Seige of Kusong

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Seige of Kusong


caption=
partof= Mongol invasions of Korea
date=1231
place=Kusong, Goryeo
result=decisive Goryeo victory
combatant1= Mongol Empire
combatant2= Goryeo
commander1= General Sartaq
commander2= General Pak so
strength1= unknown
strength2= at least three Tumens
casualties1= unknown
casualties2= unknown, heavy|

The Siege of Kusong which occurred in 1231 was a decisive Goryeo victory against the Mongol Empire. After the Mongol army crossed the Yalu river, it quickly captured almost all of Goryeo's border defenses. The Mongol army however ran into stiff resistance both at Anju and the city of Kusong. To take Kusong, Sartaq used a full array of siege weapons to bring down the city's defenses. Lines of catapults launched both boulders and molten metal at the cities walls. The Mongols deployed special assault teams who manned siege towers and scaling ladders. Other tatics used were pushing flaming carts against the city's wooden gates and tunneling under the walls. The most grisly weapon used during the siege were fire-bombs which contained boiled down, liquified human fat.

According to an old Mongol general who, toward the end of the siege said:

:"...I have never seen [a city] undergo an attack like this which did not, in the end, submit." [http://www.koreanhistoryproject.org/Ket/C06/E0602.htm]

Despite the fact the Goryeo army was heavily outnumbered and after over thirty days of brutal siege warfare, Goryeo soldiers still refused to surrender and with mounting Mongol casualties, The Mongol army could not take the city and had to withdraw.

ee also

*Mongol invasions of Korea
*Goryeo
*History of Korea
*Mongol Empire

References