Battle of Yingkou

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Yingkou
partof=the First Sino-Japanese War


caption=Ukiyoe by Migita Toshihide "Colonel Sato attacking fortification at Niuzhuang" dated April 1895
date= 4 March 1895
place= Yingkou, Liaoning Province, Manchuria
result=Japanese victory
combatant1=flag|Empire of Japan
combatant2=flagicon|Qing Dynasty Qing China
commander1=Field Marshal Yamagata Aritomo
commander2= General Li Hongzhang
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=

The Battle of Yinkou (Japanese: 牛莊作戦) was a land battle of the First Sino-Japanese War between the forces of Meiji Japan and Qing China, fought outside the treaty port town of Yingkou, Manchuria. It is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Newchwang.

The battle

Following the capture of the walled town of Haicheng, south of Liaoyang in the Liaodong Peninsula, Manchuria by the 3rd Division of the 1st Japanese Army on 13 December 1894, Chinese forces made three attempts in January and February to retake the town. All were unsuccessful.

The 1st Division of the 2nd Japanese Army left Kinchow on 10 February 1895, and rendezvoused with the 1st Japanese Army outside of the foreign treaty port of Yingkou (then known as Niuzhuang). Niuzhuang was taken on 4 March 1895 after a fierce street-by-street fight in which the Chinese suffered from 1800 casualties.

On 6 March 1895, the Japanese forces entered Yingkou without resistance, and then proceeded to bombard the town of Tianzhuangtai on the opposite side of the Liao River, which they razed to the ground.

Aftermath of the battle

The capture of Yingkou marks the effective end of combat on the Asian mainland in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Toward the end of March a column of Japanese troops seized the Pescadores Islands near Taiwan. During this time, negotiations were already underway for a ceasefire and Chinese surrender at Shimonoseki.

References

*Chamberlin, William Henry. "Japan Over Asia", 1937, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 395 pp.
* Kodansha "Japan An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1993, Kodansha Press, Tokyo ISBN 4-06-205938-X
* Lone, Stewart. "Japan's First Modern War: Army and Society in the Conflict with China, 1894-1895," 1994, St. Martin's Press, New York, 222 pp.
* Paine, S.C.M. "The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perception, Power, and Primacy," 2003, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 412 pp.
* Warner, Dennis and Peggy. "The Tide At Sunrise", 1974, Charterhouse, New York, 659 pp.