Bataan Death March in the context of "Bataan Peninsula"

The Philippines campaign, also known as the Battle of the Philippines (Filipino: Labanan sa Pilipinas) or the Fall of the Philippines, was the invasion of the Philippines by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific Theater of World War II. The operation to capture the islands, which was defended by the U.S. and Philippine Armies, was intended to prevent interference with Japan's expansion in Southeast Asia.

On 8 December 1941, several hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes began bombing U.S. forces in the Philippines, including aircraft at Clark Field near the capital of Manila on the island of Luzon. Japanese landings on northern Luzon began two days later, and were followed on 22 December by major landings at Lingayen Gulf and Lamon Bay by the Japanese Fourteenth Army under Masaharu Homma. The defense of the Philippines was led by Douglas MacArthur, who ordered his soldiers to evacuate Manila to the Bataan Peninsula ahead of the Japanese advance. Japanese troops captured Manila by 7 January 1942, and after their failure to penetrate the Bataan defensive perimeter in early February, began a 40-day siege, enabled by a naval blockade of the islands. The U.S. and Philippine troops on Bataan eventually surrendered on 9 April and were then subjected to the Bataan Death March, which was marked by Japanese atrocities and mistreatment.

Bataan (/bɑːtɑːˈʔɑːn/, /bɑːˈtɑːn/, IPA: [bɐtɐˈʔan]), officially the Province of Bataan, is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula on Luzon, Bataan is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north. The peninsula faces the South China Sea to the west and Subic Bay to the north-west, and encloses Manila Bay to the east.

The Battle of Bataan is known in history as one of the last stands of American and Filipino soldiers before they were overwhelmed by the Japanese forces in World War II. The Bataan Death March was named after the province, where the infamous march started.

The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino: Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas; Japanese: 日本のフィリピン占領, romanized: Nihon no Firipin Senryō) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Japanese Empire occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II.

The invasion of the Philippines started on 8 December 1941, ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As at Pearl Harbor, American aircraft were severely damaged in the initial Japanese attack. Lacking air cover, the American Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines withdrew to Java on 12 December 1941. General Douglas MacArthur was ordered out, leaving his men at Corregidor on the night of 11 March 1942 for Australia, 4,000 km away. The 76,000 starving and sick American and Filipino defenders in Bataan surrendered on 9 April 1942, and were forced to endure the infamous Bataan Death March on which 7,000–10,000 died or were murdered. The 13,000 survivors on Corregidor surrendered on 6 May.

Masaharu Homma (本間 雅晴, Honma Masaharu; November 27, 1887 – April 3, 1946) was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Homma commanded the Japanese 14th Army, which invaded the Philippines and perpetrated the Bataan Death March. After the war, Homma was convicted of war crimes relating to the actions of troops under his direct command and executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.