Day of Valor- Battle of Bataan-Revisited

The Bataan Death March

April 9 is proclaimed as Day of Valor( Araw ng Kagitingan) in the Philippines. It is observed as a holiday in the Philippines and celebrated by Filipino-Americans here in the US. Araw ng Kagitingan is also known as Bataan Day or Bataan and Corregidor Day. It commemorates the fall of Bataan during World War II. Today will be the 73rd anniversary of this historic event during World War II in the Philippines

The following is an article from militaryhistory.about.com reminding us of this historic battle during the Japanese-American Was in the Philippines.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor ( December 7, 1941) Japanese arm forces began conducting an aerial assault on American forces in the Philippines. In addition, troops moved against Allied positions on Hong Kong and Wake Island. In the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur, commanding United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), began making preparations to defend the archipelago from the inevitable Japanese invasion. This included calling up numerous Filipino reserve divisions. Though MacArthur initially sought to defend the entire island of Luzon, prewar War Plan Orange 3 (WPO-3) called for USAFFE to withdraw to the highly defensible ground of the Bataan Peninsula, west of Manila, where it would hold out until relieved by the US Navy. Due to the losses sustained at Pearl Harbor, this was unlikely to occur.

Battle of Bataan - The Japanese Land:

On December 12, 1941 Japanese forces began landing at Legaspi in southern Luzon. This was followed by a larger effort in the north at Lingayen Gulf on December 22. Coming ashore, elements of Lieutenant General Masaharu

Homma's 14th Army began driving south against Major General Jonathan Wainwright's Northern Luzon Force. Two days after the landings at Lingayen commenced, MacArthur invoked WPO-3 and began shifting supplies to Bataan while Major General George M. Parker prepared the peninsula's defenses. Steadily pushed back, Wainwright retreated through a succession of defensive lines over the next week. To the south, Major General Albert Jones' Southern Luzon Force fared little better. Concerned about Wainwright's ability to keep the road to Bataan open, MacArthur directed Jones to move around Manila, which had been declared an open city, on December 30. Crossing the Pampanga River on January 1,1942 the SLF moved towards Bataan while Wainwright desperately held a line between Borac and Guagua. On January 4, Wainwright began retreating towards Bataan and three days later USAFFE forces were within the peninsula's defenses .

Battle of Bataan - The Allies Prepare:

Stretching from north to south, the Bataan Peninsula is mountainous down its spine with Mount Natib in the north and the Mariveles Mountains in the south. Covered in jungle, the peninsula's lowlands stretch to cliffs overlooking the the South China Sea in west and beaches in the east along Manila Bay. Due to the topography, the peninsula's only natural harbor is Mariveles at its southern tip. As USAFFE forces assumed their defensive position, roads on the peninsula were limited a perimeter route that ran along the east coast from Abucay to Mariveles and then north up the west coast to Mauban and an east-west route between Pilar and Bagac. Defense of Bataan was divided between two new formations, Wainwright's I Corps in the west and Parker's II Corps in the east. These held a line stretching from Mauban east to Abucay. Due to the open nature of the ground around Abucay, fortifications were stronger in Parker's sector. Both corps commanders anchored their lines on Mount Natib, though the mountain's rugged terrain prevented them from being in direct contact forcing the gap to be covered by patrols.

Battle of Bataan - The Japanese Attack:

Though the USAFFE was supported by a large amount of artillery, its position was weakened due to a tenuous supply situation. The speed of the Japanese advance had prevented the large scale stockpiling of supplies and the number of troops and civilians on the peninsula exceeded prewar estimates. As Homma prepared to attack, MacArthur repeatedly lobbied leaders in Washington, DC for reinforcements and aid. On January 9,1942 Lieutenant General Akira Nara opened the assault on Bataan when his troops advanced on Parker's lines. Turning back the enemy, II Corps endured heavy attacks for the next five days. By the 15th, Parker, who had committed his reserves, requested assistance from MacArthur. Anticipating this, MacArthur had already put the 31st Division (Philippine Army) and Philippine Division in motion towards II Corps' sector.

The following day, Parker attempted to counterattack with the 51st Division (PA). Though initially successful, the division later broke allowing the Japanese to threaten II Corps' line. On January 17, Parker desperately attempted to restore his position. Mounting a series of attacks over the next five days, he managed to retake much of the lost ground. This success proved brief as intense Japanese air attacks and artillery forced II Corps back. By the 22nd, Parker's left was under threat as enemy forces moved through the rough terrain of Mount Natib. That night, he received orders to retreat south. To the west, Wainwright's corps fared somewhat better against troops led by Major General Naoki Kimura. Holding off the Japanese at first, the situation changed on January 19 when Japanese forces infiltrated behind his lines cutting off supplies to the 1st Regular Division (PA). When efforts to dislodge this force failed, the division was withdrawn and lost most of its artillery in the process.

Battle of Bataan - Bagac-Orion Line:

With the collapse of the Abucay-Mauban Line, USAFFE established a new position running from Bagac to Orion on January 26. A shorter line, it was dwarfed by the heights of Mount Samat which provided the Allies with an observation post overseeing the entire front. Though in a strong position, MacArthur's forces suffered from a lack of capable officers and reserve forces were minimal. As fighting had raged to the north, Kimura dispatched amphibious forces to land on the southwest coast of the peninsula. Coming ashore at Quinauan and Longoskayan Points on the night of January 23, the Japanese were contained but not defeated. Seeking to exploit this, Lieutenant General Susumu Morioka, who had superseded Kimura, dispatched reinforcements to Quinauan on the night of the 26th. Becoming lost, they instead established a foothold on Canas Point. Obtaining additional troops on January 27, Wainwright eliminated the Longoskayan and Quinauan threats. Tenaciously defending Canas Point, the Japanese were not expelled until February 13.

As the Battle of the Points raged, Morioka and Nara continued assaults on the main USAFFE line. While attacks on Parker's corps were turned back in heavy fighting between January 27 and 31, Japanese forces succeeded in breaching Wainwright's line via the Toul River. Quickly closing this gap, he isolated the attackers into three pockets which were reduced by February 15. As Wainwright was dealing with this threat, a reluctant Homma accepted that he lacked the forces to break MacArthur's defenses. As a result, he ordered his men to fall back to a defensive line on February 8 to await reinforcements. Though a victory that boosted morale, USAFFE continued to suffer from a critical shortage of key supplies. With the situation temporarily stabilized efforts continued to relieve the forces on Bataan and the fortress island of Corregidor to the south. These were largely unsuccessful as only three ships were able to run the Japanese blockade while submarines and aircraft lacked the carrying capacity to bring the needed quantities.

Battle of Bataan - Reorganization:

In February, the leadership in Washington began to believe that USAFFE was doomed. Unwilling to lose a commander of MacArthur's skill and prominence, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered him to evacuate to Australia. Reluctantly leaving on March 12, MacArthur traveled to Mindanao by PT boat before flying to Australia on a B-17 Flying Fortress. With his departure, USAFFE was reorganized into the United States Forces in the Philippines (USFIP) with Wainwright in overall command. Leadership on Bataan passed to Major General Edward P. King. Though March saw efforts to better train USFIP forces, disease and malnutrition badly depleted the ranks. By April 1, Wainwright's men were living on quarter rations.

Battle of Bataan - Fall:

To the north, Homma took February and March to refit and reinforce his army. As it regained strength, it began to intensify artillery bombardments of the USFIP lines. On April 3, Japanese artillery unleashed the most intense shelling of the campaign. Later in the day, Homma ordered a massive assault on the 41st Division (PA)'s position. Part of II Corps, the 41st was effectively broken by the artillery bombardment and offered little resistance to the Japanese advance. Overestimating King's strength, Homma moved forward cautiously. Over the next two days, Parker fought desperately to save his crumbling left as King attempted to counterattack north. As II Corps was overwhelmed, I Corps began falling back on the night of April 8. Later that day, seeing that further resistance would be hopeless, King reached out to the Japanese for terms. Meeting with Major General Kameichiro Nagano the next day, he surrendered the forces on Bataan.

Battle of Bataan - Aftermath

Though pleased that Bataan had finally fallen, Homma was angry that the surrender did not include the USFIP forces on Corregidor and elsewhere in the Philippines. Massing his troops, he landed on Corregidor on May 5 and captured the island in two days of fighting. With the fall of Corregidor, Wainwright surrendered all remaining forces in the Philippines. In the fighting on Bataan, American and Filipino forces sustained around 10,000 killed and 20,000 wounded while the Japanese sustained approximately 7,000 killed and 12,000 wounded. In addition to the casualties, USFIP lost 12,000 American and 63,000 Filipino soldiers as prisoners. Though suffering from combat wounds, disease, and malnutrition, these prisoners were marched north to prisoner of war camps in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Lacking food and water, prisoners were beaten or bayoneted if they fell behind or were unable to walk. Thousands of USFIP prisoners died before reaching the camps. Following the war, Homma was convicted of war crimes relating to the march and was executed on April 3, 1946.

Personal Note: I do not have any relatives involved in the Battle of Bataan. However, my father was a member of the Philippine Guerillas forces in Panay Island during that time.

Book Review Update-Tears in the Darkness

I have just finished reading the above book. It is the story of the Bataan Death March and its aftermath. It was written by Michael and Elizabeth Norman in 2009. I recommend the book to all Filipino-Americans who are history nuts and to all who are history enthusiasts of the Japanese-American war in the Philippines (1941-1945). As a son of a former Filipino-American guerilla defender of the Philippines from the Japanese invaders, the book reminds me of my childhood fears as well as the valor and heroism of all the 76,000 Americans and Filipinos who died and survived from the first major land battle of World War II: the battle for the Philippine peninsula of Bataan. I have still nightmares remembering the sufferings of the Filipino and American prisoners from the hands of the Japanese two days after reading this book. But it was worth my time relieving history and the story of heroism and survival of one cowboy named, Ben Steele. The book describes in detail the 41 months of starvation, dehydration, hard labor, deadly diseases, tortures, murder and journey on "hell ships" of the Filipino and American prisoners of war to the enemy's homeland. Here's a short video of the book.

The following is one of the many reviews of this book when it was published in 2009. It was written by Dwight Garner of the New York Times on June 17, 2009. He titled it "Revisiting Wartime: 66 miles of Cruelty".

“Tears in the Darkness” is authoritative history. Ten years in the making, it is based on hundreds of interviews with American, Filipino and Japanese combatants. But it is also a narrative achievement. The book seamlessly blends a wide-angle view with the stories of many individual participants. And at this book’s beating emotional heart is the tale of just one American soldier, a young cowboy and aspiring artist out of Montana named Ben Steele.

This story begins in earnest on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Japan had planned to attack American military bases in the Philippines, where the peninsula of Bataan lies, at the same time, but its bombers and fighter planes were delayed by fog, eliminating the element of surprise, Japan thought. But when its planes flew over, eight hours after Pearl Harbor, the American planes sat on runways, inexplicably, like sitting ducks. It was carnage.

Two weeks later Japan invaded the Philippines. The poorly trained and untested American and Filipino forces were overmatched; they eventually retreated into the mountainous jungles of Bataan for a brutal last stand, one that the Normans, who are husband and wife, describe as “a modern Thermopylae.”

After four months of intense fighting, the Allied forces — their ranks decimated by hunger, dysentery and malaria, and with no relief or reinforcements in sight — surrendered. “No American general had ever surrendered such a force,” the Normans write, “76,000 men, an entire army.”

The authors are sympathetic toward Ned King, the surrendering American major general, who was beloved by his men. (General King made it clear to his soldiers that he had surrendered, not they.) Mr. and Ms. Norman reserve their scorn for the initial Allied general overseeing Bataan, Douglas MacArthur, whom they accuse of not leading from the field and later abandoning his men there.

What is now known as the Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942. Some 76,000 soldiers, many already close to death, were forced to walk 66 miles during the hottest season of the year — there were almost no buildings along the way, no trees, no shade — with little food and almost no water.

It was called a death march for a simple reason: if you stopped marching, you were killed, by bayonet or rifle. There were many other ways to die during the Bataan Death March; it was a spree of arbitrary brutality. For sport, Japanese soldiers fractured skulls with their rifle butts. Japanese tanks ran over men who fell. Good Samaritans who tried to help fallen comrades were beaten or stabbed. Men were forced to bury others alive.

To be on this march, one soldier said, was what it must feel like to “come to the end of civilization.” Some 11,000 died along the way to the ultimate destination, a prison camp.

What’s remarkable about this story, for Ben Steele and many others, was that it was just the beginning of the horrors that awaited them as Japanese prisoners of war. There are accounts here of train journeys in deadly, overheated box cars; of foul prison camps and hospitals filled with dying men; of being placed into the holds of transport ships like “pickles jammed into a jar”; of work details that were their own kinds of death marches. Many men who didn’t die simply lost their minds.

There are many Japanese voices in “Tears in the Darkness.” Mr. and Ms. Norman don’t excuse Japan’s actions, but place them in careful context. Japanese soldiers, they write, were the products of “a closed world of violence where men were subjected to the most brutal system of army discipline in the world.” These soldiers “had been savaged to produce an army of savage intent.”

Mr. Norman is a Vietnam veteran and formerly a reporter for The New York Times; Ms. Norman’s books include “Women at War: The Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam.” In this book they step back, at regular intervals, to explain dispassionately what it was like to undergo the experiences these men went through.

What are the physics of suffocation? How does a bomb blast actually kill a person? What exactly does lack of water do to a human body? “Tears in the Darkness” is a grim and comprehensive catalog of man’s inhumanity to man.

In the end, though, “Tears in the Darkness” is a book about heroism and survival. All along you are glued, out of the corner of your eye, to one story, Ben Steele’s. If you aren’t weeping openly by the book’s final scenes, when he is at last able to call home and let his family know that he is still alive after more than three years “missing in action,” during which time this thin young man lost 50 pounds, then you have a hard crust of salt around your soul".

Note: I purchased this book last week, hard bound for $6.95 ( bargained price) from Barnes and Nobles. It is also available on line on Amazon new or used.