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— CH. 1 · BATTLE AND SURRENDER PRELUDE —

Bataan Death March

~5 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
6 sections

  • On the morning of the 22nd of December 1941, the main force of General Masaharu Homma's 14th Army came ashore at Lingayen Gulf. The defenders failed to hold the beaches that day. By evening, Japanese forces secured most objectives and emerged onto the central plain. Late on December 23, General Jonathan Wainwright called MacArthur's headquarters in Manila. He reported that further defense of the Lingayen beaches was impracticable. MacArthur decided to abandon his coastal defense plan and revert to War Plan Orange 3. He evacuated President Manuel L. Quezon and his family to Corregidor on Christmas Eve. A rear echelon led by Brigadier General Richard J. Marshall stayed behind in Manila to close out operations. The Battle of Bataan began on the 7th of January 1942. It continued for three months until April 9 when Major General Edward P. King surrendered to Colonel Motō Nakayama. King told his troops they had no alternative but to obey his order to lay down arms.

  • Prisoners started out from Mariveles on April 10 and from Bagac on April 11. They converged in Pilar and headed north toward the San Fernando railhead. Groups of 100 men marched with four Japanese guards per unit. At first, some officers showed rare kindness by sharing food or cigarettes. One prisoner who played football at Notre Dame saw his class ring stolen by a guard. A Japanese officer from rival USC later returned it after recognizing the player. This moment quickly gave way to unrelenting brutality. Prisoners received little food or water during the march. Many died from exhaustion or disease. Those who fell were shot or run over by trucks. Cleanup crews killed those too weak to continue walking. Survivors arrived at Balanga where overcrowding caused dysentery to spread rapidly. U.S. medical personnel treated the sick without adequate supplies. At the San Fernando railhead, prisoners were stuffed into sweltering metal boxcars. At least 100 men packed into each car for the one-hour trip to Capas. The trains lacked ventilation and sanitation facilities. Upon reaching Capas station, survivors walked the final distance to Camp O'Donnell. Only about 54,000 of the estimated 80,000 POWs reached their destination.

  • The first major atrocity occurred when approximately 350 to 400 Filipino officers were executed in the Pantingan River massacre. Colonel Masanobu Tsuji issued clandestine orders to kill all American captives despite General Homma's wishes for peaceful transfer. Some Japanese officers ignored these commands while others carried them out. During the march, prisoners faced severe physical abuse including beatings and torture. The sun treatment forced men to sit in direct sunlight without head coverings. Anyone asking for water was shot dead. Trucks drove over those who collapsed from fatigue. Cleanup crews killed the weak unable to continue walking. Prisoners were randomly stabbed with bayonets or beaten. Stanley L. Falk calculated death numbers based on evidence showing 600 to 650 American deaths and 5,000 to 10,000 Filipino deaths. Other sources report ranges from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march itself. Most of the dead were buried in mass graves behind barbed wire surrounding Camp O'Donnell. Even after arrival, survivors continued dying at rates of several hundred per day.

  • It was not until the 27th of January 1944 that the U.S. government informed the American public about the march. Sworn statements from escaped military officers were released that day. Stories appeared shortly afterward in a Life magazine article. The Bataan Death March became central to arousing fury within the United States. America sought vengeance for its defeat in the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte in October 1944. U.S. and Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula in January 1945. Manila was liberated in early March. Japanese authorities attempted to counter this narrative through The Manila Times. They claimed prisoners were treated humanely and attributed high death rates to American commanders who delayed surrender until men reached their final limits. General George Marshall issued official statements regarding the events. These accounts shaped how both sides understood the conflict moving forward into 1945.

  • In September 1945, Masaharu Homma was arrested by Allied troops and indicted for war crimes. He faced 43 separate counts though the verdict did not distinguish among them. Homma claimed ignorance of atrocities until two months after the event occurred. His conviction relied on respondeat superior doctrine with added liability standards. On the 26th of February 1946 he received a death sentence by firing squad. Homma was executed outside Manila on April 3. Masanobu Tsuji fled to China from Thailand when the war ended to avoid trial. He later disappeared in Laos in April 1961 and was declared dead seven years afterward. Two subordinates, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were prosecuted in Yokohama during 1948. Evidence presented at Homma's trial supported their prosecution. Both men were sentenced to death by hanging and executed at Sugamo Prison on the 12th of June 1949.

  • On the 13th of September 2010 Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada apologized to six former American soldiers held as prisoners. Among them were 90-year-old survivors Lester Tenney and Robert Rosendahl. The government invited these men along with families to visit Japan at its expense. Dozens of memorials exist across the United States and Philippines including monuments plaques and schools dedicated to those who died. Annual events honor victims through holidays athletic competitions like ultramarathons and ceremonies at military cemeteries. The Day of Valor occurs every April 9 marking when the march began. In New Mexico many soldiers originated from units such as the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery. Their old state capitol building now houses agencies under the name Bataan Memorial Building. Every spring over 6,300 participants queue for the annual memorial run at White Sands Missile Range. On the 19th of March 2017 attendance broke previous records while collecting food for local pantries. Filipino workers hold an annual memorial march on Diego Garcia leaving the marina around 06:00 traveling by boat to Barton Point before proceeding south toward plantation ruins.

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Philippines campaign (1941–1942)Manila massacre

Common questions

When did the Bataan Death March begin and end?

The Battle of Bataan began on the 7th of January 1942 and ended when Major General Edward P. King surrendered to Colonel Motō Nakayama on April 9. Prisoners started marching from Mariveles on April 10 and from Bagac on April 11.

How many prisoners died during the Bataan Death March?

Stanley L. Falk calculated death numbers showing 600 to 650 American deaths and 5,000 to 10,000 Filipino deaths. Other sources report ranges from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march itself.

Who was responsible for ordering executions during the Bataan Death March?

Colonel Masanobu Tsuji issued clandestine orders to kill all American captives despite General Homma's wishes for peaceful transfer. The first major atrocity occurred when approximately 350 to 400 Filipino officers were executed in the Pantingan River massacre.

When did the U.S. government inform the public about the Bataan Death March?

It was not until the 27th of January 1944 that the U.S. government informed the American public about the march. Sworn statements from escaped military officers were released that day followed by stories in a Life magazine article.

What happened to General Masaharu Homma after World War II?

Masaharu Homma was arrested by Allied troops in September 1945 and indicted for war crimes. He received a death sentence by firing squad on the 26th of February 1946 and was executed outside Manila on April 3.

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All sources

51 references cited across the entry

  1. 1webThe Bataan Death March2017-04-30
  2. 2webMasaharu Homma and Japanese Atrocities
  3. 3newsBataan Death March
  4. 4bookThe Fall of the PhilippinesLouis Morton — US Army Center of Military History — 1953
  5. 5bookInside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail and MemoryKevin C. Murphy — McFarland — 2014
  6. 6webA double dose of hell: The Bataan Death March and what came nextBrad Lendon — 2024-04-03
  7. 7bookApocalypse Undone: My Survival of Japanese Imprisonment During World War IIHubbard, Preston John — Vanderbilt University Press — 1990
  8. 8bookNo Uncle Sam: The Forgotten of BataanBilek, Anton (Tony) — Kent State University Press — 2003
  9. 9webWW2 historical markers remind Pinoys of Bataan's role on Day of ValorErnie B. Esconde — April 9, 2012
  10. 10bookBataan: The March of DeathStanley L. Falk — W. W. Norton & Company — 1962
  11. 11bookThe Bataan Death March: World War II Prisoners in the PacificRobert Greenberger — Compass Point Books — 2009
  12. 13bookThe Doomed Horse Soldiers of Bataan: The Incredible Stand of the 26th CavalryRaymond G. Jr. Woolfe — Rowman & Littlefield Publishers — 2016
  13. 14webUS-Japan Dialogue on POWs
  14. 15bookWorld War II in the Pacific: an encyclopediaLansford, Tom — Taylor & Francis — 2001
  15. 16webBataan Death March. Britannica Encyclopedia OnlineBritannica.com — April 9, 1942
  16. 17bookThe Bataan Death March: World War II Prisoners in the PacificGreenberger, Robert — 2009
  17. 18bookThe enemy in our hands: America's treatment of enemy prisoners of war from the Revolution to the War on TerrorDoyle, Robert C. — University Press of Kentucky — 2010
  18. 19bookBataan: a survivor's storyHoyt, Eugene P. — University of Oklahoma Press — 2004
  19. 20bookGive Us This DayStewart, Sidney — W. W. Norton & Company — 1957
  20. 21webO'Donnell Provost Marshal Report
  21. 22bookThe Fighting Tigers: the untold stories behind the names on the Ouachita Baptist University WWII memorialDowns, William David — University of Arkansas Press — 2004
  22. 23webBataan Death MarchApril 8, 2012
  23. 24webHiking the Bataan Death March 2015Tony Ahn — Microsoft Network — January 14, 2016
  24. 25bookTears in the DarknessNorman, Michael et al. — Farrar, Straus and Giroux — June 9, 2009
  25. 26webAmerican walks Bataan Death March to raise awareness of Philippine involvementDave Ornauer — January 20, 2016
  26. 27webBataan HistoryNew Mexico Guard National Museum
  27. 28bookDouglas MacArthur: American WarriorArthur Herman — Random House Publishing Group — 2016
  28. 29bookWorld War II: The PacificDavid Murray Horner — Rosen Publishing — 2010
  29. 30bookAttack on Pearl Harbor: America Enters World War IIPeter Darman — Rosen Publishing — 2012
  30. 31bookMatters of culture: cultural sociology in practiceFriedland, Roger et al. — Cambridge University Press — 2004
  31. 32magazinePrisoners of Japan: Ten Americans Who Escaped Recently from the Philippines Report on the Atrocities Committed by the Japanese in Their Prisoner-War-CampsMcCoy, Melvin et al. — February 7, 1944
  32. 33webLIFEFebruary 7, 1944
  33. 34bookThe Making of Modern JapanJansen, Marius B. — Cambridge, Mass. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press — 2000
  34. 35webBataan Death MarchHistory — Nov 9, 2009
  35. 36bookBefore the bomb: how America approached the end of the Pacific WarChappell, John David — University of Kentucky Press — 1997
  36. 37bookThe Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945Toland, John — Random House — 1970
  37. 38bookWorld War II in the Pacific: an encyclopediaTaylor & Francis — 2001
  38. 39bookThe law of armed conflict: international humanitarian law in warSolis, Gary D. — Cambridge University Press — 2010
  39. 40webThe Trial Of General Homma | AMERICAN HERITAGE
  40. 41webKadel, Maj. Richard C. – Bataan ProjectMay 11, 2019
  41. 42webManchester Evening HeraldJune 11, 1949
  42. 43webJapanese/American POW Friendship Program2010
  43. 44newsFrom Death March to Hell ShipsBarbara Brotman — April 1, 2013
  44. 45webNever the Same: The Prisoner of War ExperienceSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago
  45. 46newsBataan survivors attend rededication of monument SaturdayLauren E. Toney — March 24, 2012
  46. 47webTimelineNew Mexico State University
  47. 48webCentral Complex
  48. 49webUSA Marathons & Marathoners 2007marathonguide.com
  49. 50newsRecord Number Gather To Honor Bataan Death MarchChristopher Schurtz — March 22, 2010
  50. 51webLargest Bataan Memorial Death March brings in 27,500 pounds of foodSteve Ramirez — March 21, 2017
  51. 53webEarly reviews favorable of Bataan Memorial Death MarchSteve Ramirez — Las Cruces Sun-News