No Mama, No Papa

The Jap and The MacArthur glared at each other across the swamps and swirling hills of Bataan Peninsula. All the rounds so far had gone to the Jap. But he had not landed a knockout blow. He sat down to wait and think. That was a mistake.

Smart as they come, General Douglas MacArthur used his outnumbered Americans and Filipino troops where-without airplanes and reinforcements-they could do the most damage. The 14-mile battle line across the peninsula curled suddenly: as viciously as the peninsula's king cobras, MacArthur's men struck down surprised outposts. In 48 hours the enemy had been thrown back from two-thirds of a mile to as much as five miles, on the right flank north of Pilar.

It was plain that MacArthur had gambled on disrupting Japanese plans for an all-out offensive. He might even have captured maps and orders detailing the attack plan. He was missing no tricks. He even struck behind the Jap lines at civilian morale by authorizing expenditure through a Civilian Emergency Administration of $5,000,000 for relief of Filipino soldier and civilian victims of the Jap onslaught.

After that the battlefront settled down. Communiques late in the week told of sporadic raids, light action. The reports were only another version of the slogan of the 31st Infantry (see below). The slogan:

"We're battling bastards from Bataan, no Mama, no Papa, no Uncle Sam."

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