Volume 1,
Issue 1
Page
TIMELINE: WORLD WAR II IN THE PHILIPPINES
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Dec. 8, 1941: Japanese bomb the Philippines, destroying many aircraft at Clark Field.
Dec. 22, 1941: About 43,000 Japanese troops begin the main invasion of Luzon;
American and Filipino troops begin to amass on Bataan
Dec. 24, 1941: Manila declared "open city”
End of December 1941: Ground war in progress on Bataan
Feb. 8, 1942: Japan decides to regroup after its forces are repelled
March 1942: Having received reinforcements, Japanese strengthen attacks
March 12, 1942: Gen. Douglas MacArthur evacuated to Australia from Corregidor
April 9, 1942: Gen. Edward King surrenders Bataan; death march begins
March 1, 1942: Final Japanese assault on Corregidor begins
May 6, 1942: Gen. Jonathan Wainwright asks to surrender Corregidor
October 1944: MacArthur returns, coming ashore at Leyte in the southern Philippines
Feb. 3, 1945: Battle of Manila begins
March 4, 1945: Manila officially liberated, but the city is devastated by bombing
and the Manila Massacre, in which about 100,000 people were killed.
Aug. 6, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
Aug. 9, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
Aug. 15, 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender
Sept. 2, 1945: Japan officially surrenders aboard the Missouri
December 1945: Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita sentenced to death for the Manila Massacre and other war crimes.
Feb. 23, 1946: Yamashita hanged in the Philippines
April 3, 1946: Japanese Gen. Masaharu Homma, who directed the battle for Bataan, is
executed for his role in the death march and atrocities committed in prison camps.
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