After the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines fell to the Japanese in April 1942, a cadre of Army and Navy nurses became the largest group of American women ever captured and imprisoned by an army. Malnourished, injured and ill, these nurses—all 77 of them—not only survived until their subsequent liberation by U.S. forces but also continued to perform their duties, dressing the wounds of soldiers and tending to the sick. Seventy years later, the courage of the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor, as they became known, remains legendary among nurses and within the military. The History Channel. Click to enlarge.
By: Phil Kohn. Dedicated to the memory of his father, GM3 Walter Kohn, U.S. Navy Armed Guard, USNR, and all men and women who have answered the country’s call in time of need. Phil can be contacted at ww2remembered@yahoo.com.
On May 1, 1942, troops of the Japanese 15th Army under Gen. Shojiro Iida take Mandalay and Monywa, Burma, securing the western end of the Burma Road.
In response to American intelligence intercepts warning of an impending Japanese landing on Tulagi, in the Solomon Islands, the Australian garrison there is evacuated on May 2. After suffering severe damage from depth charges dropped by RAF Lockheed Hudson coastal reconnaissance airplanes, German submarine U-573 limps into port at Cartagena, in neutral Spain. Despite protests by the British, the Spanish government grants the sub three months’ safe harbor to make repairs.
The Japanese make an unopposed landing on Tulagi on May 3. Their intent is to use the island as a flanking cover and reconnaissance base for troops moving on Port Moresby, New Guinea. At Shwebo, Burma, U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Stilwell — Chiang Kai-shek’s chief of staff and U.S. military commander in the China-Burma-India Theater — concludes there is nothing more that can be done to save Burma from the Japanese and decides to evacuate.
In the Pacific, the Battle of the Coral Sea begins on May 4. U.S. and Japanese fleets clash in the first aircraft-carrier battle of the war. In Burma, Gen. Stilwell and a group of 114, mostly Americans, begin their attempt to reach the Indian border some 190 miles away. On the Burmese coast, the British evacuate Aykab. In the Philippines, the Japanese — after firing 16,000 artillery shells onto Corregidor in the last 24 hours — land a small force on the island. It meets fierce resistance by American and Filipino troops.
The British invade Madagascar on May 5 to prevent the Vichy French territory from falling to a possible Japanese invasion. In Manila Bay, Corregidor is subjected to a heavy Japanese artillery bombardment and more Japanese troops are landed on the island. In England, Exeter is bombed by the Luftwaffe. South of Leningrad, German forces relieve the Kholm Pocket, where 5,500 German troops were surrounded by the Red Army on January 23, 1942. Supplied by Luftwaffe airdrops, the number of trapped defenders has dwindled to only about 1,200. In Burma, Japanese forces, traveling up the Burma Road, cross into China.
On May 6, on Corregidor, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright surrenders 12,000 soldiers — the last U.S. forces on Luzon in the Philippines — to Japanese Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma. Homma will face criticism from his superiors over how long it took him to reduce the Philippines and he will be forced into retirement. The gunboats USS Luzon, USS Oahu and USS Quail are scuttled in Manila Bay to prevent their capture by the Japanese.
In Manila, the Japanese on May 7 execute José Abad Santos, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, for refusing to cooperate with the occupation authorities. On Madagascar, Vichy French forces yield Diego Suarez, the island’s most important port, to the British, but withdraw in good order.
