Located in the Pacific Ocean between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Philippines is the largest island in the Philippines, and its territory is luzon, which is the largest U.S. military base in the Far East, Clark and Krabi. If Japan wanted to control the sea lines of communication in Southeast Asia, it would have to capture the Philippine Archipelago and drive U.S. troops out of the Far East. On December 7, 1941, General Leonard Gero, the Chief of Operations of the U.S. Army, told MacArthur: "Pearl Harbor is attacked, and you will be attacked there." But MacArthur simply looked down on the Japanese devils with untidy leggings, loose trousers, and looped legs, and he thought that the Japanese army did not dare to attack the Philippines easily. At 9 o'clock on December 8, 1941, the Japanese launched 500 fighters to attack, almost completely annihilating MacArthur's air power, sinking 4 American ships and destroying a quarter of the Navy patrol aircraft.
After the Destruction of the Far East Air Force, Roosevelt personally telegraphed MacArthur to macArthur that the largest U.S. submarine force was coming for reinforcements, and in mid-December the Admiral ordered the withdrawal of submarine reinforcements to Australia after hearing of Japan's deployment of a powerful fleet in the Philippines. On December 20, the Japanese occupied Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines. On the 22nd, Japanese troops landed in two ways at Ramon Bay and Luzon. On the 25th, the Japanese army landed on Hele Island. In just 17 days, the Japanese landed successfully at 9 locations. At this time, the U.S.-Philippines on Luzon was twice as strong as the Japanese army. MacArthur made a new plan to meet the Japanese at the beach, but the two Filipino divisions with too long a front met two well-trained Japanese divisions on the beach in Lin Jia Yan Bay, and as a result, the Philippine Division was attacked by the Japanese army, land and air, and the whole line collapsed. Retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. At this time, Honma ordered the Japanese to capture Manila immediately, believing that the American army would definitely fight a final decisive battle in Manila.
On January 10, 1942, the Japanese launched a general offensive against the U.S.-Philippines forces on the Bataan Peninsula. In early January, a large army appeared behind the Natibu Mountain Line through the steepest cliff of Mount Natibu. The U.S.-Philippines military is in danger of total annihilation. MacArthur ordered a retreat south. On the 26th, MacArthur deployed a new defensive line in the Bagaque-Orion area, and 80,000 defenders and 260,000 refugees were crammed into a small position with an area of 16 square kilometers, along which the military and civilians lived. The Japanese also suffered heavy casualties during the attack, and the attrition was great. Coupled with the rampant disease, the Japanese army could only be forced to stop the attack. Relative to the great rout of the U.S. military in the early stages of the war. The resistance of the U.S. and Filipino forces under MacArthur's command to the Japanese became the only bright spot at the time. MacArthur thus became America's first hero in World War II. Roosevelt believed that the U.S. military needed a hero like MacArthur too much to let him die on the Bataan Peninsula.
On 12 March, MacArthur was ordered to leave the Bataan Peninsula and go to Australia to form the Southwest Pacific U.S. Forces Command. MacArthur swore to the troops: I will definitely be back! On 9 April, all 75,000 defenders on the Bataan Peninsula surrendered, and the Japanese army of less than 20,000 men drove the newly captured prisoners of war on a new journey. The disease raged and the day and night marches, many of whom fell, while the Japanese killed prisoners of war at will. In concentration camps, prisoners of war had only a meagre ration of food. The prisoners of war were starving. Until October 17, 1944, MacArthur commanded an Allied force of 174,000 men, consisting of more than 20 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships and nearly a hundred cruisers, destroyers, and thousands of aircraft, to Leyte Gulf. On 20 October, the Allied fleet sailed into Leyte Gulf. On February 4, 1945, the vanguard of the U.S. Army captured the Old Billy Beid Prison, and 1,500 prisoners of war were rescued, where 800 Bataan veterans greeted General MacArthur. The Bataan veteran said to him: You are back. MacArthur said guiltily: "I came back late...