The World War II was one that left lifetime memories. The Bataan Death March is just but one of the many impacts of this war. Bataan Death March occurred in the year 1942 through to 1994. The fierce war between the Japanese and U.S soldiers began after a surprise air attack on the Philippines sequel to that of Pearl Habour. The “Bataan Death March” describes the historical atrocities that the American soldiers underwent leading to the death of hundreds of soldiers. This was under the direction of General Masaharu Homma, a Japanese official who made the American soldiers “Prisoners of War” (POWs). After their surrender due to malnutrition and lack of enough food and ammunition, Homma directed his troops to lead U.S and Filipino forces on a seventy mile forced torture walk to a group of prisons.[1]
Due to malnutrition and harsh conditions of the march, many soldiers lost their lives. However, a significant number of them managed to trudge the several miles to various destinations in the prison sections. Despite the prolonged hardship, torture, and bloodshed that these soldiers underwent during the World War II, many Americans are not aware of the Imperial Japanese’s committed atrocities on the Bataan Peninsula neither do they have an idea of the heroic stand by the US-Filipino Marines, soldiers and sailors.
Hostility towards other States is a character overt amid Japanese. Japanese aggressive behavior started as early as in the twentieth century. Interestingly, many people did not imagine that such human conduct could intensify to the extent to which it was evident in the Philippines. Il-fatedly, the atrocities on the Bataan Peninsula committed by the Japanese Regal Army is still not known by the whole population of America. Moreover, many of them are not informed about the heroic stand made by the POWs soldiers as well as sailors and Marines.
The Japanese Army is imperialist and has extended their authority or rule over other countries. Their hostile actions are evident and imperialism by the Japanese military towards the American and Filipino forces was not a new thing. For instance, the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905 was after the defeat of the Russian Army by Japan.[2]
As a result of the treaty, the Russians were forced to submit to Japan its concession in Southern Manchuria. Therefore, this made Japan to be recognized globally as the controller and dominating power of Korea. Two decades after this treaty, the Japanese launched a full-scale attack on Manchuria because they wanted to expand their land mass in order to reduce overcrowding and increase agricultural space. [3],[4].
China is another casualty of the brutal behavior of the Japanese Empire. From Manchuria, the Japanese headed southwards into Northern China. The invasion into Northern China took place in 1937. Interestingly, Japan was never restraint and on the same year, it persistently moved into Shanghai and Peking. With training sessions being near the Marco Polo Bridge, there was an increased tension between China and Japan. To avoid alerting the locals of the area, the Chinese on the 7th of July 1937 requested that they should be given a notice before this training exercise would kick-off. However, they were no notice issued hence, many locals believed that there was an attack underway. As a result, there was an all-out attack and invasion on China which automatically lived in notoriety similar to the incident at Marco Polo Bridge. In addition to this, the Imperial Army of Japan raped women and killed thousands of people later towards the end of the year 1937 in the city of Nanking.[5],[6] This aggressive and vicious event set the stage for the horrors and nightmares that the Filipinos and American soldiers confronted both in Bataan and Corregidor. [7] The Bataan in the Philippines though claimed lives of many soldiers, it was a ground of heroic fight.
The sequel to China’s cruel and inhuman invasion by the Japanese is the attack on Pearl Harbor. This attack occurred in December 1941 on a Sunday morning when a high flying Japanese fleet of bombing planes launched a disabling surprise attack on Pearl Harbor’s key military base and extending to Benghazi.[8] In a fort-night Japanese foot soldier (hohei) invaded the area after the air attack. The attack here had many counterparts in the entire Pacific and Asia despite it being of a great proportion. Noteworthy is that there were similar attacks/bombing in the Philippines, 5,000 miles away from Hawaii in the same year and month.
One of the American soldiers who involved and witnessed this event was Pvt. Harold Poole. Poole was a soldier in the United States Army Corps. He was stationed at Clark Field on Luzon Island. According to accounts given by Harold Poole, he heard his colleagues say, “Look, the navy is showing off.” Surprisingly, these were the enemies’ airplanes. Harold however, realized that it was not the US Navy but the Japanese’s when he saw red dots on the aircraft. After a short while, the Japanese aircrafts which were flying at about twenty-five thousand feet above and which was out of range of the US aircraft guns immediately started bombing the area leaving almost everything demolished. Among the many destroyed base structures were runways, hangers, and cookhouses. Japanese tactfully aimed at crippling the air capability of the United States’ military force in the Pacific Region. [9],[10]
The last resort for the American soldiers which was highly forested was the Bataan region Peninsula in the Philippines. Areas like Manila was made non-occupied by General Douglas McArthur who ordered people to evacuate the area that was later bombed in December 1941. In the following year, the occupants of this region, Bataan were the Imperial Japanese Army. [11],[12] At this time, the long tunnel hallway shaped natural rock formation (Corregidor) was not penetrable by any weapon nor bombs. Many of the higher ranking officials used this area that was near the Bataan Peninsula as a secure base. Americans soldiers who were diseased, physically and mentally exhausted and very malnourished fought a non-ending battle with fierce gunfights which lasted hours. To the American soldiers, the brutal attack by Japanese indicated an endless supply of invading men as well as artillery. Despite being promised backup troops or reinforcements by General McArthur from the safe of the haven of Corregidor which was in vain, the US-Filipino forces kept strong, fighting for relentlessly. However, they were unable to win this war since they fought until they literally ran out of guns and ammunition. As a result of this insufficiency state, the American soldiers were forced to surrender at Bataan notwithstanding the hard fight that lasted almost three months. [13]
General Edward King’s surrender was influenced by many factors. Among many reasons were malnutrition, the inadequacy of ammunitions and starvation of soldiers who survived on unclean water and small rice portions. Edward’s decision to admit defeat is the beginning of the Bataan Death March. Even though it appears to be a less thought idea, it was wise since the soldiers would have to commit suicide; ail and starve to death. The heroic US-Filipino forces had been hard-pressed to the edge of starvation and hopelessness and therefore it was wise to submit to the Japanese Army. Notably, General Edward King was not aware of the consequences of surrendering his troops. The infuriated Japanese Army exhibited cruelty and more hatred towards the American troops simply because, in their view, the US soldiers were not conceding Corregidor which was still impenetrable by the Japanese. [14],[15] Even after submission, the American soldiers were forced to march a heartless sixty-five miles walk which is ill fame and today known as Bataan Death March.
The American troops were being transported and directed by the Japanese military to some of the dozens of Prisoners of War camps. Camp O’Donnell is one of the most important prisons that was being used to hold captive the Americans. It lay 85miles away from the region of Bataan. With no doubts, the soldiers from Japan knew that they were quite able to conduct the forced march for sixty of those miles. Homma, the Japanese General transported some of the Americans to the camps through railroad cars but due to a large number of the soldiers, transportation of all these people seemed impossible. Homma together with an assistant military reached the decision of making the US and Filipino soldiers to trek several miles. This decision was cruel and almost impossible to the already weakened, hungry, exhausted and diseased troops. Walking long a distance was not only the problem but included harsh weather conditions like the scorching sun during the day; excess heat during the two hottest months, April and May) and lack of proper feeding and clean drinking water. [16],[17] In addition, the troops were brutally murdered when the Japanese military felt like, deemed the Americans weak or disobedient.
Almost lacking in every human need was the prisoner of war camps which were usually hostile. A large number of the prisoners of war spent their nights outside the camps on concrete grounds despite the heavy downpour. As if this was not enough torture, they were made forced to shower ten of them and wash their clothes at the same time. Not often was their soap to use during the bathing or washing times. In addition to these, some troop members fell sick from various diseases such as malaria while others ended up being blind and paralyzed particularly the legs. Not to forget, these men were only eating a bowl of rice with thin soup and unclean drinking water for a day’s rations. [18],[19],[20] One of the many soldiers who survived the terrifying yet real event, Harold Poole gives an account of his encounter with a few doctors he met at the Camp of O’Donnell. Poole reports that he visited this hospital when his legs were swollen to get some remedy only to be told that he suffered from beriberi and that there was no medicine for that disease at that time. Poole is one of the thousand men who were lucky to survive since many soldiers belonging to his troop (Americans and Filipinos) had died both on the way and in the camps. [21]
Another incidence of aggression by the Japanese is the “hell ships”. Emperor Hirohito in 1942 issued a notice to Japanese chiefs in charge of transport and communication which was in the quest for more labor in Japan. Hirohito constantly sent letters to these officials who transported the white and Filipino prisoners of war to Japan’s mainland through cargo and ship transportation. The government commandeered ships that transported laborers had ruthless and unlivable accommodations hence the name “hell ships”. [22]
On route to Japan from the Philippines, many soldiers died as the ships they were transported with continued their business of transporting japan citizens, livestock and war weapons, as usual, leaving the POWs windowless cargo holds, suffocating vent docks and other uncomfortable places where they could be packed. Some soldiers tried to escape into the water but the majority died due to the unrest of the sea.
Emperor Hirohito’s intuitive labor decision was to transport the whites and Filipinos to Japan. His main agenda here was to use the captured soldiers as a slave and a workforce in various companies such as Mitsubishi in copper mines and Mitsui in coal mines. The Japanese government made sure a good number of these slave soldiers were distributed throughout the nation Mitsui in Omuta, Japan, Hirohata Steel Works and other large companies in the mainland. Pvt. Harold Poole who is among soldiers who witnessed the Japanese aggression and invasion writes about his prolonged work for Hirohata Steel Works Company. Poole denotes that the kind of work in these companies was backbreaking and with limited rest. One was only allowed a one-day rest/off every month. Furthermore, he highlights that after the tiring day’s work, they were loaded with military exercises which at that time they needed not as this was just further debilitating. Working in the coal mines was something unsafe as many Japanese workers reported [Poole]. With all these hardship and torture, very few amongst the thousands of the US-Filipino soldiers who underwent the Bataan Death March, slave labor and hell ship transportation lived to tell their stories. [23]
For sure, it is unfortunate that a large percentage of America’s population have not an idea of the atrocities that the Imperial Japanese Army forced the white and Filipino soldiers to undergo in the Philippines, Bataan Peninsula as well as the troops’ heroic stand during the Second World War in the Pacific. In the present-day school settings, such testaments should be taught further so that the people of America can be witnesses to the astonishing tales of these real and courageous champions who struggled, fought relentlessly and in most cases died for America’s protection and freedom.
Bibliography
Brougher, Edward W. South to Bataan, North to Mukden: The Prison Diary of Brigadier General WE Brougher. University of Georgia Press, 2010.
Chang, Iris. The rape of Nanking: The forgotten holocaust of World War II. Basic Books, 2014.
Dyess, Lt-Colonel William. The Dyess Story-The Eye-Witness Account Of The DEATH MARCH FROM BATAAN [Illustrated Edition]. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2014.
Dyess, William Edwin. Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account. U of Nebraska Press, 1944.
Editors, History.com. 2018. "Bataan Death March Begins". HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bataan-death-march-begins.
Hancock, Larry. Surprise Attack: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to Benghazi. Counterpoint, 2015.
Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of death: Japanese biological warfare, 1932-1945, and the American cover-up. Psychology Press, 2002.
Jackson, Calvin G. Diary of Col. Calvin G. Jackson, MD: Kept During World War II, 1941-1945. Ohio Northern University, 1992.
Kolakowski, Christopher L. Last Stand on Bataan: The Defense of the Philippines, December 1941-May 1942. McFarland, 2016.
Knox, Donald. Death march: the survivors of Bataan. Harcourt, 1981.
Manchester, William. American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964. Back Bay Books, 2008.
Murphy, Kevin C. Inside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail, and Memory. McFarland, 2014.
Norman, Michael. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath. Macmillan, 2009.
Ogata, Sadako N. Defiance in Manchuria: the making of Japanese foreign policy, 1931-1932. Univ of California Press, 1964.
Tanaka, Yuki. Hidden horrors: Japanese war crimes in World War II. Rowman " Littlefield, 2017.
Tenney, Lester I. My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March. Potomac Books, Inc., 2000.
Trani, Eugene P. The Treaty of Portsmouth: An Adventure in American Diplomacy. University Press of Kentucky, 2015.
Young, Louise. Japan's total empire: Manchuria and the culture of wartime imperialism. Vol. 8. Univ of California Press, 1998.
Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: warning and decision. Stanford University Press, 1962.
[1]
Dyess, William Edwin. Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account. U of Nebraska Press, 1944.
[2]
Trani, Eugene P. The Treaty of Portsmouth: An Adventure in American Diplomacy. University Press of Kentucky, 2015.
[3]
Young, Louise. Japan's total empire: Manchuria and the culture of wartime imperialism. Vol. 8. Univ of California Press, 1998.
[4]
Ogata, Sadako N. Defiance in Manchuria: the making of Japanese foreign policy, 1931-1932. Univ of California Press, 1964.
[5]
Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of death: Japanese biological warfare, 1932-1945, and the American cover-up. Psychology Press, 2002.
[6]
Chang, Iris. The rape of Nanking: The forgotten holocaust of World War II. Basic Books, 2014.
[7]
Jackson, Calvin G. Diary of Col. Calvin G. Jackson, MD: Kept During World War II, 1941-1945. Ohio Northern University, 1992.
[8]
Hancock, Larry. Surprise Attack: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to Benghazi. Counterpoint, 2015.
[9] Editors, History.com. 2018. "Bataan Death March Begins". HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bataan-death-march-begins.
[10]
Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: warning and decision. Stanford University Press, 1962.
[11]
Manchester, William. American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964. Back Bay Books, 2008.
[12]
Kolakowski, Christopher L. Last Stand on Bataan: The Defense of the Philippines, December 1941-May 1942. McFarland, 2016.
[13]
Murphy, Kevin C. Inside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail and Memory. McFarland, 2014.
[14]
Murphy, Inside the Bataan Death March: Defeat, Travail and Memory. McFarland, 2014
[15]
Dyess, William Edwin. Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account. U of Nebraska Press, 1944.
[16]
Tanaka, Yuki. Hidden horrors: Japanese war crimes in World War II. Rowman " Littlefield, 2017.
[17]
Dyess, Lt-Colonel William. The Dyess Story-The Eye-Witness Account Of The DEATH MARCH FROM BATAAN [Illustrated Edition]. Pickle Partners Publishing, 2014.
[18]
Brougher, Edward W. South to Bataan, North to Mukden: The Prison Diary of Brigadier General WE Brougher. University of Georgia Press, 2010.
[19]
Tenney, Lester I. My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March. Potomac Books, Inc., 2000.
[20]
Norman, Michael. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath. Macmillan, 2009.
[21]
Knox, Donald. Death march: the survivors of Bataan. Harcourt, 1981.
[22]
Tenney, Lester I. My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March. Potomac Books, Inc., 2000.
[23]
Knox, Donald. Death march: the survivors of Bataan. Harcourt, 1981.
