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Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 Filipino (about 66,000) and American (about 12,000) prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell via San Fernando.
The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps was 105 kilometres (65 mi). Sources also report widely differing prisoner of war casualties before reaching Camp O'Donnell: from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march.
The march was characterized by severe physical abuse and wanton killings, including the Pantingan River massacre during which up to 400 prisoners were executed. POWs who fell or were caught on the ground were shot. After the war, the Japanese commander, General Masaharu Homma, and two of his officers, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were tried by United States military commissions for war crimes and sentenced to death on charges of failing to prevent their subordinates from committing atrocities, though Masanobu Tsuji, the mastermind behind Pantingan River massacre, could flee, hide himself and escape from the war trial. Homma was executed in 1946, and Kawane and Hirano in 1949, while Tsuji eventually served for several foreign intelligence agencies after the war, disappearing in Laos, April 1961 and being declared dead seven years later.
When General Douglas MacArthur returned to active duty, the latest revision of plans for the defense of the Philippine Islands—War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3)—was politically unrealistic, as it assumed a conflict only involving the United States and Japan, not the combined Axis powers. However, the plan was tactically sound, and its provisions for defense were applicable under any local situation.
Under WPO-3, the mission of the Philippine garrison was to hold the entrance to Manila Bay and deny its use to Japanese naval forces. If the enemy prevailed, the Americans were to hold back the Japanese advance while withdrawing to the Bataan Peninsula, which was recognized as the key to the control of Manila Bay. It was to be defended to the "last extremity". MacArthur assumed command of the Allied army in July 1941 and rejected WPO-3 as defeatist, preferring a more aggressive course of action. He recommended—among other things—a coastal defense strategy that would include the entire archipelago. His recommendations were followed in the plan that was eventually approved.
The main force of General Masaharu Homma's 14th Army came ashore at Lingayen Gulf on the morning of December 22, 1941. The defenders failed to hold the beaches. By the end of the day, the Japanese had secured most of their objectives and were in position to emerge onto the central plain. Late in the afternoon of December 23, General Jonathan Wainwright telephoned MacArthur's headquarters in Manila and informed him that any further defense of the Lingayen beaches was "impracticable". He requested and was permitted to withdraw behind the Agno River. MacArthur decided to abandon his plan for defense and revert to WPO-3, evacuating President Manuel L. Quezon, High Commissioner Francis B. Sayre, their families, and his headquarters to Corregidor on December 24. A rear echelon, headed by the deputy chief of staff, Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall, remained behind in Manila to close out the headquarters and to supervise the shipment of supplies and the evacuation of the remaining troops.
On December 26, Manila was officially declared an open city, and MacArthur's proclamation was published in the newspapers and broadcast over the radio.
The Battle of Bataan began on January 7, 1942, and continued until April 9, when the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) commander, Major General Edward P. King, surrendered to Colonel Motō Nakayama of the 14th Army. King went against his superior's orders and told his troops to lay down their arms, accepting personal responsibility for the surrender. He made the following statement: "You men remember this. You did not surrender … you had no alternative but to obey my order."
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Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 Filipino (about 66,000) and American (about 12,000) prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell via San Fernando.
The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps was 105 kilometres (65 mi). Sources also report widely differing prisoner of war casualties before reaching Camp O'Donnell: from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march.
The march was characterized by severe physical abuse and wanton killings, including the Pantingan River massacre during which up to 400 prisoners were executed. POWs who fell or were caught on the ground were shot. After the war, the Japanese commander, General Masaharu Homma, and two of his officers, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were tried by United States military commissions for war crimes and sentenced to death on charges of failing to prevent their subordinates from committing atrocities, though Masanobu Tsuji, the mastermind behind Pantingan River massacre, could flee, hide himself and escape from the war trial. Homma was executed in 1946, and Kawane and Hirano in 1949, while Tsuji eventually served for several foreign intelligence agencies after the war, disappearing in Laos, April 1961 and being declared dead seven years later.
When General Douglas MacArthur returned to active duty, the latest revision of plans for the defense of the Philippine Islands—War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3)—was politically unrealistic, as it assumed a conflict only involving the United States and Japan, not the combined Axis powers. However, the plan was tactically sound, and its provisions for defense were applicable under any local situation.
Under WPO-3, the mission of the Philippine garrison was to hold the entrance to Manila Bay and deny its use to Japanese naval forces. If the enemy prevailed, the Americans were to hold back the Japanese advance while withdrawing to the Bataan Peninsula, which was recognized as the key to the control of Manila Bay. It was to be defended to the "last extremity". MacArthur assumed command of the Allied army in July 1941 and rejected WPO-3 as defeatist, preferring a more aggressive course of action. He recommended—among other things—a coastal defense strategy that would include the entire archipelago. His recommendations were followed in the plan that was eventually approved.
The main force of General Masaharu Homma's 14th Army came ashore at Lingayen Gulf on the morning of December 22, 1941. The defenders failed to hold the beaches. By the end of the day, the Japanese had secured most of their objectives and were in position to emerge onto the central plain. Late in the afternoon of December 23, General Jonathan Wainwright telephoned MacArthur's headquarters in Manila and informed him that any further defense of the Lingayen beaches was "impracticable". He requested and was permitted to withdraw behind the Agno River. MacArthur decided to abandon his plan for defense and revert to WPO-3, evacuating President Manuel L. Quezon, High Commissioner Francis B. Sayre, their families, and his headquarters to Corregidor on December 24. A rear echelon, headed by the deputy chief of staff, Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall, remained behind in Manila to close out the headquarters and to supervise the shipment of supplies and the evacuation of the remaining troops.
On December 26, Manila was officially declared an open city, and MacArthur's proclamation was published in the newspapers and broadcast over the radio.
The Battle of Bataan began on January 7, 1942, and continued until April 9, when the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) commander, Major General Edward P. King, surrendered to Colonel Motō Nakayama of the 14th Army. King went against his superior's orders and told his troops to lay down their arms, accepting personal responsibility for the surrender. He made the following statement: "You men remember this. You did not surrender … you had no alternative but to obey my order."