The Southern Operation


American Surrender at Bataan
The American Surrender at Bataan


Within a few hours after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese bombers struck American and British bases all over the Pacific.They struck Wake, Midway, Guam, Manila, and Singapore.Between December 10th and 22nd, more than 56,000 troops under the command of Lt. General Masaharu Homma landed on Luzon in the Philippines.Hong Kong, which was partily defended by Canadian, fell.The Japanese also captured Guam and Wake.At Singapore, the British expected the Japanese to attack by sea, but the Japanese, knowing that they would encounter heavy resistance by doing a sea-borne invasion, attacked from the rear, through the thick jungles of the Malay Peninsula.On Febuary 16th, 1942, they force the British to surrender.Also during this time period, the Japanese took the islands of New Britian and New Ireland and the Admirality Islands in the Solomans.When the Japanese crushed the Allied fleet in the Battle of the Java Sea, they had an open route for the entire Southwest Pacific.

The Philippines fell to the Japanese in early 1942, but not after the Americans gave a good fight for it.As the Japanese invaded, General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S. forces in East Asia, declared Manila an open city.He then withdrew his troops tp the Bataan Peninsula.The Japanese enter Manila on January 2nd.Anerican and Filipino troops fought valiantly and resisted most Japanese assualts.On March 11th, MacAuthur was ordered to leave Bataan to oversee the operations in Austrailia.When he left for Port Darwin, he vowed that "he shall return".He then put his forces under the command of Lt. General Jonathon Wainwright.Shortages of food and medical supplies forced the Americans and Filipinos to surrender.But, like a thorn in Japan's side, the small, rocky island of Corregidor held out until the sixth of May, when the troops there surrendered.After the Philippines had fallen, the Japanese treated their prisoners terroribly.They forced over 60,000 American and Filipino troops to march 70 miles to Japanese prison camps in which is now known as the "Bataan Death March".About 10,000 of the prisoners died on the march due to starvation and maltreatment.After the Philippines fell, the entire Southwest Pacific was in Japanese hands.

Some Afterthoughts
The Southern Operation was a complete success for the Japanese.They conquered their objectives quickly and almost painlessly.This kind of victory would follow other Japanese assualts in the Pacific until late 1942, when the Americans put a stop to it at Guadalcanal.


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