In history, the Holocaust is considered the epitome of cruelty. Yet this even often overshadows the examples of cruelty in our own American history. The Bataan Death March is one of these overshadowed events. The Bataan Death March began on April 15, 1942 after American forces surrendered at the Battle of Bataan on April 9, 1942 in the Philippines. Seventy-eight thousand American and Filipino soldiers were forced to evacuate Bataan to Camp O’Donnell, “a prison camp in central Luzon.” Of these 78,000 soldiers, 500 Americans and 10,000 Filipinos died on the march to the prison camp. (Falk 3) These soldiers were subjected to the unusual cruelty of the Japanese, whose military leaders were mostly to blame for the events of the Bataan Death March, though Americans also contributed to the horror that occurred. American military leaders were at fault for the proceedings of the Bataan Death March because of their actions leading up to the march, while the Japanese contributed to the horrors during and after the event.
American military choices before the Bataan Death March led to the abandonment of troops, enabling the Japanese to conquer and subdue American and Filipino soldiers easily. For example, during World War II, the United States was fighting a two front war, one against Germany and Italy and one against Japan. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and War Secretary Henry Stimson soon came to support a Europe-first policy, leaving the situation in Bataan as a lost cause by December of 1941. Hampton Sides, the best selling author of the book Ghost Soldiers, whose articles are also published in periodicals such as National Geographic, the New Yorker, and the Washington Post, recorded that Henry Stimson even proclaimed that the governme...
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...readful Step.’” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History 17.4 (2005): Web. 9 May 2010. . Pp 1-10.
Van der Vat, Dan. The Pacific Campaign. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Print. Pp 138-139.
Wainwright, Jonathan M. General Wainwright’s Story. Ed. Robert Considine. Garden City: Doubleday, 1945. 1-304. Print. Pp 1-304.
Whitman, John W. “They remained Filipino Guerillas in World War II.” MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History 14.2 (2002): Web. 9 May 2010. . Pp 1-10.
“World Battlefronts: Return to the Rock.” Time 26 Feb. 1945: Web. 9 May 2010. . Pp 1-2.
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When most American people think of Germany, they think of sports cars made for the autobahn, sauerkraut, Adolf Hitler, and the Holocaust. Compared to Germany, when most American people think of Japan they think of sushi, Godzilla movies, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II was such a significant event in history that almost 70 years after it came to an end, today’s younger generations often associate former Axis controlled countries with the war. People around the world are filled with disgust and immense hate when they hear the name Hitler, mainly because of his leadership under the Holocaust; which was the discriminatory mass genocide of 11-17 million people, the vast majority of which were European Jews. Hirohito, former Emperor of Japan, should strike a similar bell with people when they hear his name because Japan carried out genocide on Chinese civilians and soldiers in World War II. Japan’s attack on the Chinese city of Nanking, was one of the most atrocious events in history. This event has been named both the Nanking Massacre and the Rape of Nanking. The torturous, violent techniques used by the Japanese army upon Chinese civilians and soldiers including dehumanizing them, addicting them to drugs, and other perverse and violent acts, are some of the most grosteque methods ever recorded that could only be thought of by sadistic Japanese soldiers. The events committed by the Japanese army in Nanking, are equally as disgusting as the acts that Nazi Germany committed and should become a major topic involved with World War II in the future, despite the lack of light shed on it in the past for various reasons.
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19 February 1945 marked the beginning of one of the fiercest and bloodiest; and more decisively, the most strategically important battles fought during World War II. A total of 6,821 U.S. Marines had lost their lives, along with 19,217 wounded over the five-week span of the battle for Iwo Jima. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only 212 were taken prisoners. “Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the overall American casualties (killed and wounded) exceeded those of the Japanese, although Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle (O'Brien, 1987).”
Stroebel, Jeffrey T. World War II. Part I: Between the Wars. The Sycamore School, 1995. Revised 1998.
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Samuel B. Griffith’s translation of “Sun Tzu: The Art of War” is an inside look at military practices of today. I did not find one technique that is not or would not be utilized in modern military maneuver, leadership, or training. The most astounding fact is that the Art of War was written well over two thousand years ago, even at the most conservative date. Although most of the techniques in this text are already in practice today, the value of “The Art of War” is a never-ending treasure chest of knowledge, and it deserves a place as a required reading for anyone seeking knowledge about war fighting or the history of war.