The Dark Days of '42
general left his Malinta Tunnel headquarters on the fortress island of Corregidor in Manila Bay on March 12. Traveling by PT boat to the southernmost Philippine island of Mindanao, MacArthur then boarded a B-17 bomber and arrived in Alice Springs, Australia, where he told newsmen, "I came through and I shall return."
On Good Friday, April 3, 1942, the Japanese launched their final assault on the desperate Fil-American defenders of Bataan. Five days later the white flag went up signaling the largest surrender of American troops in history. The surrendered troops then began their brutal journey to a prison camp north of Manila--the Bataan Death March. As the defeated men marched away, the Japanese heavy artillery began slamming away at Corregidor Island, the last American bastion in the Philippines.
Through all this defeat, disaster, and despair, the American public's only relief came from a few U.S. Navy carrier raids on Japanese-held islands in the Central Pacific; nevertheless, these raids provided only slaps in answer to four months of Japanese-inflicted body blows. But then on April 18, the American carriers launched sixteen army twin-engine bombers against Tokyo. Although the Doolittle Raid did little damage to the Japanese capital, the daring attack jolted the long-suffering American morale.
The last piece of bad news came simultaneously with a strategic victory. On May 6, the beleaguered island fortress of Corregidor fell to the Japanese. Before surrendering, Major General Jonathan Wainwright sent a final message to President Roosevelt: "With broken heart and head bowed in sadness but not in shame I report... that today I must arrange terms for the surrender of the fortified islands of Manila Bay.... There is a limit of human endurance and that limit has long since been past.... Please say to the nation that my troops and I have accomplished all that is humanly possible. With profound regret and with continued pride in my gallant troops I go to meet the Japanese commander. Good-bye Mr. President." As Wainwright made his sorrowful walk to the enemy's lines, American and Japanese naval forces maneuvered for a face-off in the Battle of the Coral Sea--a strategic victory for the United States because it stemmed the tide of Japaneses conquest just short of Australia.
One month later American naval forces soundly defeated Japan's carrier fleet at the Battle of Midway. Japan then fell into a defensive posture to protect the gains made since December 7, but over the next
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