Bataan Death March 1942 (eBook)

This book is predominately about the Bataan Death March that followed the capitulation and surrender of the Philippine and United States armed forces on 09 April 1942 in Luzon, Philippines. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in late December 1941, and the subsequent bombing of Clark Air Base, Japanese forces landed in Northern Luzon, and worked their way down to the capital, Manilla. Early in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur ordered all the Allied forces in Luzon to proceed south to the Bataan Peninsula. Both he and General Wainwright and 10,000 allied troops went further south to Corregidor Island. (This left General King in charge of all the allied troops in the Bataan Peninsula). Throughout January, February, and March 1942, the Philippine and U.S. troops underwent extreme hardship and, although asking General MacArthur for permission to surrender, which was refused, General King, on 09 April 1942 surrendered to the Japanese. This then triggered the beginning of the Bataan Death March-a 70 kilometre forced march to San Fernando, a train trip of 2-3 hours, and finally another 13 kilometre walk to the O'Donnell P.O.W. Camp in Capas. What followed was the death of thousands of prisoners of war both on the Bataan Death March and in the years following, until the Japanese surrendered in September 1945. The book will provide a valuable resource for students and researchers of modern history; particularly the Second World War, and the War in the Pacific,1941-1945.