Japanese Occupation of the Philippines

Contributed by Tom Wang

          Hours after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur declared Manila an open city on the advice of commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon to avoid its destruction. Despite his move, Manila, the largest city in the Philippines and current capital of the country, was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942. MacArthur retreated with his troops to the Bataan province while the commonwealth The joint American and Filipino soldiers in Bataan finally surrendered on April 9, 1942. The 76,000 captured soldiers were forced to embark on the infamous "Bataan Death March" to a prison camp more than 100 kilometers north. An estimated 10,000 prisoners died due to thirst, hunger and exhaustion. After 3 years of Japanese occupation, refugee soldiers that had previously escaped charged back into the Philippines to take back their home country. Aided by the U.S. military, General MacArthur led a highly effective guerilla campaign by Philippine resistance forces fought to conquest over 60% of land in the Philippines and forced the Japanese to back down. 

Interview:

Below is an interview of my Nana, Ceferina Badiola.

For more information on the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, see:

Daniels, Robert C. "Military History Online - MacArthur's Failures in the Philippines." MacArthur's Failures in the Philippines. Military History Online, May-June 2007. Web.

Japanese Invasion of the Philippines 1941. Perf. Fred Baldassare, Alfredo Villanueva. N.d. DVD. YouTube. YouTube, 31 Dec. 2008. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssSDELFWdYc>. 

"Japanese Occupation of the Philippines." Japanese Occupation of the Philippines. Philippine-history.org, 2005. Web. <http://www.philippine-history.org/japanese-occupation.htm>.  
PBS. "The Guerilla War." American Experience. PBS, n.d. Web. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/sfeature/bataan_guerrilla.html>.  
San Jose, Enrique. "Philippines Japanese Occupation." Philippines Japanese Occupation. PhilippineJapanese.com, 2001. Web. <http://www.philippinesjapanese.com/Timeline.html>.