Chapter 49 Go into the forest and fight the enemy

As soon as the King and Bataan defenders surrendered, Wainwright made repeated requests to the Japanese army, demanding that the prisoners be treated preferentially in accordance with the "Geneva Convention". If the defenders on other islands such as Corregidor do not surrender, there will be no conditions. Bad results are bound to be born out of malice, and the terrible "Bataan Death March" came into being.Under the scorching sun, more than 50,000 hungry and thirsty U.S.-Philippine prisoners walked to the concentration camp on foot. During the 60-kilometer journey, many of them were killed by hunger and disease, or died of Japanese guns and bayonets. Down.

The purpose of the Japanese army was to retaliate, so as to "give them (referring to the US-Philippine captives) a little bit of guilt", and their behavior can be said to be worse than animals.Honma is of course responsible for this. It is said that when Chief of Staff Sugiyama Motomae came to Manila for inspection, he once praised Singapore for its "military and political power"——Yamashita carried out a bloody massacre of overseas Chinese in Singapore. Talent killing is enjoyable. Regarding Manila, Moto Sugiyama's evaluation is "loose and disorderly".Honma may have been influenced by this. When his subordinates delivered the plan for the "Bataan Death March", he learned from Yamashita and approved it with a swipe of the pen.

Honma was the latecomer, and his "study" performance was no worse than that of Yamashita. In total, more than 10,000 US and Philippine military prisoners died in the "death march".Also because of this achievement, he was able to catch up with Yamashita. After World War II, Yamashita was sentenced to hang, and Honma was executed by shooting. Both of them were executed, which was directly related to their order to massacre innocent soldiers and civilians. Masanobu Tsuji was an important participant and organizer of the massacre of overseas Chinese in Singapore and the "Bataan Death March".During the "Bataan Death March", he had been transferred to the General Staff Headquarters as a staff officer, which allowed him to use the name of the base camp to order the 14th Army to wantonly massacre US and Philippine prisoners of war. "Bold", and if you don't kill enough, you will not be allowed to pass the level.There was a Japanese soldier who was so timid that his superior ordered him to stab 15 prisoners to death in a row.

A soldier of the 65th Brigade recalled after the war that during a march, he saw a wall of corpses about two meters high and one hundred meters long piled up beside the valley road, all of which were killed prisoners of war. It is called "Ishigaki of Silence". Masanobu Tsuji's behavior was criticized even in the Japanese army. Some people called him a "wild samurai", just a bad villain.This villain later fled to Thailand and became a "wild monk". The U.S. military could not find him for a while, so he was not executed like Honma and Yamashita. Later, his whereabouts were unknown while traveling in Southeast Asia and he was declared dead.

The three U.S. prisoners of war who fled to Australia all experienced the terrible "death march". After listening to the miserable report of the three men, MacArthur was extremely angry. He drafted a statement to the press. In addition to disclosing the "death march", he also vowed to severely punish the brutal behavior of the Japanese army. Not only did the U.S. government not allow this statement, it also prohibited the leak of news of the "death march."The government has the government's considerations. If the American people know about the "death march", they will be outraged and will demand the government to mobilize heavy troops for revenge. This will greatly hinder the continued implementation of the "Europe before Asia" policy.

All MacArthur can do is to admit the fall of Bataan and express his respect to the Bataan defenders: "The small number of soldiers and equipment, and the trials and tribulations they have experienced are enough to prove that their contribution is Considerable." Yes, even if King and the Bataan defenders finally chose to surrender, MacArthur knew that he could not stand on the moral high ground and blame the soldiers, because at the critical moment, he could neither help his soldiers nor Failure to fulfill the promise of living together and dying together. MacArthur was filled with remorse for a moment, thinking that people like Roosevelt and Marshall had harmed him-let him go to Australia, but there were no soldiers available; he asked to return to the Philippines, but he was not approved.If he can return to the Philippines, then he can fight guerrilla warfare in the jungle.

According to Mai Shuai, the Japanese army was limited by its military strength and could only control the cities. The countryside had a considerable degree of freedom, and guerrilla warfare was promising.Facts also proved that his contingency plan was not a fantasy, and the defenders on the southern Luzon islands adopted a guerrilla warfare plan. After the fall of Bataan, the 14th Army split up and launched an attack on the southern Luzon islands.Most of the defenders on the island are Filipino troops commanded by American officers. Most of the soldiers have not received formal training, and some even don’t know how to use rifles. How can such soldiers stop the onslaught of the Japanese army?It didn't take long for the cities on the island to fall. Most of the supplies that MacArthur had worked so hard to transport from Australia but failed to reach Bataan also fell into the hands of the Japanese army.

But in the following time, Honma couldn't laugh anymore.The Philippine army all retreated into the mountains and fought jungle guerrilla warfare. There is no provision inside the mountain, but there is outside the mountain.The Philippine underground resistance organization continued to send food and fuel, and the guerrillas gradually developed the ability to be self-sufficient. They not only raised livestock in the mountains, but even set up small rice mills. The Japanese army found it difficult at first, but thinking about it again, a man is six feet long, and it is difficult to hide in the world. Isn't it easy to find someone?

It is really not easy to find it, because it is in the mountains where the clouds are deep, and the process of finding it is often frightening—the guerrillas are mainly Filipinos, they will lurk on the mountain roads, use bows and long knives Hunt and kill small groups or individual Japanese soldiers. The ingenious fighting of the guerrillas caused a lot of losses to the Japanese army ordered to "crusade", and they had to retreat in embarrassment.If the defenders of Bataan can also switch to guerrilla warfare in time, not only can tragedies like the "death march" be avoided, but also the Japanese army can be given more counterattacks.

The guerrillas on the southern Luzon islands were not large, and to Honma, it was still scabies. However, Wainwright continued to resist on Corregidor Island, making it impossible for the Japanese army to use Manila Bay normally. hard nails. As early as the "Death March", Honma focused his attention on Corregidor Island.