World War II in Leyte

Bataan and Corregidor

PRESSED to the wall, preparations for the USAFFE's last stand in Bataan and Corregidor had to be hurried up. These had to be completed in two weeks' time, a task made all the more difficult by Japanese planes which controlled the skies. One could imagine the confusion that followed in ferrying about 26,000 civilian refugees and some 80,000 fighting men to Bataan in so short a time.

Of the two sites, Corregidor, which served as the headquarters of MacArthur and Quezon, had the upperhand in supplies. It had enough for 10,000 and could last for six months. Not satisfied with these, MacArthur ordered more supplies to be transferred from Bataan enough to feed 20,000 men. The population here at that time was only 12,000.

Now Bataan had something else going for the American and Filipino soldiers. While the former had a meal allowance of P 2.00 per day,

Filipinos were given only P 0.40 worth of food each. American privates were receiving P 100 a month each, while Filipinos only P 18.00.

In the fighting that followed, death's toll exacted the heaviest on the Filipino soldiers. Of 50,000 Filipinos interned here, 26,000 -- more than one-half-- died. But of the 9,000 Americans, only 1,500 -- or one-sixth -- had to make the ultimate sacrifice. Historians also say the USAFFE troops were plagued more by hunger and disease rather than by the Japanese bullets.

Hungry, disease-prone, confused and demoralized, the Filipino-American forces had no recourse but to surrender to a numerically inferior force. At that time, the Japanese Imperial Army troops numbered about 54,000, while the USAFFE forces more than 70,000. While in Corregidor, the Japanese were only about 2,000 strong, as against the 10,000 USAFFE which had to be herded into the Death March that began on April 9, 1942.