When the city of Manila was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942 (during World War II), General Douglas MacArthur, who was the commander-in-chief of the Filipino and the U.S. forces, retreated with his troops to the Bataan Peninsula, where they fought for three months, finally surrendering to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. General MacArthur escaped to Corregidor Island and then to Australia, but the thousands of American and Filipino soldiers that were captured by the Japanese were forced to embark on the Bataan Death March to a prison camp.
