Chronology
Defense of the Philippines Campaign, December 1941 – May 1942
December 7-8, 1941: Japanese naval air forces conduct a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor and Air Bases across the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Within 24 hours, the Japanese launched air attacks on the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
December 8-24: From bases on Formosa (Taiwan), the Japanese Air Force conducts bombing and strafing missions on American army, air, and naval bases throughout the Philippines, destroying numerous aircraft and gaining immediate air supremacy.
On 8 December, the New Mexico National Guard’s 200th Coast Artillery Regiment, stationed at Fort Stotsenberg, provides Anti-Aircraft (AA) protection for nearby Clark Airfield, the largest in the Philippines, and is the first unit to fire on incoming Japanese aircraft.
December 12-24: The Japanese Army conducts amphibious landings on the Philippine main island of Luzon at Aparri, Vigan, Legaspi, the Lingayen Gulf, and Lamon Bay. Divided into Southern and Northern Luzon Corps, combined American-Philippine forces deploy to oppose the Japanese Army maneuvering towards their objective of Manila.
After the initial air attacks, the 515th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA) forms, consisting of 520 men drawn from the 200th Coast Artillery, to man anti-aircraft positions around Manila using weapons previously stored there.
December 24, 1941: General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), declares Manila an open city, effective 26 December, hoping to spare the Philippine capital from widespread destruction. MacArthur and Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon move to Corregidor Island, the main of four fortified islands at the entrance to Manila Bay, three miles offshore of the Bataan Peninsula’s southern tip.
December – January 6, 1942: Often in contact with Japanese forces, the Southern Luzon and Northern Luzon Corps conduct a series of retrograde actions after General MacArthur orders reversion to War Plan Orange, the defense of the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor.
After departing Manila on Christmas, the 515th Coast Artillery provides anti-aircraft defense of the withdrawal routes onto the Bataan Peninsula, as all American-Philippine forces move there.
January 7: The Battle of Bataan begins as Japanese forces attack the U.S. and Philippine troops, who had retreated to the peninsula. The Philippine I Corps defends the Mauban line on the western side of the Peninsula, while the Philippine II Corps holds the Abucay line in the east, bordering Manila Bay. Despite severe shortages of food, ammunition, and medicine, Allied forces held off the Japanese for seven weeks in intense fighting along several defensive lines across the peninsula.
The 515th Coast Artillery provides anti-aircraft defense for Cabcaben Airfield on the far southeast coast of the Bataan Peninsula, adjacent to Manila Bay.
22 January – 13 February: The Battle of the Points occurs along the southwest coast of the Bataan Peninsula. U.S. and Filipino forces block three Japanese attempts to outflank their lines. Over three weeks, Allied troops, including many ground-based airmen, naval personnel, and Philippine Scouts, defend coastal points, surrounding and eliminating Japanese forces in intense fighting.
23 January – 17 February: The Battle of the Pockets occurs as US and Filipino forces eliminate approximately 1000 Japanese troops who had infiltrated behind the I Corps main defensive line on the Bataan Peninsula’s western side. Intense, small-unit jungle fighting lasts 3 weeks behind I Corps lines as US and Filipino infantry supported by tanks and Igorot scouts defeat entrenched Japanese forces in intense small-unit jungle engagements, delaying the Japanese advance on the peninsula.
March 12: On orders from President Roosevelt, General Douglas MacArthur departs for Australia from Corregidor, leaving the troops in Bataan. LTG Jonathan Wainwright assumes command and repositions from Bataan to Corregidor. MG Edward King assumes command of combined American and Philippine ground forces on the Bataan Peninsula.
April 3-8: After a 40-day lull in major ground combat, the Japanese Army, reinforced with 22,000 fresh soldiers, resumes the attack with ferocious frontal assaults aided by air incendiary bombing and overwhelming artillery fires. On 5 April, Japanese forces capture the key terrain of Mt. Samat. The near-starvation American and Filipino units fall back along the entire defensive line toward the southern end of the peninsula.
The 200th and 515th Coast Artillery are ordered to destroy their AA weapons and organize as an infantry unit, called the Philippine Provisional Coast Artillery Brigade. On 8 April, they form the last line of resistance against the advancing Japanese Army on the high ground south of Cabcaben Airfield.
April 9: Widespread malnutrition and sickness, coupled with constant attacks, disrupt the entire American-Philippine defense line. Threatened with a massive slaughter of his weakened forces, MG King surrenders the roughly 75,000 troops (64,000 Filipinos, 11,000 Americans) remaining on the Bataan Peninsula.
April 10–April 19: The Bataan Death March, a 63-mile forced march of American and Filipino prisoners from Bagac and Mariveles, Bataan, to San Fernando, Pampanga. In extreme heat, the typical five-day march is marked by brutality and high mortality, as approximately 600 Americans and 10,000 Filipino soldiers die or are killed enroute. The Japanese then forced the prisoners onto overpacked train cars to Capas, Tarlac, where more died. Finally, the prisoners are marched eight miles to Camp O'Donnell. Thousands more die there due to overcrowding, mistreatment, and lack of food, water, and medical care.
May 6: After a month of heavy air and artillery bombardment, Japanese forces land on Corregidor. After ten hours of savage combat, the Battle of Corregidor concluded with LTG Wainwright surrendering the final 12,000 U.S. and Philippine servicemembers on Luzon.
May-August, 1942: Surrender of the remaining U.S. Army units on other Philippine islands occurs over the next several months. American military prisoners and detained Western civilians are placed in prison camps across the Philippines. In August 1942, the Japanese freed most Filipino prisoners as they did not have the resources to keep them in captivity.
Late 1942 to 1945: The Japanese moved many healthier prisoners to labor camps in Japan and other occupied territories aboard overcrowded, disease-ridden cargo vessels, termed Hell Ships. The holds on these ships were floating dungeons, where prisoners were denied air, space, light, bathroom facilities, and adequate food and water—especially water. Thirst and heat claimed many lives in the end, as did summary executions and beatings. In 1944 and 1945, most deaths result from attacks by U.S. and Allied naval ships, submarines, and aircraft, who had no idea the Hell Ships housed American and Allied prisoners.
Submitted by John DellaGiustina