World War II in the Philippines: A timeline

Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Dec. 8, 1941: Japanese bomb the Philippines, destroying many aircraft at Clark Field

Dec. 22, 1941: About 43,000 Japanese troops begin the main invasion of Luzon; American and Filipino troops begin to amass on Bataan

Dec. 24, 1941: Manila declared “open city”

End of December 1941: Ground war in progress on Bataan

Feb. 8, 1942: Japan decides to regroup after its forces are repelled

March 1942: Having received reinforcements, Japanese strengthen attacks

March 12, 1942: Gen. Douglas MacArthur evacuated to Australia from Corregidor

April 9, 1942: Gen. Edward King surrenders Bataan; death march begins

March 1, 1942: Final Japanese assault on Corregidor begins

May 6, 1942: Gen. Jonathan Wainwright asks to surrender Corregidor

October 1944: MacArthur returns, coming ashore at Leyte in the southern Philippines

Feb. 3, 1945: Battle of Manila begins

March 4, 1945: Manila officially liberated, but the city is devastated by bombing and the Manila Massacre, in which about 100,000 people were killed.

Aug. 6, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

Aug. 9, 1945: U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

Aug. 15, 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito announces Japan’s surrender

Sept. 2, 1945: Japan officially surrenders aboard the Missouri

December 1945: Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita sentenced to death for the Manila Massacre and other war crimes.

Feb. 23, 1946: Yamashita hanged in the Philippines

April 3, 1946: Japanese Gen. Masaharu Homma, who directed the battle for Bataan, is executed for his role in the death march and atrocities committed in prison camps. American and Filipino forces make up the firing squad.