Two things worked for Bataan.  First, jungles ringed it and second, water mostly encircled it.  If Bataan can withstand bombardment from the Japanese and held defensively, there is a good chance that Bataan can be held indefinitely.

    Thus, Manila was declared an open city.  This was in conjunction   with the Philippine President Manuel Quezon’s desire not to defend Manila and the Japanese had it for the taking.  Retreat was essentially made for Bataan.  Thus, the American and Filipino forces were ahead of the Japanese in Bataan.

     How about the civilians?

     They will not wait for the skirmishes.  If they were in Abucay, which had a defense line from the fishponds to the jungles, the idea was to get ahead of the Japanese and try to make it to southern Bataan.  At that time Cabcaben was controlled by the Americans and it was the target of the civilians to make it to Cabcaben.  But the national road was to be avoided.

      So the jungle were the only choice of passageway.  People would hide their belongings by burying them and got them back on their return.  This was the story of cooking utensils.  On the other hand, when the Japanese turn to waste what they could destroy, Filipinos had practically nothing on their return.  In Mabatang, the Japanese retained only two houses in the residential areas.      

     The trek to southern Bataan was attended by at a few danger, not the least of which focused on the libido of the Japanese.  Rape was fairly common so it became common for women to dress like men.  If the tactic worked, women bought the system.  But Filipino women did not easily buy the solution.  More often than not, a usual recourse was to rub the skin with innards of fish.  The way made women smell like the innards of fish.  The way made women like the innards of fish and the libido of the Japanese disappeared almost automatically.            

     After several fights between the Japanese and the Filipinos and Americans came the final fight in Mt. Samat.  Conditions favored the Japanese, as lack of food, medicine and other disadvantages put the Filipinos and Americans behind their backs.  The latter wert divided into two parts: the eastern side and the western side, led by Admiral King and General Wainwright.  Both suffered from their men’s disadvantages although Wainwright’s men fought little.

    The Japanese estimated the Filipinos and Americans to be about 35,000 and were astounded to find them to be at least 70,000.  With the number, the number of trucks to be used were too few.  The solution was to require the captives to walk to Capas, Tarlac.  The civilians who returned to northern Bataan were two queues opposite the captives.

 

By: Teresa Canare | Bataan National Highschool | Balanga, Bataam