ruler of the Mercia in 911 and was known as a formidable military leader and tactician during the Viking invasions of England. She built a series of fortresses in the West Midlands and by allying herself with her brother, King Edward of Wessex, she was able to move against the occupying Danes in the South of England.

Ida of Austria

Ida of Austria raised and led her own army towards Jerusalem during the Crusades of 1101, she and her army were among those ambushed at Heraclea Cybistra. It is reported that she fell in the attack.

 

 

Maire o Ciaragain

Maire was an Irish warlord from Armagh in the 15^th Century. She led the Irish clans in revolt against the English Pale as well as the Earldom or Leinster and the Earldom of Ulster.

Abbakka Chowta

Abbakka was the Queen of Ullal who fought the Portuguese in the 16^th Century. The Portuguese made numerous attempts to capture Ullal but Abbakka was able to defeat each of their attacks for over four decades. Due to her bravery she became known as the Fearless Queen and is one of the earliest Indians to fight the colonial Powers.

Maria Wittek

Maria Wittek served in the Polish Army and associated organisations since she was 18 years old. During the Invasion of Poland in 1939 she was the commanding officer of the Women’s Military Assistance Battalions. She fought in the Warsaw Uprising and was promoted to Lt.Colonel. After the Warsaw Uprising was defeated she avoided being taken prisoner by the Germans and left the ruins of Warsaw among the Civilians.

 

There are of course thousands more examples of Women actively serving in conflicts from all around the world, but we’ve tried t0 highlight some of the least well known stories in this topic.