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The Bataan Death March was a war crime involving the forcible transfer of prisoners of war, with wide-ranging abuse and high fatalities, by Japanese forces in the Philippines, in 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan, which was part of the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42), during World War II. In Japanese, it is known as Batān Shi no Kōshin meaning the same. 10,000 of the 75,000 POWs died.

The march

Approximately 70,000 Filipino and US soldiers, commanded by Major General Edward P. King, Jr. formally surrendered to the Japanese, under General Masaharu Homma, on April 9, 1942, which forced Japan to accept emaciated captives outnumbering them. Captives were forced to make a week-long journey, beginning the next day, about 160 kilometers to the north, to Camp O'Donnell, a prison camp, in Nueva Ecija province. Most of the distance was done marching, a smaller distance was a ride packed into railroad cars.

Prisoners of war were beaten randomly, and then were denied food and water for several days. The Japanese tortured many to death. Those who fell behind were executed through various means: shot, beheaded or bayoneted. The commonly-used Japanese "sun treatment" forced a captive to sit silently in the humid April sun without water or even the shade of his helmet.

Meanwhile, Allied forces elsewhere in the Philippines fought on, and the column of prisoners marching from Bataan was accidentally shelled by US guns defending Corregidor to screen the Japanese artillery movements. Packed into boxcars to travel from San Fernando to Capas, the number of prisoners was further diminished by malaria, heat, dehydration and dysentery.

Camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan

About 10,000 perished while others were able to escape; approximately 54,000 reached Camp O'Donnell. The problems persisted there. On June 6, 1942 the Filipino soldiers were granted amnesty and released, while the American prisoners were moved to another camp at Cabanatuan. Many of the survivors were later sent to prison camps in Japan, Korea, and Manchuria in prisoner transports known as "Hell Ships." The 500 POWs who still were in Cabanatuan Prison Camp were freed in January 1945 in the The Great Raid.

War crimes trial

After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Homma was convicted by an Allied commission of war crimes, including the atrocities of the death march out of Bataan, and the atrocities at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan that followed, and executed on April 3, 1946 outside Manila.

Commemorations

The Philippines

Every year, the captured soldiers are honored on Araw ng Kagitingan ("Day of Valor") (9 April), also known as the "Bataan Day", which is a Philippine national holiday. There is a shrine in Bataan commemorating this event.

New Mexico

The Bataan Death March is commemorated every year at White Sands Missile Range just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The march which covers 26.2 miles via paved road and sandy trails allows 4000 entrants from many military units both International and the United States armed services. Several of the few remaining Bataan prisoners await the competitors to congratulate them on their success of the grueling march, however the real thanks comes from the participants to those who actually endured the actual march and encampment at Cabanatuan.

See also

External links

History of the Philippines | World War II crimes | Japanese war crimes | Marches

Todesmarsch von Bataan | Batānas Nāves maršs | バターン死の行進 | Bataanski pohod smrti

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Bataan Death March".

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