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The Bataan Death March - 849 Words
Bataan Death March prisoners were forced to march as they were beaten and stabbed and random, then shot or run over if they got tired.
After a grisly three-month campaign in early 1942 that left around 10,000 American and Filipino troops dead, the Japanese emerged victorious. Nearly 80,000 Allied troops laid down their weapons, making it the largest American surrender in history.
All told, the total number of prisoners was double what Japanese Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma was expecting. Since he lacked the vehicles to move the prisoners elsewhere, he decided to make the prisoners march 70 miles in the sweltering tropical heat. On April 9, 1942, the infamous Bataan Death March began.
See the shocking photos and discover just how excruciating the Bataan Death March really was by clicking the link in our bio.
The Bataan Death March (Filipino: Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan; Spanish: Marcha de la muerte de Bataán ; Kapampangan: Martsa ning Kematayan quing Bataan; Japanese: バターン死の行進, Hepburn: Batān Shi no Kōshin) was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of between 75,000 [1] American and Filipino prisoners of war from Saysain Point, Bagac, Bataan and Mariveles to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, via San Fernando, Pampanga, the prisoners being forced to march despite many dying on the journey.
The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps, the route was 65 miles long. Sources also report widely differing prisoner of war casualties prior to reaching Camp O'Donnell: from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march. If an American soldier was caught on the ground or fell they would be instantly shot. As of now all the reported American soldiers that passed now have a grave stone honoring those who died.
The march was characterized by severe physical abuse and wanton killings. After the war, the Japanese commander, General Masaharu Homma and two of his officers, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were tried by United States military commissions for war crimes and sentenced to death on charges of failing to prevent their subordinates from committing war crimes. Homma was executed in 1946, while Kawane and Hirano were executed in 1949.
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