The Bataan Death March
By: Ben Kageyama
Tags: Philippines, History, World War II, Nonfiction, Japan

The Bataan Death March

World War II propaganda poster featuring the Bataan Death March (1943), Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Deadly, cruel, and indiscriminate — all words that describe the Japanese World War II campaigns in the pacific. With a distorted sense of nationalism, Japan’s armies went around Asia in order to “liberate” countries from Western influence. However, what occurred was quite the opposite.

Their army raped, pillaged, and looted billions worth of civilian property. There was no mercy for women, children, or even prisoners of war.

One of the more iconic incidents of abuse known in history is called the “Bataan Death March.” It was a torturous trip that took many lives, an event that was primarily caused by the bruised ego of Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma.

Failure

The Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 22, 1941. The imperial army tasked with disposing of the American and Filipino forces around the archipelago was led by General Masaharu Homma.

General Douglas MacArthur, head of the American forces in the archipelago, assigned his troops widely. This initiative led to the thinning of any particular unit around the country’s nine major islands. It allowed Homma and his troops to land and launch their attack quickly.

Homma needed to break through the stronghold of the Bataan peninsula to make significant advances around the country. Hence, the battle between the armies mainly took place there.

Unfortunately for MacArthur, his distribution of forces led to an undersupply of rations, forcing his men to eat just the bare minimum to survive.

However, despite that, the undersupplied American-Filipino forces held off Homma’s 20,000 advancing troops. After just two months, Homma was left with only one-tenth of his army, forcing him to pull back.

Homma was humiliated by the commanders in Tokyo. His squandering of precious Japanese manpower forced headquarters to cede control of the Philippine operations to General Yamashita.

Still, they sent Homma back for a renewed offensive on April 3, 1942 — this time with tanks, air support, and heavy artillery.

Revenge

Fallen soldiers from the death march (1942), Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

This time, the Japanese assault was too overwhelming for the tired and hungry defending forces.

The impending defeat forced Major General Edward King to surrender Bataan to Yamashita and Homma, turning soldiers into prisoners of war to avoid an all-out massacre.

The “mercy” given by the vengeful Homma was superficial at best. The proud Japanese general still had his humiliating defeat fresh in his mind and thus thought of a creative way to punish his prisoners.

Hence, Homma decided to transfer all the prisoners to Camp O’Donnell, a base about 161km away from where they were — but on foot.

General King pleaded with Homma. His troops had been on half rations since the start of the year, and many of them were sick and starving. Unfortunately, his request fell on deaf ears, and thus began the long and agonizing march to hell.

The Japanese forces first conducted an aggressive search on the prisoners. If they discovered them with any souvenirs or equipment, the prisoner was shot on the spot. They then set off from the base on April 10 and continued to their destination for seven straight days. Japanese soldiers beat the starving and sick captives for fun along the way.

Americans or Filipinos who requested a drink were fired at, and those who collapsed from the heat were killed then and there unless a comrade carried them forward. The prisoners were given a few cups of contaminated rice as food, and at night they rested in tight enclosures that prevented even the slightest bit of movement.

As they advanced, the line of prisoners became thinner, and the trail of bodies grew longer.

Casualties

Kilometer zero of the Bataan Death March (2013), by Ramon Velasquez, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

By the end of the week, 650 American prisoners and about 7,500 Filipino soldiers had been killed due to the march. The invading force was significantly more cruel to Filipinos as they despised them for wounding their pride in seeking American aid.

As World War II continued in the Pacific, the Japanese held about 20,000 American troops in captivity. They murdered almost half of those men through starvation, sickness, and torture.

After Japan’s eventual defeat, prosecutors charged General Homma as a war criminal for the Bataan Death March and his treatment of prisoners in the Philippines. The tribunal found him guilty, and authorities executed the general for his crimes in 1946.