... In its consistent it was far more important than victory Japanese Nagumos Pearl Harbor raid. During the three months fell the Philippines, British Borneo, and then a Dutch East India in quick succession followed by defeats on land and at sea, everything that Churchill aptly called a "cataract of disasters". Stunning Japanese winning campaign - and also the heaviest defeat of the Allies during World War II - grew up directly from the tactical success achieved by the very first day in the Philippines. (Ivan Hrbek, Jaroslav Hrbek - Krvavé oceány, Naše vojsko, 1994)
Article on Czech Wikipedia
Article on English Wikipedia| Scenario in dates: |
| July 28, 1941: |
In French Indochina - Japanese forces begin to occupy bases in southern Indochina. It is clear that the main use for such bases would be in an invasion of Malaya, the East Indies or the Philippines. |
| December 6, 1941: |
In the Philippine Sea - Japanese forces leave Palau bound for the attack on the Philippines. |
| December 8, 1941: |
In the Philippines - The Japanese attack begins with the capture of Bataan Batan Island and the creation of an airstrip for plane refueling. Japanese invasion troops leave Paulau for the Philippines. The main attack begins with massive air bombardment which reduces the American defenses to 17 B-17´s and less than 40 fighters. Most of the planes are destroyed on the ground. American General Douglas MacArthur has under his command 130,000 troops (20,000 Americans). His plan to defend the island becomes nonviable after the destruction of the main portion of the his air force and the losses at Pearl Harbor. |
| December 10, 1941: |
In the Philippines - Japanese air attacks and troop landings on Luzon. Attack on the naval base at Cavite destroys weapons stocks. At Aparri, on the north coast, 2000 troops of the Tanaka Detachment land, while troops of the Kanno Detachment land at Vigan in the northeast. Both landings are well supported by naval forces. Above Cavite, the crew of Lieutenant Harmon T. Utter´s Catalina shoots down one of the attacking Japanese Zeros. It is the U.S. Navy´s first verifiable air-to-air "kill" of a Japanese airplane in the Pacific War. Utter, as a commander, will later coordinate the carrier air strikes that will lead to the destruction of the Japanese battleship Yamato. |
| December 12, 1941: |
In the Philippines - Kimura Detachment and 2500 men of the Japanese 16th Infantry Division, land in south Luzon at Legaspi. Air attacks continue against any remaining American aircraft. |
| December 14, 1941: |
Philippines - a B-17 bomber piloted by Lieutenant Hewitt T. Wheless on a mission to attack Japanese warships and transports in the harbor at Legaspi, is attacked by eighteen enemy fighters. Three gunners are wounded and a fourth killed. The airplane is able to drop its bombs and seven fighters are reportedly downed. Wheless is able to return to base and land the aircraft safely in the dark with three flat tires. Wheless´s heroism will be noted in Franklin Roosevelt´s Fireside Chat on April 28, 1942 and reenacted in short propaganda film Beyond the Line of Duty. |
| December 16, 1941: |
In the Philippines - In Manila Bay, Filipino transport ship SS Corregidor (ex HMS Engadine, WW1 and Battle of Jutland veteran) sinks immediately after explosion in misentered minefield. Loaded to overcapacity with civilians seeking to escape after the war had started with approximetly 1000 casualties is this case one of the greatest maritime disasters in the world that did not occur as a result of military or naval action. |
| December 19, 1941: |
In the Philippines - Japanese land 500 men from the 56th Infantry Regiment near Davao on Mindanao. |
| December 21, 1941: |
In Philippines - Japanese invasion fleet flows into the Lingayen Gulf in preparation to land on Luzon. |
| December 22, 1941: |
In Philippines - Japanese troops from the 48th Infantry division, augmented with tanks land on Luzon at Lingayen Gulf. They meet little opposition and establish a strong beachhead. Between the Type 95 tanks of the Japanese 4th Tank Regiment and the brand new M3 Stuart tanks of the US 192nd Tank Battalion, the first clash of armor of American versus Japanese tanks in World War II occurres and Japanese machines are victorious. |
| December 24, 1941: |
In the Philippines - About 7000 troops of the Japanese 16th Infantry Division land at Lamon Bay in southeast Luzon. In northern Luzon, the Allies have taken the first of five defensive positions designed to delay the Japanese movement toward the Bataan Peninsula. General Douglas MacArthur still commands the forces. In Subic Bay, the Americans scuttle obsolete decommissioned USS New York (ACR-2) armored cruiser to prevent her capture by the Japanese. Paradoxically, she is a veteran of the Spanish-American War in which the United States gained the Philippines from Spain. |
| December 25, 1941: |
In the Philippines - The US defensive strategy continues with their withdrawal to the second line of defense at the Agno River. Japanese attacks continue. |
| December 27, 1941: |
In the Philippines - The Americans declare Manila an open city. The defenders are now at their third of five lines of defense in their delaying action against the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. This line runs east and west from Paniqui. At Jolo Island, the Americans conduct one of the first offensive actions against the Japanese, six PBY Catalinas bombs Japanese shipping against heavy fighter opposition, with four Catalinas lost. |
| December 28, 1941: |
In the Philippines - American and allied troops on Luzon continue to fall back. They are now at the Tarlac-Cabanatuan line. Japanese attacks continue. |
| December 30, 1941: |
In the Philippines - the Allied forces on Luzon fall back to their final line of prepared defense above the Bataan Peninsula. |
| December 31, 1941: |
In the Philippines - American and Filipino forces form a new defense line north of the Bataan Peninsula, on Luzon. |
| January 2, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese troops occupy the capital city, Manila. The American and Philippino Allies establish their defenses on the approaches to the Bataan Peninsula. |
| January 5, 1942: |
In the Philippines - The Americans begin to make final withdrawals to the main Bataan defensive positions. |
| January 9, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese forces begin the assault on the Bataan Peninsula. |
| January 13, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese attacks on the Bataan peninsula continue with successes on the eastern side, the west side of the area is still holding. |
| January 24, 1942: |
In the Philippines - The American forces on Luzon begin withdrawals to their second line of defense. |
| January 30, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese pressure on the American defensive positions in Bataan increase. The "Battle of the Pockets" culminates in the western part of the frontline across the peninsula. |
| February 6, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese reinforcements land on Luzon. In the Bataan peninsula there is a lessening of the fighting. |
| February 8, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese General Homma, halts his main attacks to await further reinforcement. Some heavy fighting, however, continues. |
| February 13, 1942: |
In the Philippines - The battle for Bataan continues. |
| February 22, 1942: |
From Washington - General Douglas MacArthur is ordered to leave the Philippines and establish new headquarters in Australia. |
| March 2, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese forces land on Mindanao. Japanese warships bombard targets on Mindanao, Cebu and Negros Islands. |
| March 11, 1942: |
In the Philippines - "I shall return." Words spoken by American General Douglas MacArthur as he leaves Luzon. General Wainwright takes over his command. |
| March 16, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese siege guns bombard American forts in Manila Bay. One 240 mm shell detonates beneath a Fort Frank powder room, breaking up the concrete and hurling some 60 (filled) powder cans about. Miraculously, none of them explode or catch fire. |
| April 1, 1942: |
In the Philippines - the Japanese resume major attack on the Bataan Peninsula. The American and Philippine troops have 24,000 of the their men ill due to short rations (1/4 of normal ration size) and tropical diseases. |
| April 3, 1942: |
In the Philippines - After a short lull, the Japanese renew their attacks on the Bataan Peninsula, where an under equipped American and Philippino force has retreated to their final defensive positions. The attack begins with a lengthy bombardment of allies positions and they are forced to retreat again. |
| April 5, 1942: |
In the Philippines - The Japanese offensive down the Bataan peninsula continues. In fierce fighting, at Mount Samat, the US 21st Division takes heavy losses as the Japanese take the position. Elsewhere, Japanese forces leave Luzon for Cebu Island. |
| April 7, 1942: |
In the Philippines - On the Bataan peninsula, the situation for the allies continues to worsen as the Japanese continue to advance, with the greatest gains on the east side of the peninsula. The American and Filipino allies are now withdrawn to a line running inland from Limao. General Wainwright in response to the President´s order withdraws as many of his men as possible to the island of Corregidor in Manilla Bay. |
| April 8, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Overwhelmed by numbers and short of food and equipment, the American and Filipino forces remaining on the Bataan peninsula are ordered to destroy their equipment prior to a surrender. |
| April 9, 1942: |
In the Philippines - American General King surrenders 75,000 men (12,000 Americans) to the Japanese. A death march begins for the prisoners as they are taken to San Fernado San Fernando, 100 miles away. Many thousands of them die on the march. Resistance continues in isolated areas of Luzon and other islands. General Wainwright and his troops continue to hold out on Corregidor Island. |
| April 16, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese overcome all resistance on Cebu and land 4000 troops on Panay. |
| April 29, 1942: |
In the Philippines - On Mindanao, Filipino resistance continues but they are pushed back from their positions when the invading Japanese receive reinforcements and greater air support. The Japanese continue to bomb the remaining American troops who have retreated to Corregidor. |
| May 1, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Japanese land more reinforcements on Mindanao and heavy fighting continues. |
| May 2, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Despite the arrival of reinforcements on Mindanao, local resistance slows Japanese advances. |
| May 3, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Mindanao, local resistance in Macajalar Bay succumbs to heavy Japanese landings. |
| May 6, 1942: |
In the Philippines - Formal American resistance to the Japanese invasion ends with General Wainwright´s surrender on Corregidor. Japanese attacks continue against local resistance on Mindanas. |
| May 7, 1942: |
In the Philippines - General Wainwright broadcasts the news of the American surrender at Corregidor from Japanese custody. He invites the remainder of the American forces in the Philippines to surrender. Despite the American surrender, the opposition faced by Japanese forces has been effective in disrupting their plans. General Homma was allocated 50 days to take the Philippines, the actual conquest took five months. The continuing resistance of the Filipino forces has prevented the release of his troops for other campaigns. |
| June 30, 1942: |
Australia - American General MacArthur is awarded the highest American military award, the Medal of Honor, for the defense of the Philippines. He had been nominated for this award in the past, for service in Mexico and France in the First World War. At 62 years of age, this is the awarding of the Medal of Honor to the oldest member of the armed forces in history, as well as the highest ranking soldier. MacArthur´s father, General Arthur MacArthur Jr., fought in the American Civil War, in which he also received the Medal of honor, making the two the first ever father-son duo to receive this honor. |
| November 29, 1942: |
United States - Lieutenant Colonel Boyd "Buzz" Wagner, the first American fighter ace in the Pacific War to fight in the Philippines and over New Guinea, dies in the wreckage of a P-40K fighter during a training flight in Florida. |
| April 4, 1943: |
Philippines - A group of ten Americans and two Filipino convicts led by US Air Force Lieutenant William E. Dyesse manage to escape from the Japanese Davao prison camp on Mindanao. After hiding in the jungle, they join the Philippine guerrillas. This is the only successful mass escape of Allied prisoners from Japanese captivity during the entire war in the Pacific. Dyess will later be picked up by the submarine USS Trout (SS-202) and, as a survivor of the Bataan death march, will give the first evidence of this terrible event in the United States. |
| June 3, 1943: |
United States - Just a year away from events, in New York is released the new film Bataan featuring the struggle of the same name peninsula in the Philippines in 1942. |
| September 9, 1943: |
United States - the movie So Proudly We Hail! is released. Based on the true story of the "Angels of Bataan," American military nurses serving in the Philippines in defense of Bataan, and at the Malinta Tunnel underground hospital in Corregidor. One of the themes of the film is the authentic book of Junanity Hipps I Served on Bataan, which became a bestseller in the United States in 1943. Juanita Hipps was evacuated just before the fall of the Philippines, but most of the sisters are in Japanese captivity at the time of the film´s about them release and serve as medical personnel for the POW camps. |
| October 14, 1943: |
Philippines - José P. Laurel, formerly a justice of the Philippines Supreme Court, takes the oath of office as President of the nominally-independent Second Philippine Republic, puppet state under the sponsorship of Japan. The Republic´s first act is to sign an alliance with Japan. |
| October 14, 1943: |
In the United States - a new Baltimore-class heavy cruiser USS Canberra (CA-70) is commisioned. Originally to be named USS Pittsburgh, the ship was renamed before launch to honor the loss of the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra during the Battle of Savo Island. USS Canberra is the first USN warship named after a foreign capital city. The Australian Government will return this tribute by naming a new Tribal-class destroyer, HMAS Bataan, in honor of the US stand during the Battle of Bataan. |
| December 22, 1943: |
United States - Lt. Col. William E. Dyess dies after a plane crash in Los Angeles on a training flight with a P-38 fighter. After his death, the Chicago Tribune receives government permission to publish his story of his capture in the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, and as he escaped from Japanese captivity during a mass escape from Davao Camp in Mindanao. For the safety of Americans still lingering in Japanese captivity, his statement had beeb kept secret, but now 100 US newspapers describe his experiences as "the greatest story of the war since the attack on Pearl Harbor." |
| February 10, 1944: |
Japan - premieres a full-length Japanese-Filipino war propaganda film Shoot that flag: end of Corregidor (Ano hata o ute korehidōru no saigo) about the events of the Japanese conquest of the Philippines 1941-42. The Japanese are depicted here as liberating Filipinos from American colonialists, and in the Philippines the film is shown under the title Dawn of Freedom (Liwayway ng Kalayaan). American and Filipino prisoners of war were used in the making of the picture. Despite some problems, after the war both directors, Japan´s Yutaka Abe and the Philippines´ Gerardo de León, would have rich professional careers. |
| February 26, 1945: |
In the Philippines - The fighting on Corregidor comes to an end. The US forces find more than 5000 Japanese dead on the tiny island and others have been trapped in collapsed tunnels. There are 19 prisoners. American casualties are estimated at 1000. |
| February 28, 1945: |
In the Philippines - There are America landings at Puerto Princesa on Palawan by 8000 men of 41st Infantry Division. Admiral Fechteler leads a bombardment group of cruisers and destroyers and there is also support from land-based aircraft. There is little Japanese resistance to the landings. |
| March 1, 1945: |
In the Philippines - Japanese resistance in Manila is confined to a few blocks in the administrative area of the city. Nearer the landing area at Lingayen Gulf there are renewed efforts by US I Corps in the direction of Baguio and north along the coast. |
| April 16, 1945: |
In the Philippines - American forces land on Fort Frank (Carabao Island) and find it abandoned. This completes the capture of the islands in Manila Bay. |
| July 25, 1945: |
The United States - the war film Back to Bataan, describing fighting on the Philippine island of Luzon in 1942 and subsequent liberation of prisoners from Cabanatuan camp in 1945, is released. The main roles are acted by stars John Wayene and Anthony Quinn. |
| August 20, 1945: |
In China - Communist and Nationalist troops clash in the north. In Manchuria, the Red Army occupies Mukden and Harbin. An American volunteer team rescues a number of high-ranking Allied prisoners of war by parachuting into Mukden, in Manchuria, shortly before the arrival of Soviet troops. Among the POWs are Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, who led the American last stand on Corregidor in the Philippines in 1942, Lt. Gen. Arthur Percival, commander of the Singapore garrison at its surrender in 1942, and the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, Mr. van Starkenborch Stachouwer Starkenborgh Stachouwer. |
| September 2, 1945: |
In Tokyo - The Japanese surrender is signed aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay. Foreign Minister Shigemitsu leads the Japanese delegation. MacArthur accepts the surrender on behalf of all the Allies. Admiral Nimitz signs for the United States and Admiral Fraser for Britain. There are representatives of all the other Allied nations. Also present are Generals Percival and Wainwright who have been Japanese prisoner since they surrendered at Singapore and Corregidor, respectively and who then flew to the Philippines to accept the surrender of General Jamashita giving up on the same day with 50,000 remaining men. |
| December 19, 1945: |
The United States - John Ford´s hugely narrative war film, They Were Expendable, premieres in theaters to portray the battles of American PT boat crews in the futile defense of the Philippines in 1941-42. The movie will receive Academy Awards nominations for Best Sound and Best Special Effects. |
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