22 December 1941
Japanese troops land in the Philippines
43,000 Japanese troops under the command of General Homma Masaharu landed on two different locations at the north end of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippine chain and home to Manila, the capital. Further landings followed in the south two days later. U.S. and Filipino forces, under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, retreated south to the Bataan Peninsula, where they were able to hold out for over three months. Unsupplied and subjected to almost constant bombardment, 78,000 men—12,000 of them Americans—surrendered to the Japanese on April 9. One who escaped capture was MacArthur himself, whom President Roosevelt ordered to Australia to take command of all Allied forces in the Pacific. Upon his departure from the Philippines on March 11, he was heard to say, “I shall return!”

Histories:
The Japanese Invasion of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and Southeast Asia
Philippine Islands
Bataan, Corregidor, and the Death March: In Retrospect
Corregidor

Campaign Maps:
Japanese Centrifugal Offensive: The Philippines
Invasion of the Philippines, 1941-1942
Conquest of Bataan, 1942
Conquest of Corregidor, 1942

Documents:
FDR’s Radio Address to U.S. Forces in the Philippines
FDR’s Message to General Wainwright, 5 May 1942
Japanese Landings at Zamboanga, 2 March 1942

Photographs:
Surrender of U.S. Troops at Corregidor