Bataan and Gallipoli

 BATAAN - Most of the 140,000 defenders of the island were members of the Philippine Army (100,000).The Japanese bombed Clark Field on December 8, 1941. The Japanese followed this attack with a troop landing on the northern coast of Luzon on December 10. They drove steadily south toward Manila. Gen. MacArthur, who commanded all units in the Philippines realized that he could not defend the entire island. While holding back the Japanese as best as possible, he consolidated his remaining forces on the Bataan Peninsula which jutted out into the South China Sea west of Manila to form Manila Bay. Just off the tip of Bataan was the island of Corregidor which guarded the mouth of the bay. MacArthur put his headquarters on the island. Despite desperate fighting, the Japanese pushed the American forces down the peninsula, successively breaking through four defensive lines. On April 9, 1942, Gen. Edward P. King was forced to surrender with 36,000 of his troops. Gen. Wainwright retreated to Corregidor where he and the remaining forces held out for another month, finally capitulating on May 8, 1942. - SOURCE: Wikipedia

  GALLIPOLI - The Gallipoli campaign took place at Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey from 25 April 1915 to 9 January 1916, during the First World War. A joint British and French operation was mounted to capture the Ottoman capital of Constantinople, and secure a sea route to Russia. The attempt failed, with heavy casualties on both sides. In early 1915, in an attempt to seize the strategic advantage in it the war, the British authorised an attack on the peninsula aiming to capture Constantinople. The first phase was purely naval on the Allied side, as Lord Kitchener would not authorise troops to be shifted from the Western Front. The lead British admiral had a crisis of nerves, and his second-in-command withdrew after one day with moderate casualties. Kitchener then authorised a combined naval-army operation, but the element of surprise was long gone. On 25 April 1915, a force of British Empire and French troops landed at multiple places along the peninsula. However, some of the landings went wrong and troops were landed in the wrong positions causing confusion that lost valuable time. To make matters worse, this was followed up by only tentative advances inland as most of the arriving armies were left on the beaches, allowing for the Ottomans to pour in reinforcements to the area. The battles over the next eight months saw high casualties on both sides due to the exposed terrain, weather and closeness of the front lines. In addition, many casualties resulted from an epidemic of dysentery, caused by poor sanitary conditions. Total Allied deaths were around 21,000 British, 10,000 French, 8,700 Australians, 2,700 New Zealanders and 1,370 Indians. Total Turkish deaths were around 20,000. New Zealanders suffered the highest percentage of Allied deaths when compared with population size, but the percentage of Turkish deaths was almost twice theirs. - SOURCE: Wikipedia

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For me, it is notable that the fall of Bataan happened on the 9th, and the Gallipoli debacle was on the 25th, both in the month of April. Gallipoli was in 1915 and Bataan in 1942, a little more than three decades later. 

Today, April 25, Australians and New Zealanders commemorate what is known as ANZAC Day, a day which they consider that which proudly shows to the world the bravery and courageousness of the Aussies and their Kiwi mates. Of the batlle of Bataan, though of a different decade, I consider it and the subsequent siege of Corrigidor, as nothing less than a similar display of courage and bravery by the Filipino soldier. 

Today, I salute and offer prayers for these martyrs in the battlefield of human folly.