Prelude to Attack The Death March Why It Happened After the War

Prelude to Attack
At the time that the events in question occurred, the Philippines was a commonwealth of the United States which the U.S. was committed to defend. The U.S. had both Army and Navy bases located in the Philippines and their purpose was essentially to be a counterbalance to the Japanese forces in the Pacific.

Shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, American intelligence had decoded official Japanese communiqués. From these it was apparent that the Japanese were planning an attack but the location was unknown, although many in the U.S. government and military believed that the most likely target would be the Philippines. Even so, the American forces were not resupplied or given an infusion of new troops. Thus, when on Dec. 8, 1941 the Japanese attack on the Philippines began, only 8 1/2 hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Allied forces were at a distinct disadvantage.
The strike on the American bases in the Philippines was eerily similar to the attack, only hours earlier, on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. had their planes all lined up in a row, bunched together to guard against sabotage. As at Pearl Harbor the U.S. lost most of their air capability within the first few hours.

These American and Filipino prisoners are made to raise their hands for a Japanese propaganda photograph. This also shows the prisoners at the beginning of the Bataan Death March.

A few days later Japanese forces, under the command of General Masaharu Homma, landed troops which General MacArthur tried to repulse with local Filipino soldiers. The inexperienced Filipinos stood no chance against the battle-hardened Japanese soldiers and General MacArthur decided to go back to the original plan which called for a regrouping in the Bataan Peninsula. By early January the Allied forces had set up their defenses in Bataan and readied to hold their position until they could be resupplied. Unfortunately, Washington had already decided to write off the Philippines because of the amount of resources needed just to get supplies to the defenders. The Allied forces held out for as long as possible but constant attacks, rampant disease, lack of defensive materials, and an extreme shortage of food, water, and medicine all took their toll. On March 11, 1942 General MacArthur was ordered to Australia because Washington could not afford to have one of their highest generals captured by the enemy. MacArthur's departure did not help the morale of the defenders.

The picture on the left is a surrender card that Japanese planes dropped over the Allied positions during the fierce fighting. The picture on the right is a photo-card, also dropped over the Allied lines, which depicts a Japanese soldier lighting the cigarette of a Filipino soldier. These photo-cards were part of a Japanese effort to divide the Allied forces. This, along with the surrender card, was all part of a Japanese psychological warfare plan.

Less than a month later, on April 9th, General King, who was placed in command upon MacArthur's departure, surrendered the forces under his command to the Japanese. Forces on Corregidor Island managed to hold out for another few weeks but they too eventually fell to the overwhelming might of the Japanese.
The Death March
The Japanese gathered their prisoners and began to march them from various locations that all ended at Camp O' Donnell. The POWs were in no shape to complete an approximately 55 mile march in 100 degree-plus weather and many of them collapsed. This was virtually a death sentence. These prisoners were beaten or bayonated to death or left to be run over by tanks accompanying the March. Movie File When a POW would try to get a drink out of a well or just a puddle by the side of the road they would routinely be bayoneted in the back. Filipino soldiers especially were used by the Japanese to practice their bayoneting and beheading techniques. There are no official numbers but it is estimated that 78,000 Allied troops started the march and around 56,000 made it to Camp O'Donnell.

Once the POWs made it to Camp O' Donnell they found that their misery was not yet over. The camp had very limited sanitation facilities, food, and water and disease was rampant. The Japanese gaurds continued their harsh treatment of the prisoners with beatings becoming a daily occurrence. Because of these conditions 1,600 Americans and approximately 20,000 Filipinos died in the first few months. Their fellow prisoners were in charge of burying them, all the time knowing that it could be them being buried next.

This photo shows the procession of bodies being taken either to be buried or cremated. Many of the soldiers carrying the bodies knew that this could be their own fate in a matter of days or weeks.

In June and July of 1942 the American prisoners were transported to a new camp at Cabanatuan. The Filipino prisoners were paroled back to their homes at about the same time. Cabanatuan was for most of the prisoners only a temporary holding facility. Most were put on "hell ships," large oil tankers which were overfilled with men with no food or water and no sanitation.These prisoners were sent to Japan, China, and Korea to be put into work camps. This is where most of the surviving POWs spent the remaining years of the war until the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few days after the bombs were dropped most of the guards abandoned the camps and the prisoners were for the most part free. With Japan's official surrender the POWs were returned to the American military.
Why It Happened
Why the Bataan Death March occurred is a question that remains unanswered even today. Historians and others have postulated many theories. One of the most prominent theories is that the Japanese were taught from their first school days that there is no greater honor than dying for the emperor. Thus, according to their beliefs, surrendering to the enemy brought dishonor to the emperor and, more importantly, to themselves and their entire families. They perceived the Americans' surrendering as a dishonorable and cowardly action. It was the same with the Filipinos but in their case the treatment that they received was much, much worse than the Americans. A possible reason for this is that the Japanese saw the Filipinos as traitors to the Asian race by siding with the Americans over their Asian brethren. Another reason for the hostile attitude by the Japanese may have been because Japanese society taught that theirs was a superior race, much like the Nazi's, and thus the Americans and Filipinos were not worthy of respect.

While the Japanese had finally conquered the Philippine Islands they still had to worry about escaped American prisoners and the civilian population committing sabotage or an uprising. General Homma decided that the best way to prevent this was to break the morale of Philippine civilian population. To do this he had the march to the camps proceed through every major Filipino town and village on the way. He believed that once the populace saw that neither the Filipinos nor the Americans could stand up to the mighty Japanese Army the chances of trouble would decrease dramatically.
Another reason why the Death March occurred the way it did is for simple logistical reasons.

This picture shows a Japanese soldier drinking from a canteen taken from an American POW. Water became more than a precious commodity, it became something that men died trying to obtain.

The Japanese were expecting only about two-thirds of the prisoners that they ended up capturing and they were not prepared to transport and house all of the POWs. The claim that there was not ample transportation has been disputed because General King offered to let the Japanese use the Americans' own trucks to transport the prisoners. General Homma apparently turned down King's offer. In addition the Japanese also underestimated the ability of the weakened American and Filipinos to travel. They had expectecd the enemy to be as fit as their own soldiers.

It is always claimed that the Japanese violated the guidelines stated at the Geneva Convention of 1929, which set forth the rules on the way that prisoners of war should be treated. It is little known however that the Japanese never signed the Geneva Convention Declaration and technically were not held to its guidelines.
After the War
The numbers of those who survived the Bataan Death March, the holding camps, and forced work camps, are hard to verify because the Japanese destroyed most of the records at the end of the war. It is estimated that of those who surrendered in early 1942, only about one-third were alive in August 1945. This is considered to be one of the worst tragedies in American military history.

General Homma was brought before the War Crimes Tribunal in Manila, where he was charged with allowing the atrocities of the Bataan Death March and Camp O' Donnell to occur. He was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death. In April of 1946 he was executed by firing squad.


Prelude to Attack The Death March Why It Happened After the War

This exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University during the spring semester 2002.

The material and opinions are those of their respective authors and do not represent the views of the University or the Department of History.