Bataan Peninsula juts out from the southwestern coast of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines. Manila Bay lies to the east. The South China Sea is to the west. The Bataan Peninsula covers an area of about 530 square miles (1,370 square kilometers). It has many mountains and bamboo forests. Industries on the peninsula make paper products, textiles, and petroleum products.
During World War II (1939-1945), thousands of American and Filipino soldiers died in what became known as the Bataan Death March. In December 1941, the soldiers became hemmed in on the peninsula by Japanese forces and were cut off from any help. After fending off Japanese attacks for three months, the American and Filipino soldiers surrendered. The Japanese then forced them to march to a prison camp north of the peninsula. Thousands of prisoners died during the week-long march. In 1954, President Ramon Magsaysay of the Philippines issued an order making the battlefield area of Bataan a national shrine.
See also Bataan Death March; Luzon.
