41st Division (Philippines)

After the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in December 1941, it formed part of South Luzon Force (activated December 13, 1941) under BGen. George M. Parker Jr. The South Luzon Force controlled a zone east and south of Manila. Parker had the Philippine Army's 41st and 51st Infantry Divisions and the 2nd Provisional Artillery Group of two batteries of the U.S. 86th Field Artillery Regiment (Philippine Scouts).[6]

When the Japanese began landing at Lamon Bay on December 24, 1941, South Luzon Force was badly dispersed. The 41st Division (PA) on the west coast was in position, but elements of the 51st Division along the east coast were in the process of movement.[7] Meanwhile, upon activation of War Plan Orange-3, the Southern Luzon Force was called to Bataan. BGen. Parker sent his division staff to relay to BGen. Lim, and movement only commenced when 41st Division staff officers were able to commandeer buses of the Pasay Transportation Company.

The 41st Division was one of the first units to reach Bataan, and rallied around Abucay from December 23–25, 1941.[8] The division was in position along the Mt. Natib trail and Balantay River and defended the center of the Abucay Line,[9] against Japanese assaults[10] until ordered to retreat on 22 January.[11]

The Orion–Bagac line showing the U.S. positions around 27 January 1942

The 41st Division was then ordered to hold east of Pantingan River in Pilar, Bataan and west of Mount Samat, along the Orion-Bagac Line, making them as the key unit to hold any southern movement of the Japanese forces through Trail 29. The 41st Division gave the stiffest opposition to the Japanese offensive, punishing elements of the opposing Japanese 65th Brigade's 141st Battalion. BGen. Lim at some point directed small and effective counter-offensives, only to be directed to return to the Bagac-Orion Line. The 141st Battalion by April 9 recorded that they have lost 70% of their manpower facing the 41st Division units. In exacting revenge after the Fall of Bataan, the 65th Brigade mistook the men of the 91st Division for the 41st Division, and had them summarily executed to now what is known as the Pantingan River massacre.[12]

The division held the extreme left of the II Corps line on the eve of the last Japanese offensive in Bataan on April 3, along with the 31st Division.[13] Such was the effect of bombardment that even before the Japanese tank-infantry attack had begun to roll, the 41st Division had ceased to exist as an effective military organization. The units most affected by the bombardment and the assault were the 42d and 43d Infantry. The first, in the center of the division front where bamboo fires burned fiercely, had retreated in a disorderly fashion, some of the men following Trail 29 into the 41st Infantry area, and others drifting eastward to join the retreating 43d on the western slopes of Mt. Samat. Only the 41st Infantry on the extreme left of the line, which had escaped the full weight of the preliminary bombardment, had withdrawn in an orderly fashion.[14]

Despite the attempt to stem the Japanese advance,[15] by 4 April the division was routed.[16] On 9 April, the inevitable bitter end came. MGen. Edward P. King Jr., commander of Bataan Defense Force, surrendered to prevent the unnecessary slaughter of his war-torn troops, negotiating the surrender of the Bataan troops with the Japanese High Command.[17]

The Japanese was so rapid that BGen. Vicente Lim and his division staff was captured before even MGen. Edward King's capitulation of Bataan. The division initially began marching from Pilar, Bataan on what would later be known as the infamous Bataan Death March all the way to San Fernando, Pampanga. They covered about 65 km under intense conditions of heat and brutality from the guards. Upon arrival in San Fernando 6,000 of them were herded in the city's cock pit arena. The following day, the POWs from the 41st Division were packed 80-100 in railway boxcars and transported from San Fernando to Sto. Domingo Station at Capas, Tarlac. From there, the POWs marched the remaining distance of 7 km to Camp O'Donnell to be incarcerated with 65,000 other Filipino and American POWs for the next 4 months under deplorable conditions, leading to 400 deaths per day.[18]