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The Siege February - March 1942
The Siege tightens
American/Filipino forces in the Philippines after February 1 are organized into two commands. General Wainwright leads the Luzon Force, consisting of 103,000 troops organized into 2 corps and the Manila Bay fortress command. General Ord leads the Visayen Force, consisting of one corps of 5,000 men in 2 weak divisions and another 20,000 men organized into 10 small regiments spread about the various islands except Luzon. Ord also commands the 4,000 men that have been formed into 2 small regiments in northern and central Luzon. His 24,000 troops have orders to blend into the civilian population until further orders. These troops have been written off the muster roles as released from active duty due to illness, or as absent without leave so when the Japanese complete the destruction of the conventional forces, the plan that Douglas MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower had formulated several years ago will go into effect and a guerrilla war will begin against the Japanese to lay the ground work for eventual liberation.
Limited evacuation
The transfer of aircraft to assist in the evacuation of Singapore ends the airlift from Java to Cebu on February 3. By that point, 1400 wounded and sick have been flown out of the Philippines to Australia, along with 800 passengers. The passengers were from the US 31st, 65th Infantry Regiments, as well as as the 26th and 112th Cavalry Regiments, along with the 192nd and 194th tank battalions. The Army has evacuated battalion and company executive officers, battalion operations officers, and numerous sergeants who have valuable experience the Army needs and who capable of taking command of combat battalions, companies and platoons. In short the cream of the survivors that would not too badly hurt operational effectiveness in Bataan. The American officers and senior chiefs assigned to the PT boats are also evacuated as those craft have been entirely handed over to the Filipinos. A number of officers and enlisted men are also evacuated, as well as the number of other officers who have specialized experience in tropical medicine. The last of the US Navy and US Army nurses are also flown out during this time, their places taken by Filipino nurses and nurse aides.
The airlift resumes on February 11, but the growing isolation of the Philippines, now cut off from surface reinforcement even for the southern and central islands, is impacting available fuel and parts that can be used for a continued airlift from Bataan to Cebu, and transport aircraft can only be refueled and serviced at Cebu with increasing difficulty. The Japanese have finally identified the importance of Cebu and Dole Fields, and Japanese bombers are now making routine attacks on both fields. While not large raids (only a few bombers are devoted to this purpose) it is enough to inflict steady damage that each day is relatively minor but is adding up quickly as little in the way of spare equipment is available to be lost. Bombs and damage to the runways also slowly depletes the transport fleet, as several are lost in accidents or to bomb hits after February 11, while others are reduced to hanger queens and cannibalized for parts. This forces a reexamination of evacuation. No more stretcher cases can be evacuated, and only those deemed unlikely to survive imprisonment (such as those who are blinded or double amputees that can travel). This allows up to triple of number of evacuees each trip, which makes up for the reduction of aircraft available and so nearly 1,500 more Filipino soldiers are flown out in a few days.
The Japanese raid on Darwin on February 19 ends the airlift a second time, as damage to facilities and aircraft are serious, and several days are lost reorganizing the surviving aircraft. Orders from Washington are received directing that for now future air evacuation will prioritize Allied personnel and civilians from Java instead. Over the next few weeks until the final surrender of Dutch forces several thousand Allied civilians and military personnel are flown out. By that time several deliveries of critical supplies have reached Bataan by submarine and a number of important personnel evacuated through that means.
Hard earned knowledge passed on
The evacuated Filipinos troops, along with Filipinos from the United States, will form the basis of the 5th Infantry Regiment (Philippine Army), Philippine Marine Corps (which fields a battalion trained as Marine Raiders), Philippine Rangers (a Philippine Army special operations battalion), 7th Ranger Battalion (Philippine Scouts) and 194th Glider Infantry Regiment (US Army). The evacuated American all provide valuable service during the war, but one of the most important roles some of them performed was in providing the initial staff for the Jungle Warfare Training Schools established at Hawaii and Australia which would pass on lessons to newly arrived American combat troops for the rest of the war.
Stalemate
Over February and March, the Japanese and Filipino/Americans remain in their defensive positions. The Japanese suffer heavy losses to disease, and indeed are forced to pull the 65th Infantry Brigade (redesignated as the 65th Infantry Division) and the 14th Division completely of the line, and both are deployed into occupation duty as Luzon requires a significant garrison. Only the 4th Infantry Division remains on the firing line and 38th Division arrives take position alongside. The diversion of the 38th Division from its original mission (assignment to the Dutch East Indies offensive) results eventually in 3 divisions being pulled from the Kwantung Army, which forecloses the Japanese Army's hopes to take advantage of any Soviet collapse which they expect (actually more of a hope at this point). It also ends optimistic plans for an invasion of Darwin.
Meanwhile both sides are content to conduct patrol actions and harassment raids. Neither side has artillery ammunition to spare for any but the most important actions, but by March the Japanese are getting enough ammunition forward to inflict harassment shelling with mortars and light artillery, while the Japanese move heavy guns to Cavite and begin shelling Fort Frank and Fort Drum.
Slowly but surely the American and Filipino forces grow weaker as attrition and damage mount incrementally.