Why did Death March in Bataan happen?
Good question. The Americans had retreated to the southern tip of Bataan before they surrendered. The Japenese didn’t have trucks or trains to transport the prisoners back up to Manilia area where there was a good port (or didn’t want to spend the assets to do so). The Japanese did not have sufficient food supplies and they knew that would be a problem. They forced the Americans to march the long route anyway and many died or fell out of line and were executed. It should not have happened if they Japanese had complied with the Geneva Convention for the treatment of prisoners of war.
