Bataan. Where was it? Why did it play such an important roll in 1941 at the beginning World War II? Bataan was a peninsula on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines. Its location made it very important to the war plans to defend the islands in case of war. Corregidor was an island fortress in the center of the entrance to Manila Bay. The war plans by USAFFE were, if the islands were attacked, to withdraw all American and Philippine troops back into Bataan where the