Evening star., 1943-06-18
CHAPTER 10.

1Ildt Wds cllCUuI aging lulbll i UldQe
the shocking discovery that the
= powerful army of more than $50 O0C
= troops which we had imagined was
e defending Luzon had existed only
in our imaginations.
y Instead of 10000 American SOL
= diers, there was orly one regiment
{. Of infantry, the 31st, and in Its
biggest fight its frontline strength
. was only 636 officers and men.
" There were less than 80 tanks in
Bataan.
There were about 10 airplanes.
The American forces, including
tanks, Air Corps personnel, Signal
Corps and Engineers, did not exceed
5000 on Bataan with another 7,00C
or 5000 on Corregidor
The remaining soldiers on Bataan
were some thirty thousand Filipinos
of whom approximately half were
well-trained Scouts and the re-
mainder virtually unframed recruits
Gen. Macarthur did not have
even enough troops to hold an un-
broken line across the 15-mile-w wide
peninsula, and he had to leave part
Of the mountainous area in the Gen.
ter undefended. The Japs quickly
found that out.
The Battle of Bataan was fought
from January to April 8. The
battle developed in three stages. We
won the first round: the second was
a stalemate. and the third was a
black and bitter and crushing de-
feat.
The first phase of the battle eX-
tended from January / until Feb
ruary 10. After preliminary skir-
mishing while our advance units
were still fighting delaying actions
the japanese hit our main line of
resistance on January 6 at Moron
on the western flank. Having taken
most of LuZon almost without a
struggle they pushed on, recklessly
and confidently, and captured Mo-
ron. The weary Goth Cavalry, which
had borne the brunt of fighting in
the Lingayen area. was ordered to
counterattack. They recaptured
Moron.
Then the japanese hit our right
flank along the shore of Manila Bay
and pushed back the lines of the
41st Division, Philippine Army. The
Japanese suffered heavy losses for
every foot they gained, for they were
under fire from our big 155 artillery.
Then Macarthur ordered the 4lst
Division to attack. The 41st went
forward under a blasting barrage
They restored their positions.
The Japs thrust at another place
few miles inland up the slopes OF
Mount Natib. Their agile soldiers
found that part of the mountain was
undefended and slithered through
and into the rear of our lines. They
climbed trees and began sniping
picking off our officers and the men
carrying supplies to the front. ST.
multaneously they made headlong
attack against the 51st Division OF
the Philippine Army, which was
holding positions inland and ada
cent to the 41st. The 5lst was driver
back for half mile.
Macarthur called on his lone
American infantry regiment, the
3lst, to restore the gap. In five days
of dogged, foOt-by-foot fighting, the
3lst regained all but $50 yards OF
the salient. But by that time hun
dreds and hundreds of Japs had in
fltrated over Mount Natib and oul
positions were becoming untenable
On January 26 Macarthur had tc
withdraw his forces back to the sec
ond and final main line of resist
ance, extending from Pillar to Bagac
There could be no further retreat
X 4
= The JapS thought it was all over
They pushed forward, confidently
marching down the east coast road
in groups of 500 and 900. Our 1855
blasted them off the road and the
Jap drive was stopped cold. By the
end of January the Japs had failed
:, in their attempt to crack our line ir
frontal assaults. 1t. Gen. Masaharu
sHomma, the japanese commander
gave up and withdrew his forces fol
"A few miles.
Homma tried new tactics. He at
tackled MacArthur's f1anks from the
China Sea side. This was a serious
almost fatal threat to Bataan. The
japanese landed on five points oi
land along the west coast. Mac
Arthur couldn't withdraw troops
from his front line to face them
That would have left the front wide
open. But somewhere Macarthur
found the men he needed, half q
company here, 10 men there, a squad
from somewhere else.
These makeshift forces penned the
.Japs on the points and prevented
them from cutting the west road
and coming in the rear of our lines
Part of the 57th under Col. George
Clarke, and 45th Filipino Scouts
after aiding the 31st United States
Infantry in fighting on the east
coast, were rushed over to fight
against the landings. The naval
battalion of marines and sailors
commanded by Comdr. Frank
Bridget. pitched in. The PIT boats
broke up one attempt by the Japa-
nese to reinforce their landings
Three P-40's took the air one night
and bombed and strafed another
landing group.
Through the thick Jungle our
forces inched their way forward to
mop up the Japanese on the points
The fighting was slow and bard and
costly. But finally, about February
10, the last japanese was killed. AL
together about $500 of them died in
the futile attempts to crack our
fanks. go
F1omma made one final effort. A
japanese regiment drove a wedge
into the western side of our from;
lines. That sector was held by Igo-