The Bataan Death March
Many people believed in the idea of Manifest Destiny, but not many could accomplish their dreams. One of these people was William Walker, an American lawyer, journalist, and conquer. In Tennessee on May 8, 1824, William Walker was born to parents James Walker and Mary Norvell. He graduated from the University of Nashville at age 14 and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania a the age of 19.
Sent to the Philippines to defend an attack from Japan, US Soldiers attempted to fight off the Japanese troops. Americans planned to fight off the troops in the Philippines and wait for reinforcements. The reinforcements never came because the bombing of Pearl Harbor had destroyed a large amount of the American military which led to the troops fighting in the Philippines to be left stranded. Once the Japanese gained control over Manila, the capital of the Philippines, the American troops were forced to surrender.
On April 9th, 1942, the American soldiers began their march north. American Soldiers started the Bataan Death March in Mariveles, on the southern tip of the Philippines. American Soldiers started walking in packs of 100. The temperature can get up to 95 degrees and soldiers were required to wear their heavy gear and warm uniforms. This led to many American soldiers to faint or die from heat exhaustion and because so many US soldiers were dying none of the Japanese troops bothered or even had the equipment to help U.S. soldiers. Men that were too weak to walk were bayoneted, and some were beheaded. Americans were also beat on the march by the Japanese through starvation and beatings. The Japanese army was not capable nor had anticipated taking an army as large as the one that the United States had. Through the 65 mile walk, a total of 3,000 people had died, either from the cruelty of the Japanese troops or from sicknesses, such as Malaria, fever, and other sicknesses that soldiers had caught. When they finally arrived at Camp O'Donnell, after 5 days of walking, life wasn’t much better because of the lack of resources that the Japanese had.
Once Americans on the mainland received news about the Bataan Death March they were furious. American troops seized Leyte, an island in the Philippines and recaptured the Bataan Peninsula. General Homma Masaharu, the general of the Japanese during the death march was later captured by American troops and killed by a firing squad.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
Many people believed in the idea of Manifest Destiny, but not many could accomplish their dreams. One of these people was William Walker, an American lawyer, journalist, and conquer. In Tennessee on May 8, 1824, William Walker was born to parents James Walker and Mary Norvell. He graduated from the University of Nashville at age 14 and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania a the age of 19.
Sent to the Philippines to defend an attack from Japan, US Soldiers attempted to fight off the Japanese troops. Americans planned to fight off the troops in the Philippines and wait for reinforcements. The reinforcements never came because the bombing of Pearl Harbor had destroyed a large amount of the American military which led to the troops fighting in the Philippines to be left stranded. Once the Japanese gained control over Manila, the capital of the Philippines, the American troops were forced to surrender.
On April 9th, 1942, the American soldiers began their march north. American Soldiers started the Bataan Death March in Mariveles, on the southern tip of the Philippines. American Soldiers started walking in packs of 100. The temperature can get up to 95 degrees and soldiers were required to wear their heavy gear and warm uniforms. This led to many American soldiers to faint or die from heat exhaustion and because so many US soldiers were dying none of the Japanese troops bothered or even had the equipment to help U.S. soldiers. Men that were too weak to walk were bayoneted, and some were beheaded. Americans were also beat on the march by the Japanese through starvation and beatings. The Japanese army was not capable nor had anticipated taking an army as large as the one that the United States had. Through the 65 mile walk, a total of 3,000 people had died, either from the cruelty of the Japanese troops or from sicknesses, such as Malaria, fever, and other sicknesses that soldiers had caught. When they finally arrived at Camp O'Donnell, after 5 days of walking, life wasn’t much better because of the lack of resources that the Japanese had.Once Americans on the mainland received news about the Bataan Death March they were furious. American troops seized Leyte, an island in the Philippines and recaptured the Bataan Peninsula. General Homma Masaharu, the general of the Japanese during the death march was later captured by American troops and killed by a firing squad.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bataan-death-march
I really liked reading your article because, we briefly went over the death march in class, but this went into much more detail and is very interesting. Something I found which was very interesting is that the majority of the soldiers forced to march were Filipinos (66,000) yet we seem to only ever mention that there were Americans (10,000) on the march.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.britannica.com/event/Bataan-Death-March
I thought your post was very concise and informative, giving the reader a general overview of the events and what they need to know. Slightly confused by the beginning about William Walker, but after that your post makes a lot of sense (the map especially helps in understanding the march). The conditions the troops were put under sound far less than pleasant, which is what the Japanese were intending when following through with the Bushido Code (surrender was shameful and death was preferable). Additionally, as you mentioned the Japanese did not have suitable resources (such as medical attention) for the US, not that they would've been rushing to help them in any way. Although, upon arriving at the camp there was a hospital called by the troops as "Zero Ward". They called it this because it was seen as a place patients go to who have 0 hope of surviving and would rather die. Overall, on the American side this event was an atrocity, but one cannot help but imagine what would have happened if the essential troops had arrived.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/bataan-death-march
This was a really interesting post about the Bataan death march. I always found it interesting that Japanese soldiers were so much more aggressive towards prisoners than the Europeans. American soldiers imprisoned in Europe almost all survived, and they were not kept captive for very long. American POW in Asia, however, were kept captive for years and around 1/3 of them would die. The Japanese attitude of Bushido and the brutality of the Japanese towards the Americans likely contributed to this difference, as well as the fact that Asia was rough, hot, and full of tropical diseases.
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