Back to Bataan

Anyone seen this? It is on TV at the weekend....8.30am BBC2

http://www.radiotimes.com/film/v5pz/back-to-bataan

DURATION: 1 HOUR, 27 MINUTES
"WWII drama about the struggles of the Philippine army and resistance movement following the Japanese capture of the Bataan Peninsula. When a US army colonel is ordered to organise guerrilla fighters in the Philippines, he leaves in charge his second-in-command, the descendant of a Philippine patriot, who he later encounters marching barefoot as a prisoner of the victorious Japanese. The fight to repel the invasion begins. "

"Back to Bataan (1945) is a World War II war film produced by Robert Fellows, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. It was produced by RKO Radio Pictures. It depicts events (some fictionalized and some actual) that took place after the Battle of Bataan (1941–42) on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The working title of the film was The Invisible Army."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_Bataan

8.30 am is a bit early....

The film in which John Wayne mispronounces Bataan throughout! And that even though the Philippines was American sovereign territory at the time.

Don't they always! G'dam. Spit....ding.

Yup -Bataaaaaan instead of Bata-an. Still, the yanks owned the Philippines at the time so I suppose they could call it what they wanted

"The Bataaaaaaaaaan Death March was the forced march of American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Japanese during World War II. The 63-mile march began with 72,000* prisoners from the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines on April 9, 1942. The horrible conditions and harsh treatment of the prisoners during the Bataan Death March resulted in an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 deaths.
Surrender in Bataan

Only hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese also struck airbases in the American-held Philippines (around noon on December 8, local time). Caught by surprise, a majority of the military aircraft on the archipelago were destroyed during the Japanese air attack.
Unlike in Hawaii, the Japanese followed their surprise air strike of the Philippines with a ground invasion. As the Japanese ground troops headed toward the capital, Manila, American and Filipino troops retreated on December 22, 1941 to the Bataan Peninsula, located on the western side of the large island of Luzon in the Philippines.

Quickly cut off from food and other supplies by a Japanese blockade, the American and Filipino soldiers slowly used up their supplies. First they went on half rations, then third rations, then fourth rations. By April 1942, they had been holding out in the jungles of Bataan for three months and were clearly starving and suffering from diseases.

There was nothing left to do but surrender. On April 9, 1942, U.S. General Edward P. King signed the surrender document, ending the Battle of Bataan. The remaining 72,000 American and Filipino soldiers were taken by the Japanese as prisoners of war (POW). Nearly immediately, the Bataan Death March began."

So no happy ending?

http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/qt/Bataan-Death-March.htm

Yes, looks interesting. Significant in its role in the 2nd world war.

I have just been googling it. And found this. "Corregidor and Caballo islands are remnants of a volcanic crater, the Corregidor Caldera, which was last active about one million years ago. However, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) still classifies Corregidor as a potentially active volcano" , couertesy of Wikipedia.

Evidently part of Cavite....

About 10,000 of the POWs were American soldiers who had no combat experience and little training. The Philippine Commonwealth Army was badly led, poorly equipped and poorly trained. The only combat experienced units were those of the Philippine scouts, which were US Cavalry, which makes the courage on Bataan even more remarkable.

For trivia's sake, the last US cavalry charge was carried out at Morong by a Philippine Scout Unit led by American officers. It was successful.

Well, I was in Orani, Bataan, last night. Orani has a Death March marker stone. I was dropping off a parcel for my ex-mother-in-law from my ex-wife and checking up on my niece Hazel Reyes whose college fees are paid by someone quite close to the writer.

Seriously I do recommend a visit to Corregidor. It is good for the British soul to see how our American cousins fought like tigers for Bataan and Corregidor supported by their Filipino troops whilst we British made a complete pig's ear of the defence of Singapore,not much helped by some quasi-mutinous Indian troops.

Singapore was taken by the Japanese with fewer troops than were defending it.

In both places the big guns were built to be traced to seaward but on Corregidor the Yanks reversed their WW1 9.2" howitzers and fired them until at least one barrel blew up.

http://www.allworldwars.com/image/023/Waragainstjapan047_2.jpg

Corregidor is a very moving place.

The defenders of Corregidor were certainly courageous they were not, however, on the death march.

There are roadside markers through Bataan to the railway station at San Fernando, showing the silhouette of a death marcher. Many of them have been placed near schools and the pupils keep them clean.

Come election time they get defaced with "vote me" posters, which is pretty disgraceful. But that Pinoy politicians for you.

I've emailed the BBC pronunciation unit

****e. I just missed the first hour as I thought it was on tomorrow morning. Just caught the last 30 minutes.