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Enemy at the Gate: The Japanese Army during the Battle of Corregidor
The Japanese Army has spent decades planning for this battle and while the Battle of Bataan did not go as expected, at long last the Army is ready to deal with the American fortresses guarding Manila Bay. The Japanese receive their final reinforcement for the campaign in the form of the Mixed Guards Brigade, which has been in Tokyo while the rest of the Imperial Guard was in Singapore and with that division returning to Japan the remaining 2 infantry regiments and cavalry regiment of of the Guards Brigade is free for deployment. With them is the 23rd Special Engineer Regiment (amphibious assault boats) and 75 small and large landing craft.
The Guards reach Subic Bay on May 1, and is sent to Manila and then positions around Mariveles. Joining it are two battalions of heavy mortars (90 mm), and it has in addition its 2 regiments of infantry, a reconnaissance battalion (light infantry), cavalry regiment (less one squadron) which are dismounted infantry, plus an engineer battalion and special engineer detachment to operate small boats plus a battalion of light artillery (18 x 75 mm guns). The reconnaissance troops and dismounted cavalry, along with the artillery, mortars and engineers. There the Guards join with the Kondo Detachment (4x 4.7 inch guns, 2 x 150 mm howitzers) which have been harassing Fort Drum and Fort Frank for some weeks now. The Engineers and their boats wait at Subic Bay, as they will have to wait until the American guns have been sufficiently silenced to move into Manila Bay. However a detachment rounds up 75 Filipino Bankas (outrigger fishing boats) and begins moving them into position at Mariveles.
At Bataan, the Japanese have their 7th Artillery Command, with 10 x 240 mm guns, 12 x 150 mm guns, 48 x 105 mm guns, and 60 x 75 mm guns which move into their firing positions within hours of the American surrender on Bataan, using the presence of the masses of Filipino-American POWs and the evacuation of the Filipino-American sick and wounded as cover. Unwilling to shell this movement and possibly hit the helpless, General Moore orders his guns to withhold fire. The biggest problem the Japanese have however is a shortage of infantry. All 3 divisions that took Bataan are needed elsewhere, although the all have so many malarial cases that they are no longer fit for service in a tropical zone. They are earmarked for Manchuria to replace divisions that have not been exposed to months of brutal tropical heat and disease.
On one regiment is retained, the 61st Infantry Regiment from the 4th Division, along with one engineer battalion (actually a severely understrength regiment) and they provide security to the artillery units and will be available as an assault force.
The Japanese have in all 136 guns and 36 heavy mortars assigned to the bombardment, plus 14 battalions of assault troops available. The major limitation is landing craft, of which only 75 are available, just enough to move a single regiment at a time, plus assault boats converted from outrigger canoes, enough to move a battalion at a time, although only from Mariveles to Fort Frank. Over 200,000 rounds of artillery and mortar ammunition have been assembled, the movement of which tied numerous cargo ships, more when the additional supplies needed are included. In addition over the course of the battle another 100,000 rounds have to be brought from Japan, along with a significant number of replacement guns.
The Japanese Army would not muster this kind of firepower again until much later in the war in the final battles near the Home Islands.
The Japanese soldiers would endure harsh conditions throughout the battle. Cerebral Malaria will sicken nearly 90% of the troops in Bataan, so that at times artillery crews are at half strength or less. Brutal heat and humidity will make serving the guns, particularly during the peak periods of shooting, a truly hellish ordeal. The assault troops spent days simply waiting, although American counter battery fire would occasionally inflict a toll when shells hit them instead of the artillery crews. During the assaults, they take horrific losses, indeed losses not seen by the Japanese Army since the siege of Port Arthur, with entire companies and battalions nearly or completely wiped out while the units that survived badly hurt by the loss of junior officers and senior NCOs.