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The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell via San Fernando.

The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps was 65 miles (105 km). Sources also report widely differing prisoner of war casualties prior to reaching Camp O'Donnell: from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march.

The Japanese planned to move about 83 km by truck, but could not provide sufficient numbers, so the POWs traveled empty-handed, while the Japanese soldiers carried 20 kg of equipment. The foot march was about 42 km, and they walked an average of 14 km per day over three days.At the time, malaria, dengue fever, dysentery, and other infectious diseases were prevalent in both Japan and the United States. The U.S.-Philippine garrison on the Bataan Peninsula had run out of food at the time of surrender, but Japanese food was unfamiliar to U.S.-Philippine POWs. The purpose of the POW transfer was to move POWs to areas where they could be easily resupplied, but there were too many POWs and not enough trucks to transport them. Although it was normal for Japanese soldiers to travel long distances on foot, there is testimony that POWs collapsed one after another due to unaccustomed food and exhaustion of physical strength. In addition, because there were few guards, there were many escapes during the night, and Filipino POWs in particular found it easy to escape by blending in with local residents, and many were reported as “dead.

The march was characterized by severe physical abuse and wanton killings. POWs who fell or were caught on the ground were shot. After the war, the Japanese commander, General Masaharu Homma and two of his officers, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were tried by United States military commissions for war crimes and sentenced to death on charges of failing to prevent their subordinates from committing atrocities. Homma was executed in 1946, and Kawane and Hirano in 1949.