Corregidor Island

[kamagong]

Gents, I tried searching for something about Corregidor here but can't seem to find one.

From a nice website about Corregidor: http://corregidorisland.com/

"Corregidor is a small rocky island in the Philippines about 48 kilometers west of Manila which is stragetically located at the entrance of Manila Bay. This island fortress stands as a memorial for the courage, valor, and heroism of its Filipino and American defenders who bravely held their ground against the overwhelming number of invading Japanese forces during World War II.



Also known as "the Rock," it was a key bastion of the Allies during the war. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941, the military force under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur carried out a delaying action at Bataan. Corregidor became the headquarters of the Allied forces and also the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth government. It was from Corregidor that Philippine President Manuel Quezon and General MacArthur left for Australia in February 1942, leaving behind Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright in command.



Although Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, the Philippine and American forces held out at Corregidor for 27 days against great odds. On May 6, 1942, their rations depleted, the Allied forces were forced to surrender Corregidor to Lt. Gen. Homma Masaharu of the Japanese Imperial Army after having successfully halted the Japanese advance on Australia. It was only two years and ten months later in March 1945 when the Allied forces under the command of General MacArthur recaptured Corregidor ... "


And here are some pics of my own:

12-inch mortars of Battery Way:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184375.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184377.jpg

12-inch gun of Battery Hearn
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184381.jpg

12-inch disappearing gun of Battery Crocket
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184433.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184430.jpg

Ruins of Mile-long Barracks:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184390.jpg

Lorcha Dock:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184442.jpg

Malinta Tunnel:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184461.jpg

Remains of Battery Geary:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184427.jpg

...and...

Topside Parade Ground that was used as LZ of elements of US 503rd PRCT in retaking the island from the Japanese in 1945:
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184400.jpg

[LineDoggie]

Very nice images, do you know whatever happened to Ft. Drum, the concrete battleship?

[darth_renn]

Thank you for sharing. My Grandfather died there when the US was retaking the island. I guess the Japanese towards the end of the battle were doing bonsai attacks and he was caught up in the middle of one of them.

[jmkas]

Very nice images, do you know whatever happened to Ft. Drum, the concrete battleship?


Its still there.

http://concretebattleship.vcwsg.org/Table%20of%20Contents.htm

[Incoherent]

Thank you for sharing. My Grandfather died there when the US was retaking the island. I guess the Japanese towards the end of the battle were doing bonsai attacks and he was caught up in the middle of one of them.

You mean "Banzai".

[rgjbloke]

Interesting pictures. Thanks for posting.

[gaijinsamurai]

Thank you for sharing. My Grandfather died there when the US was retaking the island. I guess the Japanese towards the end of the battle were doing bonsai attacks and he was caught up in the middle of one of them.

May your grandfather rest in peace, darth.

I saw some of those pics of the island/fortress when i was a teacher in Japan. One of my adult students, married to a Filipina woman, took them duirng his vacation. Ironically, his father fought in the Imperial Japanese Army in WWII.
I'd like to visit, someday.

[Titani]

Amazing pictures!

[I can't think of a name]

Never heard of that Fort Drum before. Pretty impressive

[kamagong]

Fort Drum is still there. Sadly it is not being preserved the way Corregidor island is. There are some recent pictures in this forum here: http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=21580.15


Thank you for sharing. My Grandfather died there when the US was retaking the island. I guess the Japanese towards the end of the battle were doing bonsai attacks and he was caught up in the middle of one of them.

My salute to your grandfather. This war memorial located at Topside of that island is dedicated to him them and to his comrades:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184407.jpg

More detailed history of the island in these sites:

Japanese seige of the island (1942)
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/I/USMC-I-IV-3.html
http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/5-2/5-2_27.htm

American retaking of the island in 1945
http://www.corregidor.org/503_central/503_features.htm
http://www.corregidor.org/rock_force/valtin/valtin.html

The island is now a major tourist attraction (for those history buffs). The Japanese tourists, however, have a separate group from the rest of the tourists in order to prevent world war 3 from breaking out among veterans (as one tour guide said in jest). I would assume that it's because their group's tour guide speaks Japanese and may be presenting the history from the perspective of the Japanese forces at that period.

More pictures here:

The old Spanish Lighthouse (restored):
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/IMG_2462.jpg

Inside Malinta Tunnel
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184467.jpg

The dock as seen from the island's only hotel
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/IMG_2504.jpg

Picture shows caves along the shoreline where Japanese suicide boats were reportedly hidden
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/IMG_2519.jpg

The ruins of the island's only movie theater
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/P9184401.jpg

[FilipinoPecheneg]

Unfortunately only he concrete works, the "hull" remains. There are some fine postwar photos is defenseimagery.mil. Practically all the steel - the superstructure, the turrets, the rifles (first to go) all fell victim to the blowtorches of scrap metal dealers. Just sad.

[kamagong]

Unfortunately only he concrete works, the "hull" remains. There are some fine postwar photos is defenseimagery.mil. Practically all the steel - the superstructure, the turrets, the rifles (first to go) all fell victim to the blowtorches of scrap metal dealers. Just sad.

Huh??? Can you provide photographic evidence of that? Discussions in this forum (http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=21580.0) shows otherwise.

[Ambassador]

Ooooh shame, I had so much pictures of this island on one of my old cellphones! I can't find where it is. There was a memorial square with a brown statue of American brothers in arms somewhere on this island (I think by the 'head of the tadpole') with a tombstone on which was written something important. I really want to remember.

[FilipinoPecheneg]

Huh??? Can you provide photographic evidence of that? Discussions in this forum (http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=21580.0) shows otherwise.

Sorry about the turrets. My bad. But there used to be a USS BB Arizona-sized superstructure and tripod mast. As a kid in the 60s i still saw the rifles and some superstructure.

[USMCRTop]

My girlfriends father survived the Bataan death March-all Glory and Honor to those men !!

[California Joe]

Great pictures...

[JUNKHO]

Thank you for the thread, the pictures, and the comments.

Interesting,and mostly new, to me.

[kamagong]

Ooooh shame, I had so much pictures of this island on one of my old cellphones! I can't find where it is. There was a memorial square with a brown statue of American brothers in arms somewhere on this island (I think by the 'head of the tadpole') with a tombstone on which was written something important. I really want to remember.

Are you referring to this one? The area where this is located is called the Topside (yes, the "head of the tadpole") where a memorial park now stands.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/military/DSC04169a.jpg

[Ambassador]

Yes, that one. Thank you very much for posting the picture! I'll really commit the statement to my memories this time.

There was also another memorial park placed atop another hill (this time by the tail?) with gravemarks that were dedicated to the Japanese soldiers (I think they are randomly placed though, not necessarily where a Japanese individual died). It had a line of 105mm(?) artillery mock ups pointing at Bataan on one side of the perimeter, looking over a descent from the mountain into the sea, and at the front of each gravemarks were written something important again, though this time in Japanese which I couldn't understand. I want to see again what's written on them so I can have them translated. If you have pictures of some of them, I'd appreciate it if you shared it with me. :-)

[kamagong]

There was also another memorial park placed atop another hill (this time by the tail?) with gravemarks that were dedicated to the Japanese soldiers (I think they are randomly placed though, not necessarily where a Japanese individual died). It had a line of 105mm(?) artillery mock ups pointing at Bataan on one side of the perimeter, looking over a descent from the mountain into the sea, and at the front of each gravemarks were written something important again, though this time in Japanese which I couldn't understand. I want to see again what's written on them so I can have them translated. If you have pictures of some of them, I'd appreciate it if you shared it with me. :-)

I'm sorry, I only have these taken from that Japanese memorial park in the island:

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/IMG_2539.jpg
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z140/sparctacus/IMG_2530.jpg

The tour guide said that these are Japanese naval guns from taken from their ships that were damaged in Manila Bay and mounted by the Japanese in the island to strengthen their defenses in 1945.

[Ambassador]

Ah, thanks for the pictures. Do you have pictures of other artillery? I've seen very, very big mortars there and other arrays of artillery pieces in reinforced bunkers presumably intended for the same use.