Battle of Samdunja
Empire of Japan Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea Korean-Chinese joint operations Liberation forces operations Other The Battle of Samdunja (Korean: 삼둔자 전투; Hanja: 三屯子戰鬪) was fought between June 4 and June 6, 1920 on the banks of the Wolshin River in Manchuria between the combined force of the Northern Korean Military Office and the Shinmindan against the Imperial Japanese Army.[4][5] At 5 a.m. on June 4, 1920, a 30-strong independence army small unit departing from Samdunja, Hwaryonghyeon, crossed the Duman River and defeated a Japanese platoon in Gangyang-dong, Jongseong-gun, Hamgyeong-do.A small unit of the independence army, consisting of about 30 people, departed from Samdunja at dawn on June 4 of that year as part of the usual domestic invasion operation, crossed the Duman River, and advanced to Gangyang-dong (江陽洞), 5 ri (about 2 km (1.22 miles)) north of Jongseong-gun, from there to Fuku.After defeating the Japanese military police patrol platoon led by an officer named Fukue (福江), they returned across the Duman River at dusk and ended the operation.On the morning of June 4, when the Jongseong-gun military police patrol station was devastated, the Namyang Garrison recognized that it was the work of the independence army and immediately dispatched troops.The Japanese Army's Namyang Garrison (南陽守備隊), which received urgent information from the border post area that confirmed the surprise attack by the independence forces stationed at Samdunja.Choi Jin-dong (崔振東) of the North Korean Military Department lured the army into an ambush and destroyed the subordinate company of the Namyang Garrison.[3][7][5] Accordingly, the Independence Army Combined Forces Command ambushed one platoon at the foot of Beomjinryeong, a hill in Bonghwa-ri, southwest of Samdunja, and stationed a small number of troops led by Platoon Commander Yi Hwa-il on the high ground to engage in a gunfight to lure the Japanese army out into the open.The Provisional Government's Military Affairs Department described the Battle of Samdunja as follows:[4] “At 5 a.m. on June 4, 1920, a platoon of our forces departed from Samdunja on the Wolsingang River in Hwaryong-hyeon and crossed to the upstream of Gangyang- dong, Jongseong-gun, about 5 ri north of Jongseong-gun, and met Gunjo Fukue (福江三太), the head of the Japanese enemy post in the area.