An ‘epic struggle’ in Bataan

by Stan Lowe, Chairman (retired), Wyoming Veterans’ Commission
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 9:00 AM MDT

Broadcasting from Corregidor on Apr. 9, 1942, the Voice of Freedom solemnly announced, “Bataan has fallen.” It then described our troops’ conduct as an “epic struggle.”

Sadly, their “epic struggle” and what those starving, diseased and exhausted troops’ accomplished n- buying precious time so our poorly prepared nation could ready itself for war and throwing Japan’s Southeast Asia campaign timetable off schedule -n are seldom fully told today.

The horrors of the barbaric Bataan Death March were so enormous that historians focus more on it than on the battle and the men’s heroism. Imagine, despite their physical disabilities, holding at bay the Emperor’s mighty, well-equipped army!

Those intrepid heroes call themselves “The Battling Bastards of Bataan,” and their slogan’s subtitle, “No Mama No Papa No Uncle Sam,” tells it all.

Historians use Jan. 1, 1942, to mark the Battle of Bataan’s start. It ended three months later on Apr. 9, during which five Medals of Honor were earned.

Seeing the utter futility of further resistance, when his emaciated troops’ were unable to respond again to counterattack orders, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, senior commander on Bataan, surrendered his men to Japan’s commander, Maj. Gen. Kameichiro Nagano.

The heroes of Bataan proudly remind everyone that they never surrendered; their commanding officer did it.

Within three weeks after heavy Japanese air strikes -n begun just nine hours after Pearl Harbor’s attack n- had decimated our Philippine air power and naval capabilities, strong amphibious forces under Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma landed on northern and southern shores of Luzon.

His northern forces pushed south toward Manila, hoping to trap and destroy Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s United States Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) there.

The USAFFE was comprised of poorly equipped U.S. Army soldiers and Philippine Army troops and better-trained Philippine Scouts.

Without any airplane protection, these men were at the mercy of Japan’s numerous modern fighter and bomber planes and therefore constantly disadvantaged.

Moving quickly to avoid Homma’s trap, MacArthur scrapped the USAFFE defense plan and reactivated the old pre-war plan, War Plan Orange-3 (WPO-3). It called for immediate withdrawal of all troops to the mountainous, jungled Bataan Peninsula to defend only Bataan and Corregidor indefinitely.

Our north army fought two bloody battles to delay the main enemy forces coming from the north so our southern troops could get to Bataan.

Once on the peninsula, the assembled 78,100 troops, only 11,796 (15 percent) Americans, the rest Filipinos, positioned themselves on WPO-3’s first defensive line called the Abucay-Mauban Line, its center anchored on the two sides of 4,222-foot Mt. Natib.

WPO-3 had another line, the Orion-Bagac, with Mt. Samat in the middle, as a fall back, which was used later.

On Jan. 10, Gen. Homma threw his 200,000 troops against Abucay-Mauban. After several savage assaults, which saw the Japanese fiercely thrown back by our forces, his troops finally succeeded in breaking through the line, and our soldiers couldn’t dislodge them.

This necessitated abandoning Abucay-Mauban on Jan. 22 and taking new positions on Orion-Bagac.

Two heavy battles ensued: one while relocating called Trail 2, and the other, the Battle of the Pockets, to dislodge enemy troops that had infiltrated behind the line. Of the 2,000 Japanese engaged, only 377 escaped.

In an attempt to outflank our troops, the Japanese landed 2,000 crack marines on the west coast of Bataan in the end of January. Fierce fighting occurred at three points on Orion-Bagac. Only 34 wounded enemy marines returned.

The end of March, the Japanese offensive paused to bring in 190 more cannon and 50,000 reinforcements.

On Apr. 3, the entire Orion-Bagac Line was subjected to incessant bombings from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. by 100 airplanes and shelling by 300 artillery pieces.

The American and Filipino defenders were driven back by masses of Japanese tanks and infantry. All along the front, allied units crumbled and straggled to the rear, some escaping into the jungle.

In the last two days, the defense of Bataan progressively disintegrated and collapsed prompting Gen. King’s surrender decision.

Thus ended a monumental event in U.S. military history. What men they were!

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