Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March refers to the forced march of approximately 72,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war over more than sixty miles in April 1942, following the surrender of Allied forces on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines during World War II. The march was characterized by extreme brutality, with prisoners facing severe dehydration, starvation, physical abuse, and execution at the hands of their captors. Initially commanded by Japanese Lieutenant-General Masaharu Homma, the march resulted in thousands of deaths, reflecting the harsh treatment of POWs by the Japanese military, who perceived the surrender as a dishonorable act.
Following the march, many detainees suffered further maltreatment in overcrowded camps, leading to additional fatalities from disease and neglect. The atrocities of the Bataan Death March, coupled with other wartime events, fueled American animosity towards Japan. In the aftermath, several escapees brought attention to the plight of the captured soldiers, prompting public outrage and contributing to war crime investigations. The legacy of the Bataan Death March remains significant, influencing U.S.-Japan relations, with formal apologies from Japanese officials in later years acknowledging the suffering endured by the prisoners.
Bataan Death March
The Event Japanese forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war in the Philippines that resulted in thousands of deaths and charges of war crimes against Japanese officers
Date April 10-17, 1942
The abuse of American and Filipino prisoners of war further enflamed American public opinion against Japan in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack and eventually led to a rescue of Bataan survivors from a prisoner-of-war camp by United States Army Rangers and Filipino guerrilla forces.
The Bataan Peninsula on Luzon Island in the Philippines was the site of a humiliating defeat of 12,500 American and 67,500 Filipino troops at the hands of Japan’s Lieutenant-General Masaharu Homma, whose forces had invaded the Philippines in December, 1941. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered American commander General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate to Australia, which he did on March 11, 1942. American forces, which were short on food, ammunition, and basic supplies, surrendered on April 9, 1942. Several thousand American troops had retreated to the island of Corregidor, but they surrendered on May 6, 1942.
American and Filipino defenders in Bataan were marched more than sixty miles, under brutal conditions, from the southern tip of the peninsula at Mariveles to San Fernando. Thirst, starvation, beatings, bayonetings, and cold-blooded shootings took thousands of lives. Japanese troops showed almost no regard for human life because they regarded the prisoners’ surrender as a shameful act and because the prisoners were more numerous and in worse physical condition than the Japanese thought. The Japanese believed that the march to Camp O’Donnell and Camp Cabanatuan had gone well. The deplorable conditions in the camps, however, resulted in the deaths of thousands of detainees from disease, starvation, and abuse by guards. A few prisoners escaped to join Filipino guerrillas, others were sent as slave laborers to Japan, and a few escapees returned to America, bringing information about the death march and conditions in the camps.
In January, 1944, the Departments of War and the Navy released information obtained from escapees. Newspaper and magazine coverage produced outrage in the American public, still angry from the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 14, 1944, Japanese forces massacred approximately 150 prisoners at the Palawan camp in the Philippines by burning them alive in ditches. Fearful that this might presage similar action against prisoners in other camps, the United States authorized a raid of the Cabanatuan camp on January 30, 1945, by Army Rangers working with Filipino guerrillas and civilians. The raiders freed all 513 prisoners, who embarked for the United States one week after their liberation.
Impact
The Bataan Death March, along with other Japanese atrocities and the attack on Pearl Harbor, left a legacy of bitterness on the part of Americans toward the Japanese. General Homma was convicted of war crimes because of the march and executed on April 3, 1946. In May, 2009, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki, apologized on behalf of the Japanese government at a meeting of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor. The Japanese government in August, 2009, invited a number of former American prisoners of war, including survivors of the Bataan Death March, to Japan to promote friendship.
Bibliography
Dyess, William E. Bataan Death March: A Survivor’s Account. 1944. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.
Tenney, Lester I. My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 1995.