Japanese Assumptions

General Homma upon encountering the staggering numbers of prisoners, had to formulate a plan on to how he could transport all the troops. The plan was for the prisoners to walk from Bataan to San Fernando, a route of almost sixty miles. From there they would be transported by railway to a prison camp in Central Luzon. Many troops upon hearing about the ferociousness of the Japanese opted to run for the jungles and join or make their own resistances to the Japanese on the island. General Homma made three mistaken assumptions about the troops that he had just inherited:

- He assumed that the Americans and Philippines were all healthy
- He did not estimate correctly or really know the exact number of troops that he had just obtained
- He also did not have enough time to think out specific details of the evacuation

In the defense of the Japanese, General Homma did have plans for the feeding and care of the prisoners that he had under his control. However, he was not there to enforce his orders and his subordinates did not follow these orders by any means.

Route

The march was a fifty-five to sixty mile march from Mariveles to San Fernando. They were then placed in train cars and taken a distance of twenty-four miles to Camp O'donnel. From there many prisoners were moved all over the Pacific as the war progressed.

What Occured and What was The March?

The actual "Death March" was really a series of marches. Some lasted five days while others lasted for nine days. Many prisoners did not march the same amount of distance because they ended up starting at different points on the trail. It is hard to determine how many people actually began the march and completed it due to many reasons. The chaos that was going on during the final battle of Corregidor after Bataan fell makes it hard to give precise numbers of the men in the march. No one knows how many men were killed during the last battle, how many men jumped off the trail and went into the jungles, and how many were left behind in the hospitals. The numbers vary dramatically but it is said that 62, 000 Filipinos and 10, 000 Americans were on the march. It is also hard to estimate the numbers of casualties that the Japanese had recorded due to the fact that the Japanese destroyed many of the documents that they recorded.

In Mariveles the Filipino troops were ordered to march on the right side of the road while the American troops were ordered to march on the left.. This idea is important because the Japanese took their aggression out significantly on the Filipino troops. The Americans were worried that they would be treated more harshly than the Filipino troops. The Japanese have a mentality that they are the superior race and they live by a strict set of rules. The Japanese viewed the Filipino and American troops as weak for surrendering because in their culture surrender is not an option. The Japanese showed no respect for the troops that surrendered and they showed this through their aggressions against their captives. Most of the troops were not in any condition to undertake such a march.

These soldiers had been fighting the Japanese for months at this point and many were just tired and worn out from fighting. They also had encountered almost every disease that was in the jungles of the Philippines. Little food or water was given to the soldiers during the march and the temperature itself played a crucial part to the disintegration of their morale and their bodies. Death was a regular occurrence on the march. The Japanese beat the prisoners routinely and if you could not walk any more you would be bayoneted or left by the side of the road to be killed later. Prisoners told many versions of how their comrades would fall down or be left beside the road. Later they would here gunshots in the background. Water was just one more of the constant problems for the captives. Getting water from puddles on the side of the road was a regular occurrence and this only added to the disease that was present within the troops. Many prisoners spent time at Camp O'donnel later to be taken to other work camps all over the Pacific.

Personal Accounts

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.

This exhibit was researched and designed by Vance Gonzales.