Pak Phing, Phitsanulok: the battlefield of the northern campaign in the Nine Armies' War

What happened here

Saturday 18 March 1786Stop 5 of 5

Prince Anurak Thewet had been posted at Nakhon Sawan with 15,000 men since the start of the war. When the fighting on the Kanchanaburi front was over, King Rama I brought the royal army up as far as Phichit in support and ordered the attack on the camp at Pak Phing.

See the whole route on the map →

A battle that had to be won in one day

Prince Anurak Thewet was posted at Nakhon Sawan with 15,000 men and sent Chaophraya Maha Sena forward to Phichit, where he and the Burmese watched each other for a long time without fighting. Once the war on the Kanchanaburi front was won, King Rama I sent a royal letter north to hurry them, saying that if the task was not accomplished the prince's head would not stay on his body, and then followed with the royal army in person.

On the march north, the advance guard under Phraya Saraburi saw a flock of pelicans in the half-light before dawn, took them for the enemy and fell back; he was executed for cowardice. The order was then given to take the camp at Pak Phing within a single day. The two sides fought from morning until dusk. The Burmese broke and fled across the Nan River to the west bank; about 800 were drowned or killed.

The place today

Today Pak Phing is a farming community on both banks of the Nan River. The east bank is in Wang Nam Khu subdistrict and the west bank in Ngio Ngam subdistrict, Mueang Phitsanulok district, with Wat Pak Phing Tawan Ok and Wat Pak Phing Tawan Tok as landmarks. Pak Phing had been a battlefield once before, in Maha Thiha Thura's invasion of 1775–1776.

Position on the map: Approximate coordinates of the mouth of Khlong Phing on the Nan River, about 12 km south of Phitsanulok town. Present-day writers place the Burmese camp on the east bank, in Wang Nam Khu subdistrict.