Raid at Cabanatuan

The Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as the Great Raid, was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija, the Philippines. On 30 January 1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers of the 6th Ranger Battalion, Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrillas crossed about 30 miles behind Japanese lines, attacked the camp at night while a P-61 Black Widow night fighter distracted the guards, and led more than 500 prisoners back to American lines. The prisoners were survivors of the Bataan Death March and the fighting on Corregidor, and they feared execution before General Douglas MacArthur's forces reached Luzon. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the roughly thirty minute attack while American losses were small. The rescuers were commended by MacArthur and recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.