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MIS Capitol Bataan
While the Japanese already controlled Manila and other Luzon areas, the Filipino and American troops could not stop the Japanese advances.
On the month of February the Fil-American soldiers seems to lose their direction, with no food, no armaments. They are starving to death…How they can survive?
On the eleventh of March, Mc. Arthur left the Philippines…with his very well-known line, “I shall return!”.
On April 3, 1942, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, commander of the Japanese Imperial Forces, ordered his men to attack and finally defeat the Filipino-American troops.
On April 6, 1942 the bloody battle begins at Mt. Samat. Hungry, disease-ridden, low on ammunition and without any hope of relief, the defenders of Bataan had no choice but to surrender to the Japanese on April 9, 1942.[i]
With supplies running out, and the army outnumbered and decimated by disease and starvation, decided to surrender rather than massacred by the Japanese invaders. The Army of Bataan completely collapsed.
What Bataan witnessed in those times, that it became home to tens of thousands of men and boys, fiercely defending freedom and the fatherland, will forever be etched into its history. The province’s name has since then been syno-nymous to courage, heroism and valor. It describes the strength and pride of a people who would choose suffering and death to foreign domination. When the end of battle came, on April 9, 1942, the words that were uttered and that echoed down the years were “Bataan has fallen”.[ii]
[i] Alberto S. Abeleda Jr., The Nation in Focus, St. Bernadette Publishing House Corporation, 2007, p. 119
[ii] Fr. Wilfredo C. Paguio, Bataan Land of Valor, People of Peace, Jardi Press, 1997, pp.105-106
On the month of February the Fil-American soldiers seems to lose their direction, with no food, no armaments. They are starving to death…How they can survive?
On the eleventh of March, Mc. Arthur left the Philippines…with his very well-known line, “I shall return!”.
On April 3, 1942, Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma, commander of the Japanese Imperial Forces, ordered his men to attack and finally defeat the Filipino-American troops.
On April 6, 1942 the bloody battle begins at Mt. Samat. Hungry, disease-ridden, low on ammunition and without any hope of relief, the defenders of Bataan had no choice but to surrender to the Japanese on April 9, 1942.[i]
With supplies running out, and the army outnumbered and decimated by disease and starvation, decided to surrender rather than massacred by the Japanese invaders. The Army of Bataan completely collapsed.
What Bataan witnessed in those times, that it became home to tens of thousands of men and boys, fiercely defending freedom and the fatherland, will forever be etched into its history. The province’s name has since then been syno-nymous to courage, heroism and valor. It describes the strength and pride of a people who would choose suffering and death to foreign domination. When the end of battle came, on April 9, 1942, the words that were uttered and that echoed down the years were “Bataan has fallen”.[ii]
[i] Alberto S. Abeleda Jr., The Nation in Focus, St. Bernadette Publishing House Corporation, 2007, p. 119
[ii] Fr. Wilfredo C. Paguio, Bataan Land of Valor, People of Peace, Jardi Press, 1997, pp.105-106
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