Bill Sloan - Undefeated: Americas heroic fight for Bataan and Corregidor

A haunting tale of an island transformed from tropical paradise into the Alamo of the Pacific, and a fitting tribute to the heroes who fought, suffered, and died there.

JONATHAN W. JORDAN,
bestselling author of Brothers, Rivals, Victors

Bill Sloan has brought this story to life like never before. To say that Undefeated is compelling would be an understatement. It is an emotional journey into the experiences of men and women whose ordeal should never be forgotten.

JOHN C. MCMANUS,
author of Alamo in the Ardennes, Grunts, and September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far

Sloan expertly illuminates the dark, early days of World War II in the Philippines, as well as the savage aftermath, in staggering detail. Undefeated cements Sloans reputation as one of the wars eminent historians and storytellers.

JOHN D. LUKACS,
author of Escape From Davao

This is a gripping story of one of the most incredibly heroic military stands in all of history, an American epic of courage and stubborn tenacity.

DONALD L. MILLER,
author of D-Days in the Pacific

From the killing grounds of Bataan and Corregidor, to the ghastly POW camps, to the horrors of the hell shipsSloan has delivered a gripping story full of brutality and pathos.

JAMES CAMPBELL,
author of The Color of War, The Ghost Mountain Boys, and The Final Frontiersman

Based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors, Undefeated tells the courageous story of the outnumbered American soldiers and airmen who stood against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, and continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs.

B ill Sloan, a master of the combat narrative ( Dallas Morning News ), captures the valor, fortitude, and agony of the American defenders of the Philippines. Abandoned by their government, the men and women of the U.S. garrison battled hopeless military odds, rampant disease, and slow starvation to delay the inevitable surrender of the largest American military force ever. For four months they fought toe to toe against overwhelming enemy numbersand forced the Japanese to pay a heavy cost in blood for every inch of ground they gained on the Bataan peninsula. After the surrender came the infamous Bataan Death March, where up to eighteen thousand American and Filipino prisoners died or were murdered as they marched sixty-five miles under the most hellish conditions imaginable.

Rather than picturing these defenders as little more than helpless victims of a powerful and sadistic enemyas have most previous books about the Philippine campaign Undefeated tells the full story of the remarkable courage and indomitable will that cost the Japanese invaders thousands of casualties on Bataan and Corregidor. Interwoven throughout this gripping narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines. Sloan also provides vivid portraits of the officers who led the American forces, such as General Douglas MacArthur, who escaped to Australia as the situation on Bataan worsened, and General Jonathan Wainwright, who succeeded him as top U.S. commander in the Philippines and himself became a prisoner of the Japanese.

Undefeated chronicles one of the great sagas of World War IIand celebrates a resounding triumph of the human spirit.

Vivid Every American interested in military history should read Sloans account of the heroic defenders of Bataan.

BILL YENNE, author of
Aces High: The Heroic Saga of the
Two Top-Scoring American Aces of World War II

GUS GUSTOVICH

BILL SLOAN is a respected military historian and the author of more than a dozen books, including Brotherhood of Heroes and The Ultimate Battle . At the Dallas Times-Herald, where he was an investigative reporter and feature writer, he received a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. Sloan lives in Dallas, Texas.

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ALSO BY BILL SLOAN

The Darkest Summer: Pusan and Inchon 1950The
Battles That Saved South Koreaand the Marinesfrom
Extinction

The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945The Last Epic
Struggle of World War II

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944The
Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War

Given Up for Dead: Americas Heroic Stand at Wake Island

JFK: Breaking the Silence

JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness

Elvis, Hank and Me: Making Musical History on the
Louisiana Hayride (with Horace Logan)

The Other Assassin (fiction)

The Mafia Candidate (fiction)

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Copyright 2012 by Bill Sloan

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Credits for the photographic insert are on page 402.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition April 2012

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sloan, Bill.

Undefeated : Americas heroic fight for Bataan and Corregidor / Bill Sloan.

p. cm.

1. Bataan, Battle of, Philippines, 1942. 2. World War, 19391945CampaignsPhilippinesCorregidor Island. 3. Bataan (Philippines : Province)History, Military. 4. Corregidor Island (Philippines)History, Military. I. Title.

D767.4.S58 2012

940.54'25991dc23 2011039887