The Fighting Retreat
Gen. MacArthur intended to move his men with their equipment and supplies in good order to their defensive positions. He charged the North Luzon Force under Maj. Gen. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV with holding back the main Japanese assault and keeping the road to Bataan open for use by the South Luzon Force of Maj. Gen. George Parker, which proceeded quickly and in remarkably good order, given the chaotic situation. To achieve this, Wainwright deployed his forces in a series of five defensive lines outlined in WPO-3:
- D1 – Aguilar to San Carlos to Urdaneta City,
- D2 – Agno River,
- D3 – Santa Ignacia to Gerona to Guimba to San Jose,
- D4 – Tarlac to Cabanatuan City, and
- D5 – Bamban to Sibul Springs.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Bataan
Famous quotes containing the words fighting and/or retreat:
“I want to keep fighting because it is the only thing that keeps me out of the hamburger joints. If I don’t fight, I’ll eat this planet.”
—George Foreman (b. 1948)
“Men seem anxious to accomplish an orderly retreat through the centuries, earnestly rebuilding the works behind them, as they are battered down by the encroachments of time; but while they loiter, they and their works both fall prey to the arch enemy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)