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Bataan
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Bataan is a 1943 American war film directed by Tay Garnett, starring Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Thomas Mitchell. Set during the Battle of Bataan in early 1942, the film follows thirteen men chosen to blow up a bridge on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines and keep the Japanese from rebuilding it. The group is whittled down through misadventure, disease, and skirmishes with the ever-advancing Japanese, until only a handful remain for a defiant last stand that contains some of the most gruesome hand-to-hand combat put on film during the 1940s.
The film is also noted for depicting a racially and ethnically diverse group of soldiers that fight side-by-side, during a time when the US military was still racially segregated. This depiction of racial integration resulted in the film not being widely distributed in the Jim Crow-era Southern United States.
The following weapons were used in the film Bataan:
M1903 Springfield
The M1903 Springfield is used by most of the US Army infantrymen. While the M1 Garand had officially replaced the M1903 in US military service at this point in history, US soldiers and Marines stationed in the Pacific were extensively armed with M1903 variants in the early stages of the war, with most units not being equipped with Garands until 1943.
Browning M1917A1
US forces use the Browning M1917A1 as their primary machine gun.
Colt M1911
Sergeant Bill Dane (Robert Taylor) carries an original M1911 as his sidearm.
Sgt. Dane later uses another M1911 that appears to be nickel-plated, and fitted with a lanyard loop and accompanying lanyard.
Vickers Mark I
The Vickers Mk.I is used by the US Army and also captured by the Imperial Japanese Army. Colt manufactured several thousand Vickers machine guns under license in 1917-1918, intended for the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. After the war, hundreds were indeed supplied to forces garrisoned in the Philippines and used during the Invasion of the Philippines.
M1921AC Thompson
The M1921AC Thompson is used by American forces.
Gewehr 1898
The Gewehr 1898 is used by the Imperial Japanese Army, standing in (as was common for productions filmed in the midst of the War in the Pacific) for the Arisaka rifle series.
