Last Updated: 16Oct04
This story came from my research on the Battle of Bataan.
Note: This paper was presented orally on December 8, 2002 in Danville, KY by Dan Wells, AFRes Retired. This was the anniversary of the Japanese attack on the Philippines 61 years earlier.
Slow Painful Death on Bataan
Philippines, 1941-2, World War II
by Dan Wells
Contact Dan Wells for written permission to reproduce any portion of this story. All rights are reserved.
Introduction: The focus of this paper is the Philippines during the first part of W.W.II 1941 -1942. As many of you know, the “day of infamy” was December 7, 1941 when the Japanese made a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. The next day, December 8, 1941, the Japanese made another surprise attack against the Philippine Islands. December 8, 1941 begins the story of the orphans of Bataan - no mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam. The defenders of the Philippines suddenly became isolated in the face of Imperial Japanese military. As the defenders struggled from being overrun by the Japanese, they gave the Allies almost 6 months to regroup and reinforce major strong points in Australia, Hawaii, and India. The efforts of those patriots in the Philippines should be remembered. Those defenders of freedom included men from Co. D 192nd Tank Battalion, Harrodsburg, KY. (NGA) Remember the old saying about those that don’t learn the lessons of history are destined to repeat them. Those military personnel in the Philippines on December 8, 1941 paid a high price for their country’s unwillingness to be prepared.
December 8, 1941. The news of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor reached General MacArthur around 3:30 in the morning. (TL 87) By 5 AM, Washington confirmed the attack on Pearl Harbor but the military staff meeting did not result in any strong action despite the Orange Plans forecasting an attack by Japan since the 1920s. (TL 87, Mal 29) It was at 12:20 PM while the planes were getting refueled and lined up in neat rows that the Japanese air force struck from Formosa. Most of the crews and many of the workers were out to lunch in this laid back country. (TL 87)
The Japanese were amazed at the easy targets with little or no defense on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Major Mallonee, an American artillery officer said two days later that "we heard the rumor of the bombing of Clark field and Stotsenburg and the incredible statement that our planes had been caught on the ground and destroyed. I refused to believe it." (Mal 26)
The Japanese air force sent 108 bombers and 84 fighters to attack Luzon. "The damage was devastating. All 18 of the B-17s were shot to bits, along with 53 P40’s and some 30 other aircraft; 80 servicemen were killed and 150 wounded. In the first few hours of war, MacArthur lost half of his air force." (TL 87)
The Invasion. MacArthur quickly moved to train his Philippine and American Army and prepare for an invasion. He moved his divisions and their supplies to the beaches to defend the country against the enemy at the enemy’s most vulnerable time. The enemy landed in lightly defended areas on the North coast of Luzon in mid December followed by the main landing on December 22, 1941. (Mal 30, 33, TL 91)
The allies quickly retreated to a dense jungle peninsula called Bataan. In their haste however, the allies left behind critical ammunition and food supplies which had been moved up for the defense on the beaches. (Whit 45)
Christmas, 1941: Imagine how the allied soldiers in the Philippines would have felt on Christmas day, December 25, 1941. The Japanese destroyed a large part of the allied air forces on December 8, 1941 and only 20 fighters remained. (Whit 41) A large Japanese force landed in the North and was pushing South for a fight. The allies were rushing to the Bataan peninsula in the face of the Japanese onslaught. Both the British and U.S. Navies were abandoning the Philippines. Isolated and scared, they were left to face an experienced Japanese Imperial war machine. (Mal 42) Their only hope was that reinforcements would come from the U.S. before the enemy conquered them.
The Domino Effect - Army Air Corps. The Philippine situation in December, 1941 was a classic example of the domino effect. Because of the initial attack which destroyed half of the US aircraft, many remaining aircraft withdrew to areas with better protection to the South while a few aircraft remained to reconnoiter the area when Jap Zero’s weren’t present. Without air protection the Navy had to withdraw its ships. MacArthur wanted the U.S. Navy to run the Japanese blockade but a recent experience of the British Navy without air cover resulted in two large English warships, the Repulse and the Prince of Wales, going to the bottom of the sea on December 10, 1941. (CF)
Japanese Zero fighters controlled the skies placing a heavy burden on the allies. With control of both the air and sea, the enemy could bring in supplies and troops to attack the allied soldiers while cutting off allied supplies and reinforcements to Bataan. The allies tried to shoot their artillery and move their troops at night or when the Japanese aircraft were absent. Being spotted by the enemy brought serious consequences to the Filipino and American fighting men.
The Defense of Bataan - First line of Defense. The first line of defense along the Abucay line, was roughly laid out and had little military preparations. The Filipino and American soldiers held the line against the experienced enemy soldiers from China. Short of food, ammunition, and medical supplies, the allies made the best of what they had. Much of what they had was faulty especially the ammunition. (Whit 200)
The Japanese tried to out flank the Filipino’s by sending troops in barges down the coast for amphibious landings. The allies defeated these flanking actions in the rear area but not without its toll on reserves including units patched together with navy and air corps troops.
Finally, the Japanese broke through the first defense line and commanded a critical supply route. The defenders of Bataan made a haphazard retreat leaving behind important artillery and other military equipment. With very little planning, supplies, and equipment, the defenders of Bataan had held out for months against an experienced well supplied enemy army.
The Defense of Bataan - Second line of Defense. The second line of defense, the Orion-Bagac line, was rougher than the first. This time however, there was less barbed wire, telephone wire, shovels, and earth moving equipment. Malaria medicine had run out and most soldiers had dysentery. (Whit 468) Soldiers received only a hand full of food a day - about 1,000 calories. (Whit 469) Reinforcements on Bataan, a critical element in military defense, were in short supply.
On April 3, 1942, Good Friday, the Japanese unleashed their final assault on Bataan. With the experience from China and fighting the Filipino’s for about 3 months; more reinforcements, supplies, ammunition, artillery, and aircraft; the Japanese went against the faltering allied defenders. Bombarding the allied lines for almost 5 hours in specific areas, the allied troops became shell shocked and lost their resolve to fight. (Whit 477) Allied reinforcements were brought into the fight but that was not enough.
On Easter Sunday, April 5, 1942, the Japanese captured Mt. Samat which was a major observation post and artillery emplacement. Without the observation and artillery fire from Mt. Samat, the Japanese moved forward with one less major concern. (Whit 493, 494)
Bataan Surrenders - April 9, 1942. At 2 AM on April 9, 1942, the ammunition dump was blown up and at 4 AM orders were given to "Destroy guns, ammunition, and material before 7 AM. Form in units, without arms, on the nearest road at that time. The army is surrendering as of 7 AM." (Mal 139) Major Mallonee said, "I couldn’t have walked a hundred yards." He hadn’t slept in two or three days and had little food. "I suddenly felt let down, very old, and very tired." (Mal 140) It had been four months and a day since the Japanese had attacked Luzon.
Bataan Death March. General King, Commander of the Allied forces on Bataan, tried to negotiate an orderly movement of troops but General “Homma’s operations officer brusquely refused.” (Mal 144) The Japanese plan for prisoners had three major errors. First, the Japanese estimated the prisoners at 40,000 to 50,000 when it actually had 78,000 troops, 6,000 civilian employees, and 32,000 civilians for a total of 116,000. Second, the Japanese failed to realize the poor physical condition of the allied troops because of disease and starvation. Last, General “Homma had such a high respect for our combat effectiveness that he estimated it would take a month to knock us to our knees." (Mal 146)
On April 10th, the death march started. After a short ride, Mallonee’s officer group was looted by Japanese Officers and men. (Mal 147) The clouds of dust, scorching heat, hunger, and strain started taking its toll. (Mal 148) On April 12, after a long march until 4 AM, Major Mallonee wrote, “ Exhausted, acutely thirsty, stomachs rebelling from lack of food for several day, with aching muscles, raw blisters, and throats coated with dust, we were almost at the limit of our endurance. Many, as we found when morning came, had passed the limit and were gone.” (Mal 151)
Corregidor. The island fortress held out against the Japanese until May 6, 1942. However, some units refused to surrender and resistance held out until June 9, 1942. (FSPI 2)
Prisoners of War. “Thousands died at O’Donnell. From the beginning the rate was more than one hundred a day. Soon it reached twenty American and one hundred fifty Filipino lives a day.” (Mal 156) The prisoners endured their suffering until death or the return of US forces to the Philippines in late 1944 and early 1945. (AL Oct 94, 32) An unsigned diary was recovered from the Cabanatuan prisoner camp that said, “We are all ghosts now but once we were men.” (GS 319) Major Mallonee was freed in Manchuria by the Army of the Soviet Republics sometime after the Atomic bomb was dropped in August or September, 1945. (GS 333, Mal 194, 202, 203) His weight had gone from 196 before the war down to 118 pounds. (Mal 195)
Of the 67 members of Company D, 192 Tank Battalion, Harrodsburg, KY, that were captured, 37 survived the ordeal. (NGA) The names of those who died from Company D can be found on the memorial on the North side of Harrodsburg along US 127.
Conclusion. Please take time to remember those allied soldiers on Bataan who made tremendous sacrifices and died for your freedoms. They were left behind by the allies in a land far away to face a strong and determined Japanese Imperial war machine. Most were sick from dysentery and half had malaria while fighting in combat with little to eat. After the surrender in the first major U.S. campaign of the war, these men were forced on the Bataan Death march to prison camps. As prisoners of war, soldiers died of diseases, starvation, and the inhumane treatment by the Japanese. “Within two months of the surrender, more than 21,000 men disappeared. (Whit 605) For a very high sacrifice, the allied military in the Philippines bought their friends almost 6 months to prepare for the brutal war in the Pacific. The defenders of Bataan should never be forgotten.
Contact Dan Wells for written permission to reproduce any portion of this story. All rights are reserved.
The following poem came off of the internet. The author is unknown.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, He lived all alone, in a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney with presents to give, and see just who in this home did live.
I looked all about, a strange sight did see, no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking by mantle, just boots filled with sand, on the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.
With medals and badges, awards of all kinds, a sober thought came through my mind.
For this house was different, it was dark and dreary, I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.
The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor in this one bedroom home.
The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder, not how I pictured a United States soldier.
Was this the hero of whom I’d just read? Curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?
I realized the families that I saw this night, owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.
Soon round the world, the children would play, and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day.
They enjoyed freedom each month of the year, because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.
I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone, on a cold Christmas eve in a land far from home.
The very thought brought a tear to my eye, I dropped to my knees and started to cry.
The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice, “Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice;
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more, my life is my god, my country, my corps.”
The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep, I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.
I kept watch for hours, so silent and still and we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.
I didn’t want to leave on that cold, dark, night, this guardian of honor so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure, whispered, “carry on Santa, it’s Christmas day, all is secure.”
One look at my watch, and I knew he was right. “Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night.“ (Marine)
Definitions:
Dysentery - Any of various intestinal diseases characterized by inflammation, abdominal pain, toxemia, and diarrhea with bloody, mucous feces. (WNWD 453)
Malaria - an infectious disease, generally intermittent and recurrent, caused by any of various protozoa that are parasitic in the red blood corpuscles and are transmitted to man by the bite of an infected anopheles mosquito: it is characterized by severe chills and fever. (WNWD 886)
Footnotes:
AL Oct 94, 32 - American Legion Magazine, October, 1994, Page 32
CF - www.Combinedfleet.com, Internet site, 7/15/02.
FSPI - Fact Sheet, Philippine Islands 1941-1942, U.S. Department of Defense Commemoration Committee.
GS - Ghost Soldiers, by Hampton Sides, Anchor Books, Division of Random House, Inc., New York, May 2002, Copyright 2001.
Mal - The Naked Flagpole, Battle for Bataan, from the diary of Richard C. Mallonee, Presidio Press, San Rafael, California, copyright 1980.
Marine - This poem was written by an unknown Marine stationed in Okinawa, Japan. The copy came off an internet site www.projecthero.org, 1/18/03.
NGA - A History of the Kentucky Army National Guard, National Guard Association of KY, www.ngaky.org, Internet site, 12/2/02.
TL - World War II. The Rising Sun, Time Life Books, by Arthur Zich and the Editors of Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, Copyright 1977, Second printing Revised 1978.
Whit - Bataan, Our Last Ditch by John W. Whitman, Lt. Col., U.S. Army, Hippocrene Books, Inc. New York, NY 10016, Copyright 1990.
WNWD - Webster’s New World Dictionary, College Edition, The World Publishing Company, copyright 1964.