The Bataan Death March was a transfer of prisoners from Bataan to inland prison camps during WWII. Thousands of American and Filipino POWs died due to lack of food and cruel treatment by Japanese soldiers. The event was later considered a war crime, and annual memorials are held to commemorate it.
The Bataan Death March was a notorious transfer of prisoners from the Philippine province of Bataan to inland prison camps. Thousands of American and Filipino prisoners of war died during the Bataan Death March, which was later considered a Japanese war crime. In both the United States and the Philippines, annual memorials commemorate the event, and in some cases Bataan Death March survivors are there to talk to people about the experience. Survivor accounts are also available in a number of books.
This event was the culmination of the Battle of Bataan, a struggle between Japanese troops and American and Philippine forces for control of Bataan. Eventually the Japanese were victorious, negotiating the surrender of some 90,000 POWs from Major General Edward P. King, who asked the Japanese forces if the men would be treated humanely, to which he was told “we are not barbarians”. On April 9, 1942, the Japanese began moving men into camps.
The Bataan Death March men were already weak from lack of food and exposure to malaria, which is endemic to the region. Some were transferred to trucks, but most were ordered to walk, with the Japanese forces believing the roughly 60-mile (97-kilometer) route to the fields was not unreasonable. Over the course of a week, the men slowly made their way to the fields; upon arrival, between 54,000 and 72,000 men remained.
Many men died on the Bataan Death March due to lack of food and an inability to stop and rest. Many others, however, died victims of wanton cruelty and abuse. Japanese soldiers rode along the line of marching POWs, beheading, shooting, beating, slitting their throats, and disemboweling them, mostly for amusement. Protesters were also deprived of food and water, which would have been especially brutal in the region’s extreme heat.
News of the Bataan Death March quickly reached the rest of the world, with Americans quick to condemn the actions of the Japanese forces. Prisoners of war were generally regarded as sacred, and the failure to treat the men humanely was viewed with horror and dismay, even by nations not directly affected. In 1945, many of the individuals in command during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines were tried for their actions in the Bataan Death March, with at least one commander, General Homma, sentenced to death for his role in this wartime atrocity .
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
