Final answer:
The turning point in the Battle of Bataan occurred with the surrender of 78,000 U.S. and Filipino troops. However, the pivotal turning point in the Pacific War was the Battle of Midway in June 1942, which halted Japan's advance and shifted the balance of power toward the Allies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The turning point in the Battle of Bataan came when 78,000 U.S. and Filipino troops were compelled to surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942. It marked the largest surrender in U.S. Army history to that date and was followed by the horrific sixty-five-mile Bataan Death March. The fall of Bataan was a tragic event in the war, but it was not the turning point of the war in the Pacific; that distinction belongs to the Battle of Midway, which occurred in June 1942 and successfully halted Japan's advance across the Pacific.
At the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Navy lost four aircraft carriers, a heavy cruiser, and had many other ships severely damaged. This decisive victory decisively shifted the balance of power toward the Allies and represented a significant momentum change, irreversibly compromising the Japanese Navy's capabilities thereafter.