JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF THE PHILIPPINES

1942 – 1945

During World War II, Imperial Japan occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945. The invasion of the Philippines began on December 8th, 1941, merely ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Philippine resistance forces conducted a guerrilla campaign that induced the Imperial Japanese Army to perform a suicidal defense on the islands. U.S.-Philippine forces surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942. The 76,000 sick and starving American and Filipino defenders were forced to endure the infamous, 66-mile-long Bataan Death March. Those who fell behind, dropped from fatigue and starvation, broke rank to fetch water or escape were shot, bayoneted, or beheaded. Those who failed to continue the march the next morning were often beaten to death or buried alive by fellow prisoners at gunpoint.

During the period of Japanese occupation, an estimated one million civilians faced suffering, death, and economic and physical ruin of their cities such as Manila.