Thread: Bataan Death March 1942

A Brief History of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery

The 200th and 515th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) were sent to stations around Clark Field near Manila.
Both units were from the New Mexico National Guard and had a heavy representation of Hispanic officers and enlisted men.
They had been selected because many of the men in the unit spoke Spanish, a principal language of the Philippines.
Upon their arrival, they became the largest single American military unit in the Philippines.
Most of the 140,000 defenders of the island were members of the Philippine Army (100,000).
The Japanese bombed Clark Field on December 8, 1941 and Sgt. Felipe N. Trejo of Santa Fe, New Mexico and Epimenio Rubi of Winslow, Arizona were among the first American casualities.

The Japanese followed this attack with a troop landing on the northern coast of Luzon on December 10. They drove steadily south toward Manila. General MacArthur, who commanded all units in the Philippines realized that he could not defend the entire island.
While holding back the Japanese as best as possible, he consolidated his remaining forces on the Bataan Peninsula which jutted out into the South China Sea west of Manila to form Manila Bay. Just off the tip of Bataan was the island of Corregidor which guarded the mouth of the bay. MacArthur put his headquarters on the island.
Despite desperate fighting, the Japanese pushed the American forces down the peninsula, successively breaking through four defensive lines. On April 9, 1942, General Edward P. King was forced to surrender with 36,000 of his troops. General Wainwright retreated to Corregidor where he and the remaining forces held out for another month, finally capitulating on May 8, 1942

The 200th Coast Artillery, better known as “The Regiment,” was inducted into federal service on 6 January 1941, supposedly for one year of active duty training.

For eight months the Regiment underwent hard and rigorous training at Fort Bliss, Texas. Not only did these former “horse soldiers” have to learn new skills and techniques, but they had to absorb into their units hundreds of untrained Selective Service inductees. At one time the Regiment numbered over 2300, more than 400 above war strength figures.

On 17 August 1941, the Regiment was notified that it had been selected for an overseas assignment of great importance and that the choice had been made because of the high satisfactory state of training which had been attained. The reward for all the hard work performed in Federal Service was to have the 200th named officially as the best Anti-aircraft Regiment, (Regular or otherwise), then available to the United States Armed Forces for use in an area of critical military importance.

By 26 September 1941, the entire Regiment reached the Philippines and then immediately moved to Fort Stotsenberg, some 75 miles north of Manila. On 23 November, all batteries were placed in combat positions for the protection of Fort Stotsenberg. The training program was to provide the greatest possible amount of experience under simulated war conditions.

A Brief History of the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery

An incredible story about the the troops on the Bataan Death March

Amazon.com: Beyond Courage: One Regiment Against Japan, 1941-1945: Dorothy Cave: Books