Tank Group fought in the Bataan peninsula campaign. In 1941, the US Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, directed that the army's new M3 Stuart light tanks, then just rolling off the assembly lines, were to have the highest priority in reinforcing General MacArthur's command in the Pacific. The activated Army National Guard 194th and 192nd Tank Battalions were each equipped with 54 of the newly manufactured M3 Stuart light tanks, along with 23 half-tracks per battalion. The federalized California Army Guard 194th Tank Battalion deployed from San Francisco on 8 September 1941, arriving in the Philippines on 26 September. That deployment was followed by the 192nd Tank Battalion, which had been training at Fort Knox, which reached Manila in November. On 21 November 1941, the 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions were combined to form the Provisional Tank Group under the command of Colonel James R.N. Weaver. With the subsequent commencement of hostilities, and Japanese landings along the coastlines in December, the Provisional Tank Group was ordered to counterattack the landing forces, and to cover the allied retreat towards the Bataan Peninsula. On 22 December 1941, the 192nd Tank Battalion became the first American unit to engage enemy armor in tank-to-tank combat during World War II as they ran into tanks from the Imperial Japanese Army 4th Tank Regiment. The M3s of the 192nd Tank Battalion went up against the equally armed Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, which were armed with the 37mm cannon, but were equipped with diesel engines. The Type 95 had been at the forefront of tank technology when it was fielded in 1935. Both the 192nd and the 194th Tank Battalions continued to skirmish with the 4th Tank Regiment, as they retreated towards Bataan. During the remaining struggle for Bataan, the two Tank Battalions tried to defend the beaches, the airfield, and provide support for the infantry, until 8 April 1942, when the 192nd and 194th received orders to prepare to destroy their M3s. They were not entirely successful, as many of the M3 Stuarts were captured and used by the enemy during the war. When the Philippines were liberated in 1944/45, some of the captured M3 Stuart light tanks were taken back by US forces. The unit withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula as part of the general retreat, and ceased to exist on 9 April 1942 when the last surviving American and Philippine