What Is The First Battle Of Bataan?

The first Battle of Bataan took place on the Bataan peninsula on the island of Luzon, Philippines. The battle was fought between the Japanese and an allied combination of the United States and Philippine military forces. The battle began on the 7th of January and ended with a United States fighting retreat on the 22nd of January. The first Battle of Bataan was the first ground combat between the Japanese and United States during World War II. To best analyze the first Battle of Bataan then it is necessary to first provide the events leading to the attack on the 7th of January. The Japanese had just executed their attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8th, 1941 in what would later become known as “a day which will live in infamy”, when the Japanese also attacked United States air support bases in the Philippines. The Japanese Empire had strategically planned their attack on Pearl Harbor to happen while the United States planes were grounded, this tactic allowed the Japanese air attack to disable the United States ability to provide air support to the Philippines, increasing their chances of success for their Philippines attack. Once the United States Navy and air support were disabled, the Japanese executed another coordinated attack on United States bases near Manila, Philippines only hours after the Pearl Harbor attack. These attacks were meant to further disable United States Navy and air support in the
The area was covered in a thick jungle canopy. The thick jungle canopy assisted in concealing the United States and Philippine forces from the superior Japanese air attack. The United States leadership decided to set their defensive lines from coast to coast with no defense through the cliffs in the middle of the island. United States General Wainwright thought it was not possible for the enemy to attack from the cliffs in the middle of the