Bataan Peninsula

The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the China Sea">South China Sea. The province of Bataan occupies the whole of the peninsula.

World War II

Prior to the 1941 Japanese invasion, the US Army stored nearly 1,000,000 gallons of gasoline here. On January 7, 1942 the Siege of the Bataan Peninsula began as the Americans tried expell the Japanese. Then on April 3 Japanese forces began an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began. Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma was executed outside Manila on April 3, 1946 for leading the Bataan Death March.

At the southern tip of this peninsula was Mariveles Naval Base.

See also:

• Geography of the Philippines
• Military History of the Philippines
• Military History of the United States