Late on May 6, Wainwright asked Homma for terms of surrender. Homma insisted that surrender include all Allied forces in the Philippines. Believing that the lives of all those on Corregidor would be endangered, Wainwright accepted. On May 8, he sent a message to Sharp, ordering him to surrender the Visayan-Mindanao Force. Sharp complied, but many individuals carried on the fight as guerrillas.

The defeat was the beginning of three and a half years of harsh treatment for the Allied survivors, including atrocities like the Bataan Death March and the misery of Japanese prison camps, and the "Hell Ships" on which American and Allied men were sent to Japan to be used as labor in mines and factories. Thousands were crowded into the holds of Japanese ships, without water, food, or sufficient ventilation.

The Japanese did not mark "POW" on the decks of these vessels, and some were attacked by American aircraft and sunk. Allied forces began the campaign to recapture the Philippines in 1944, with landings on the island of Leyte. 

Importance It took the Japanese almost 6 months to take complete control of the Filipino-American resistance in Bataan and Corregidor. This was in sharp contrast to the meek collapse of British colonies in Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore, as well as the Dutch East Indies. The defenders of Bataan and Corregidor gave the United States time to rescue Douglas MacArthur out of Corregidor via a PT Boat and into Australia.