The Japanese, overwhelmed with...

history · 10 April 1942 · 82 years ago

The Japanese, overwhelmed with 76,000 captives at Bataan on the main Philippine island of Luzon, decided to march the prisoners 25 miles to Balanga for further transport. Without food, water, or medical supplies and facing brutal treatment by the Japanese, the prisoners of war would die in large numbers, and this march would soon be named the Bataan Death March. Just off Luzon, minesweeper USS Finch, damaged by Japanese air attacks on the previous day, was scuttled by her crew. Elsewhere in the Philippine Islands, 12,000 Japanese troops landed on Cebu on three invasion beaches; the 6,500 defenders at Cebu City evacuated the capital and moved inland; Australia-based B-17 bombers attacked the invasion force to little effect. 

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