Japanese victory United States Douglas MacArthur Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV George M. Parker Edward P. King Albert M. Jones William Brougher Clifford Bluemel Clyde A. Selleck Clinton Pierce Luther R. Stevens Vicente Lim Mateo Capinpin Fidel Segundo The Battle of Bataan (Tagalog: Labanan sa Bataan; 7 January – 9 April 1942) was fought by the United States and the Philippine Commonwealth against Imperial Japan during World War II.

In January 1942, forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy invaded Luzon along with several islands in the Philippine Archipelago after the bombing of the American naval base at Pearl Harbor.

The commander in chief of the U.S. and Filipino forces in the islands, General Douglas MacArthur, consolidated all of his Luzon-based units on the Bataan Peninsula to fight against the Japanese army.

As the combined American and Filipino forces made a last stand, the delay cost the Japanese valuable time and prevented immediate victory across the Pacific.

He correctly surmised that these landings were designed to secure advance air bases and that the Japanese had no intention of driving on Manila from any of these beachheads.

[8] MacArthur weighed two choices: either make a firm stand on the line of the Agno and give Wainwright his best unit, the Philippine Division, for a counterattack; or withdraw all the way to Bataan in planned stages.

Also on 12 January, Brigadier General Virgilio N. Cordero Jr.'s 52nd Infantry, "Bicol's Own", was moved forward to plug a gap that had developed in the 51st Division's right flank.

[6]: 128–148, 164–168, 180–181 On 12 January 12 amid fierce fighting, 2nd Lieutenant Alexander R. Nininger, a platoon leader in the 57th Infantry, sacrificed his life when, armed with only a rifle and hand grenades, he forced his way into enemy foxholes during hand-to-hand combat, permitting his unit to retake Abucay Hacienda; for his actions, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

On 16 January the Japanese attacked Moron, forcing Wainwright to place his 72nd Infantry astride the Pilar-Bagac Road behind his main defensive line.

The result was closer to yellow than khaki, and the diary of a dead Japanese officer described them as a suicide squad dressed in brightly colored uniforms and talking loudly in an attempt to draw fire and reveal the enemy positions.

By 8 February, recognizing the attacks by the 65th Brigade were failures resulting in crippling losses, Nara was ordered to withdraw north to the Pilar-Bagac Road.

[6]: 325–345 On 28 January, Hiroshi Nakanishi's 3rd Battalion, and Yorimasa Yoshioka's 20th Infantry staff, attacked I Corps' Orion-Bagac line and was able to break through into the 1st Division's rear along the Tuol River.

Additionally, the message stated, "I assume that you are fully acquainted with the various measures that have been instituted for running the blockade and keeping our forces partially supplied with critical items.

In an effort to provide you with some air assistance we are placing one or two crated P-40s on each blockade runner, including six converted destroyers of which the leading vessels are now enroute via Hawaii."

Of these six blockade runners, the Masaya, Matagalpa, Teapa, Margaret Schafer, Mount Baker, and Texada, only the first two made it past Hawaii, and they were diverted instead to Australia.

[6]: 453–464 On 3 April, at 1500, Homma planned to attack the Orion Bagac Line, using Kitano's 4th Division to breach the II Corps left flank along Mount Samat, and then proceed southeast to Manila Bay.

King then committed his Luzon Force reserves in an attempt to prevent the total collapse of Sector D.[6]: 487–492 On 5 April, the Japanese Right Wing captured Mt.

However, Wainwright told MacArthur, " The troops have been on half rations for three months and are now on less than that amount which results in much loss of physical vigor and sickness."

The attempted counterattack proved futile, and the defenders were forced to fall back onto the east bank of the San Vicente River.

Depots and warehouses were destroyed that night, as the last two P-40s, two P-35s, and a Grumman J2F Duck carrying Carlos P. Romulo, fled south from Bataan and Cabcaben airfields.

The world will long remember the epic struggle that Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coast of Bataan.

Besieged on land and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and in America, the intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance could bear.

Between the time of their advance into the Solomons and the American counter-landing on Guadalcanal in August, three months after the fall of Corregidor, they had ample troops available to build up their strength in the South Seas.

[21] However, historian Teodoro Agoncillo argues that the battle was "unnecessary in so far as the throwing away of precious lives was concerned, for it served no strategic purpose."

[23] The Japanese were greatly delayed in their overall timetable (not including the well-executed and rapid Dutch East Indies campaign) by the last stands at Bataan and Corregidor, which can be proven by how the Imperial General Headquarters was not satisfied with the slow pace of the Bataan and Corregidor battles because the original expectation for the Japanese forces was to defeat USAFFE forces and achieve complete victory in the Philippines by the middle of February.

Homma was relieved of command after the final Allied forces surrendered in the Philippines in June 1942 and he was humiliated and scapegoated for this major loss of face for the Japanese military.

USS Bataan (LHD-5), commissioned on 20 September 1997, the United States Navy Wasp-class amphibious assault ship commemorates "those who served and sacrificed in the Philippines in the name of freedom in the Pacific".

USS Bataan (CVL-29), commissioned on 17 November 1943, the United States Navy Independence-class aircraft carrier commemorated "those who served and sacrificed in the Philippines in the name of freedom in the Pacific" until her decommissioning on 9 April 1954.

The memorial was designed and sculpted by Las Cruces artist Kelley Hester and is located in Veterans Park along Roadrunner Parkway in New Mexico.

Though largely focusing on the Cabanatuan Raid in 1945, this last program also featured stories from the 1942 battle; notably the stand of the 57th Infantry Regiment (PS) at Mabatang.