The battle for the Philippines began eight hours after the Pearl Harbor attacks. The Japanese began to land on the beaches in the Philippines in hopes of taking the Philippine islands quickly. The Phili-American forces were under the control of General Macarthur who quickly took action. He instructed his forces to attempt to meet the invading forces at their points of landing, going against the original plan to defend the islands.
Macarthur had to withdraw his forces from the engagement with the Japanese by January 2, 1942, in order to defend the Bataan peninsula. At this point he implemented the first original plan for the defense of the island. Macarthur's main plan was to "lay down a bunt", or basically to hold off the Japanese invasion forces for as long as possible. Macarthur wanted them to use up as many troops and resources as they could in the capturing of the Philippines. This would allow for the damaged Pacific fleet to begin to rebuild itself after the Pearl Harbor incident.
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Pictures of General King (Right)
and General Wainwright (Left)
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Why the battle was hampered for many reasons
No one could have imagined that a Phili-American army could hold off a veteran Japanese army for as long as they did. The real problems arose when the soldiers began to run out of food and medicine. Also, the military supplies like tanks, trucks, and other military vehicles were in short supply as well due to the intense fighting. Some of the Filipino troops had never fired a shot before in their lives. Soldiers began to get so sick that American non-combatants like air corpsmen and even civilians had to fill in the lines during the battle.
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Propoganda given to battle weary
soldiers encouraging surrender
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The Surrender
When losing was apparent to the American's, General Macarthur
was ordered to Australia and command was given to two American Generals,
General Wainwright and General King were given command of the forces in
the Philippines at this point.
" A terrible silence settled over Bataan about noon
on April 9."
- General Wainwright
On April 9, 1942 General Wainwright surrendered the Phili-American forces to General Homma. The Japanese at that point had broken through the last main line of defense so surrender was the only option. This was marked as the largest surrender that the Americans have encountered in any war. Nearly seventy thousand American and Philippine troops surrendered on that day.
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Japanese soldiers celebrating after
their victory
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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.