archived as http://www.stealthskater.com/Documents/Bataan_01.pdf more related articles at http://www.stealthskater.com/Science.htm#NOVA note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was archived from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/ on 11/07/2000. This is NOT an attempt to divert readers from the aforementioned website. Indeed, the reader should only read this back-up copy if the updated original cannot be found at the original author's site. WWII Bataan Rescue Summary In late 1941, tens of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers fought a desperate battle to defend the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines from the Japanese. When they lost, they were marched to prison camps in sweltering heat through a mosquito-infested jungle with little-or-no food or water. Many thousands died along the way. 3 years later with the war in the Pacific coming to an end, only 500 men in the Cabanatuan camp had survived the brutality of their captors and epidemics of tropical diseases. Fearing the Japanese would murder their captives before the U.S. Army could liberate the camp, the Americans sent an elite Ranger battalion to rescue the prisoners. The rangers sneaked 30 miles behind enemy 1 lines and -- with the help of courageous Filipino resistance fighters -- mounted an astonishing rescue that was fraught with danger yet ultimately triumphant. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Bataan peninsula -- which forms the western side of Manila Bay -- became the site of the outnumbered American and Filipino forces' retreat after Japanese attack in December 1941. Military headquarters were removed to the island of Corregidor. General Douglas MacArthur believed the lushly-vegetated Bataan peninsula (80% of which is mountainous terrain) could provide adequate defensive cover for his troops while they waited for relief to come. 2 4 months into their resistance, increasingly desperate U.S. and Filipino forces were nearly out of food, medicine, ammunition, and other supplies. MacArthur had been evacuated from the Philippines. Disease and hunger were rampant. Reinforcements had not arrived. Under these conditions, surrender was inevitable. What could not be predicted, however, was the cruelty of the triumphant Japanese troops. The weak and sick captives -- an estimated 72,000 people -- were force-marched north into prison camps where some languished for nearly 3 years. The stronger POWs were packed into the suffocating holds of cargo ships and sent to work as slave labor in Japanese industries. By the end of the War, a shocking 37% of all POWs in the Pacific theater would be dead. Today, the Bataan peninsula is the site of oil refineries, a shipyard, and many monuments to the suffering that took place there in the 1940s. A national landmark atop 4,500-foot Mount Samat in the southern part of Bataan honors the men and women who suffered and died there during the War. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Timeline: World War II in the Philippines 1941 December 7: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. 10 hours later across the date line (December 8), they attack Clark Field in the Philippine Islands. In the days that follow, Japanese ground forces under the command of Lt. 3 General Masaharu Homma begin landing in the Philippines. December 23: General Douglas MacArthur orders the evacuation of Manila, the removal of headquarters to the island of Corregidor, and the withdrawal of troops to Bataan. December 25: General MacArthur declares Manila an open city. December 27-28: The Japanese continue to bomb Manila. 1942 January 2: The Japanese begin to occupy Manila. February 8-9: Philippine president Manuel Quezon proposes that America grant independence to the Philippines and that the Philippines surrender, assuming neutral country status. President Franklin Roosevelt rejects this proposal. March: Under orders from President Roosevelt, MacArthur leaves the Philippines for Australia. President Quezon has already left. April 3: Japan launches its final offensive on Bataan. April 9: General Edward King surrenders Bataan. April 10: The 65-mile death march from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga begins. Hundreds of Americans and thousands of Filipinos die from starvation, thirst, disease, and random execution throughout the 6-to-9 day trek. Prisoners are interned at Camp O'Donnell. In the first 2 months, 1,500 U.S. POWs and 15,000 Filipino POWs perish from starvation, disease, and abuse. May 6: American general Jonathan Wainwright surrenders Corregidor to the Japanese. June: Filipino POWs are paroled from Camp O'Donnell. Many join guerrilla forces to fight the Japanese. American POWs are transferred from Camp O'Donnell to Cabanatuan -- the largest POW camp in the Philippines and the largest U.S. POW camp on foreign ground. An estimated 9,000 American soldiers will pass through Cabanatuan. In the month of June 1942 alone, 503 POWs die in Cabanatuan. July: 786 POWs die in Cabanatuan. October 1: The first "Hell Ship" leaves the Philippines. The Japanese use unmarked tankers through the duration of the War to transport POWs to slave labor camps in Asia. Conditions are inhuman. Thousands of men die. 4 October: Club Tsubaki opens. Club owner Claire Phillips -- a suburban housewife from Portland, Oregon -- goes undercover and is able to discover information on Japanese activities which she supplies to local guerrillas. December 15: The first day without death in Cabanatuan. 1943 May 23: Spy Claire Phillips is captured. September 4: A Japanese-sponsored Philippine Constitution is signed. December: The training of Alamo Scouts begins on Fergussen Island, New Guinea. 1944 April: Army Ranger training begins in New Guinea under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci. August: The War Ministry in Tokyo issues the "Kill-All" policy -- a policy to annihilate all remaining POWs. October 19: A Japanese Air Force Vice-Admiral orders the formation of Kamikaze squads to commit suicide attacks on the enemy. October 20: MacArthur returns to the Philippines, wading to shore on the island of Leyte. December 14: Atrocity at Palawan. Nearly 150 Americans are executed by their Japanese captors in a POW camp in Palawan, the Philippines. 1945 January 7: P.F.C. Eugene Nielsen -- a Palawan survivor -- tells his story to U.S. Army Intelligence. January 9: MacArthur invades Luzon, the Philippines. January 26: General Walter Krueger is alerted to the situation at Cabanatuan. The Alamo Scouts are briefed. January 27: General Krueger assigns Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci and his 6th Army Rangers to raid Cabanatuan and liberate the POWs. The Alamo Scouts slip behind enemy lines to begin reconnaissance. January 28: The Rangers slip behind enemy lines. The Alamo Scouts arrive at Platero -- 2 miles north of the camp. January 29: The Rangers meet with USAFFE guerrilla captain Juan Pajota at Balincarin -- 5 miles north of camp. After receiving reports of heavy Japanese activity in the area, Mucci postpones the raid for 24 hours. The Rangers move to Platero. January 30: 5 11:30am: Alamo Scouts Lieutenant Bill Nellist and Private Rufo Vaquilar dress like locals and gain access to an abandoned shack above the camp. They prepare a detailed report on camp activities. 2:30pm: Mucci receives the Nellist report. 3:00pm: Captain Robert Prince finalizes his plan for the rescue and submits it to Mucci. 5:00pm: The Rangers depart Platero. 6:00pm: The P-61 night fighter takes off. 6:50pm: The P-61 buzzes the prison camp to distract the guards. Rangers gain positions. 7:00pm: 'C' Company Rangers are in place. 7:40pm: 'F' Company Rangers crawl into place. A nerve-wracking 10 minutes later than planned, a fire-fight starts. Evacuation begins. 7:45pm: Juan Pajota and his guerrilla unit hold off suicidal Japanese forces, securing the Rangers' positions. 8:15pm: Robert Prince fires his flare. The assault is over. 8:40pm: The POWs reach the river. The long trek to freedom begins. The Alamo Scouts stay behind, ensuring against any retaliatory movements. January 31: 8:00am: Mucci sends word of the Rangers' success. Shortly thereafter, the POWs cross American lines. They are free. 1945 February: The U.S. Army returns to Cabanatuan, recovering diaries, photographs and camp records. MacArthur visits the POWs. February 3: U.S. forces enter Manila. For a month, the Japanese fight back. Manila is destroyed. 100,000 civilians perish -- roughly 14 percent of the city's population.. February 10: Claire Phillips -- the night club owner and spy -- is liberated from prison. March 3: General Krueger presents awards to the Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrillas. March 8: 272 survivors of Cabanatuan arrive in San Francisco aboard the S.S. General Anderson. May 8: President Harry Truman announces the end of the War in Europe via radio (V-E Day). August 6: Truman announces the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan by a U.S. Army Air Force B-29 bomber named the "Enola Gay". 6 August 14: Truman announces the end of war with Japan at a press conference (V-J Day). September 2: Japanese general Tomoyuki Yamashita surrenders the Philippines -- the same day as Japan's formal surrender. 1946 February 11: Japanese generals Masaharu Homma and Tomoyuki Yamishita are found guilty of crimes of war in Manila tribunals. April 3: Homma is executed. 1998 Ranger commander Henry Mucci is inducted into the Ranger Hall-of-Fame. 1999 Raid leader Robert W. Prince is inducted into the Ranger Hall-of-Fame. 2000 A monument honoring all participants of the raid on Cabanatuan is erected at the Ranger Hall-of- Fame, Fort Benning, Georgia. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Details [Narrator]: In December 1944, American POWs -- some survivors of the "Bataan Death March" -- were in their 3rd year of captivity at a Japanese Prison Camp in the Philippines. As they huddled around a clandestine radio set, they heard shocking news.