Some of the men openly jeered. Ample supplies? They were al-ready on half rations.  Their grenades were no good, only one in four or five exploding.  Six out of seven  mortar rounds failed to detonate on landing and too often ill-fitting shells burst the barrels of the cannons. 

But to the great majority, the words were a hope. Bataan had been saved! 

...Saved for another day  
Saved for hunger and wounds and heat  
For slow exhaustion and grim retreat 
For a wasted hope and sure defeat.

Bataan encompassed some 500 square miles of land.  It was what career men called "a'hardship  past!"  Although  beautiful beaches with giant coconut palms jutted into Manila Bay from the southwest corner of Luzon, the island jungle was known as a death  hole filled  with  every tropical  disease known to man. 

Now the Japanese were poised for the final attack that would seal the doom of  the defenders of Bataan.  The  Jaws of the Japanese military pincer began to close as their armies began a massive frontal assault.  Under constant artillery fire and dive bombers raining destruction from the air,  the Japanese infantry moved into position. Then wave after wave of infantry brigades shouting "Bonzai! Bonzai!" began their attacks. The American troops entrenched in bunkers,  sprayed the attackers with machine gun fire and  to sent  them back.  But more Japanese poured forth impaling themselves on the barbed wire so other troops could use their bodies to catapult  over  the defense  structures. 

To Russ, it was a nightmare. The guns fired so much and be-came so hot,  they would seize up.  They didn't believe that they could survive another assault, but the enemy kept coming and the defenders kept fighting. More battles to be fought, men to evacuate, deaths to dim. 

Men  were buried  in common graves.  No one back home would ever know how they died. Casualties were high on both sides. The stench of decaying bodies exposed to the tropical sun was overpowering 

The Japanese dropped leaflets on the men urging them to surrender, but the men used the leaflets to light cigarettes,  scribble notes to wives and girlfriends and even for toilet paper,  a scarce commodity on Bataan. 

With each passing day the situation became more critical. The battle grew worse day by day. A full retreat was ordered. All across the island the Americans fell back. Men jammed the roads carrying buddies on litters. Stragglers wandered aimlessly, some wearing nothing but underwear. 

The battle for Bataan was fast coming to an end.