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Bataan
(batan´, -tän´, bätä-än´), peninsula and province (1990
pop. 426,000), W Luzon, the Philippines, between Manila
Bay and the South China Sea. Balanga is the provincial capital.
A mountainous, thickly jungled region, it has some of the
best bamboo forests in the Philippines. There is a pulp
and paper mill, a large fertilizer plant, and an oil refinery
(established there in 1961). Subsistence farming is carried
on. Early in World War II (Dec., 1941-Jan., 1942), the U.S.-Filipino
army withdrew to Bataan, where it entrenched and, despite
the lack of naval and air support, fought a gallant holding
action that upset the Japanese timetable for conquest.
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