Video: 'Surrender of the Philippines, 1942 (OFFICIAL FILM)' (April 9, 1942 at 31:11)

(Thursday, April 9, 1942, 12:30 p.m. PHST; during the Battle of Bataan, part of the Philippines campaign in World War II) — Some 76,000 weary, starving and emaciated American and Filipino defenders on the battle-swept Bataan Peninsula surrendered to Japanese troops today after several hours of negotiations between Major General Edward P. King and Major General Kameichiro Nagano.

Video: ‘137 – America Surrenders – The Fall of Bataan – April 10, 1942’ (April 9, 1942 at 3:50)

Despite their lack of supplies, American and Filipino forces had managed to fight the Japanese for three months, engaging them initially in a fighting retreat southward.

As the combined American and Filipino forces made a last stand, the delay cost the Japanese valuable time and prevented immediate victory across the Pacific.

Video: 'The World At War Episode 7 HD - On Our Way: U.S.A. (1939–1942)' (Battle of Bataan at 34:20)

The American surrender at Bataan to the Japanese, with 76,000 soldiers surrendering in the Philippines altogether, was the largest in American and Filipino military histories and was the largest United States surrender since the American Civil War’s Battle of Harpers Ferry.

Soon afterward, U.S. and Filipino prisoners of war were forced into the Bataan Death March, which claimed thousands of lives.