The Nazis were not the only foes the Americans faced during World War II. Far, far away from the battles against Nazis in Europe, the island nation of Japan was conquering vast amounts of land in the Pacific ocean.

The Japanese leader, Emperor Hirohito, wanted to aquire more land and natural resources for the growing Japanese population.

1900 miles south of japan lay an island called the Phillipenes, and it was next on Japanese Emporor Hirohito's list of places to conquer. 

Unfortunately for Japanese Emporor Hirohito, the Philippine islands were owned by the United States of America, and General Douglass MacArthur was in charge of stopping the Japanese from taking over the Philippines.

STOP!

Althought American General MacArthur was very skilled, the American and Filipino troops were not- and on December 10th, 1941, the first Japanese soldiers landed on the Phillipines island. MacArthur knew that keeping control of the whole island would be impossible, so all of the American soldiers were ordered to retreat to the Bataan peninsula, where they could control Manilla Bay.

With control of Manilla bay, the most important part of the Philippines, Americans could prevent any major advantage that Japan would have from control of the Phillipines. The Japanese knew this, too. On January 9th, 1942, the Battle of Bataan began.

Over the coming months, the American soldiers would fight with very little food, holding out hope that rescue would come and push the Japanese back. But because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor a month before, The rest of the American army wouldnt make it in time. 

Despite the starvation, disease, and lack of any other supply you can think of, The Americans would hold the peninsula for six months. On April 9th, 1942, when the final line of defense was broken, and American Major General Edward King knew that the only remaining options were surrender or death. 

The reason that General MacArthur himself didn't surrender was quite simple; he wasnt there. He had escaped a month prior to personally lead the American fleet and liberate the Philippines. Although the fleet wasnt fast enough to stop the loss at Bataan, When Macarthur shouted "I shall return" when he arrived in Australia, he meant it.

Even though America lost the battle of Bataan, the fact that the stranded and starving soldiers held off Japanese forces for six months was incredibly valuable. Because the Japanese couldn't use Manilla Bay, their war effort in the oceans far south of Japan was crippled.

On April 13th, 1942, Shortly after Edward King surrendered the Bataan peninsula to the Japanese empire, The United States of America started the Manhattan project. The Manhattan project was a project to develop atomic bombs before the Nazi's could.