The Battle of Thị Nại Bay was a military engagement between

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albania ...

forces under king

Indravarman V Indravarman V, Harideva, or Jaya Simhavarman, was a king of Champa whose reign began in 1257 when he assassinated his uncle Jaya Indravarman VI, but waited until 1266 for his coronation. Declining to submit himself in person to the Mongol Khan, K ...

and Prince Harijit against the invading Mongol-led Yuan force under Mongol general Sogetu in February 1283. The battle took place on the landing beach of Thị Nại Bay, near Champa's capital

Vijaya Vijaya may refer to: Places * Vijaya (Champa), a city-state and former capital of the historic Champa in what is now Vietnam * Vijayawada, a city in Andhra Pradesh, India People * Prince Vijaya of Sri Lanka (fl. 543–505 BC), earliest recorde ...

(Modern-day

Qui Nhơn Quy Nhon ( vi, Quy Nhơn ) is a coastal city in Bình Định province in central Vietnam. It is composed of 16 wards and five communes with a total of . Quy Nhon is the capital of Bình Định province. As of 2019 its population was 457,400. H ...

Central Vietnam Central Vietnam ( vi, Trung Bộ or ), also known as Middle Vietnam or The Middle, formerly known as by South Vietnam, and Annam under French Indochina, is one of the three geographical regions within Vietnam. The name Trung Bộ was used by ...

). Despite being outnumbered, the Yuan invaders managed to break the Cham defensive line, forced the Cham monarch to retreat to the western highlands, where he waged an successfully guerrilla campaign against the occupying Yuan forces.

Background

In summer 1282,

Kublai Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of the ...

ordered Sogetu of the

Jalairs Jalair ( mn, Жалайр; ; ), also Djalair, Yyalair, Jalayir, is one of the Darliqin Mongol tribes according to Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's ''Jami' al-tawarikh''. They lived along the Shilka River in modern Zabaykalsky Krai of Russia.History of ...

, the governor of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, to lead the punitive expedition against Champa. Kublai declared: "The old king (Jaya

) is innocent. The ones who oppose to our order was his son (Harijit) and a Southern Chinese." In late 1282, a Yuan fleet of 5,000 men, 100 ships and 250 landing crafts began sailing to the capital of Champa. The Chinese fleet arrived at the coast of Central Vietnam, near modern-day

in February 1283. The Cham defenders had already built a fortified wooden fortress on the west shore of the bay, where the Yuan army would make landfall.

The battle

The Yuan landed at midnight of 13 February. From the east, Cheng Pin and Chao Ta led 300 soldiers approaching the fort, while Chen Chung-ta, Li Ch'uan and Su Ch'uan commanded 1,600 troops approaching from the north, and the main army of 3,000 led by Sogetu to attack the fort from the south in three columns. In the morning at 05:00 AM, the Cham opened the south gate, marched to the beach and met the Yuan with 10,000 men, several elephants and around 100 Muslim

trebuchet A trebuchet (french: trébuchet) is a type of catapult that uses a long arm to throw a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles of greater weight ...

s. The Cham divided their force into three columns, with some were carrying banners and beating the drum. The battle fought fiercely by both sides, but the skilled Mongol general managed to defeat the Cham army. The battle lasted until 01:00 AM, then Chinese troops from the north and east entered the fort, butchered and drowned several thousands of defenders. The Yuan seized enemy grain storage in addition to their supplies. The Cham king abandoned his temporary headquarter, set his warehouse on fire, killed the Mongol envoys Yu Yongxian and Yilan before evacuating into the mountains. Yuan troops captured

on 17 February for two days, then withdrew outside the city to set up their camps.

References

Books

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Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Invasions of Vietnam Thị Nại Bay Thị Nại Bay History of Champa Thị Nại Bay Thị Nại Bay 13th century in Vietnam 1280s in the Mongol Empire 1283 in Asia