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Fall of the Philippines & Bataan, 1942 — historical photograph 14.6°N 120.5°E Pacific
1942 · 14.6°N 120.5°E

Fall of the Philippines & Bataan

Luzon, Philippines · campaign · Pacific

Briefing

Japan's conquest of the Philippines ended in April 1942 with the surrender of some 76,000 starving American and Filipino troops on Bataan — the largest capitulation in American history. The Death March that followed killed thousands on the road to the camps, and the prisoners' three-year ordeal became the war's defining atrocity story for the American public.

Books Covering This Event (3)

Popular History

We Band of Angels cover
We Band of Angels Elizabeth Norman · 1999

The American nurses trapped on Bataan and Corregidor — the first large group of US women in combat, then three years as POWs.

Accessible
Ghost Soldiers cover
Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides · 2001

The true story of the raid to rescue the survivors of the Bataan Death March from a Japanese POW camp in the.

Accessible
Tears in the Darkness cover
Tears in the Darkness Michael & Elizabeth Norman · 2009

The Bataan Death March and its aftermath, told through one American POW — and, unusually, his Japanese captors.

Intermediate

Timeline Position

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