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The First Bombardment May 2-May 14, 1942
The First Bombardment
The 7th Artillery Command spends nearly a week digging in its guns, preparing and filling ammunition dumps, deploying security to protect their guns and supply lines and ranging in their guns. An observation balloon company also sets up shop and by May 5 is making careful observations of the harbor forts, while daily reconnaissance missions carefully map every inch of the islands.
Meanwhile Kondo Detachment commences nightly bombardments of the various islands, not firing many shells, but just enough that sleep is disrupted by random shellfire at unpredictable intervals on all four forts. Every day sees bombing raids scattered throughout the day which do little damage but still disrupt work. However American antiaircraft fire, now aided by the arrival of sufficient mechanical fuses so that three of the 3 inch batteries can shoot up to 30,000 feet, is intense enough where the Japanese must remain at high altitude and bombing accuracy is poor, frequently seeing entire sticks of bombs missing the islands entirely and merely killing fish.
Japanese Army Bombers striking Corregidor May 1942
On May 9th the Japanese are prepared to open their first phase of the battle. The lighter 75 mm and 105 mm guns open fire on Tailside, targeting Battery Keysor (2 x 155 guns, semi-fixed mounts), Battery Denver (8 x 3 inch guns), Water Tank Hill (specifically the water tank), Kindley Airfield structures, and Bottomside including the North Dock, various warehouses and machine shops, as well as the barbed wire along the shore and various pillboxes that have been observed. The 4/59th and the 1st Marine Battalion are the beach defense units targeted, and both quickly move their mobile 75 mm guns, 4.2 inch mortars and 37 mm guns into the seaside of the island, or into the Navy Tunnel or Malinta Tunnel to preserve them, while the remainder of the machine gunners and riflemen hunker down in their dugouts and foxholes.
At the same time the 150 mm guns and howitzers from Bataan (now reinforced to 12 guns and 12 howitzers with the arrival of an attached artillery battalion that arrived with the Imperial Guards Brigade) open fire on Fort Frank, along with 3 dozen 90 mm mortars. The 10 heavy 240 mm howitzers have as their target Fort Drum, and every hit removes several inches of concrete up to two feet across and sounds like the hammer of doom each time.
The Americans are quick to reply, although forced to rely on maps and intuition to reply to the heavy guns and observation through smoke and dust for the lighter Japanese guns located on the shore of Bataan. In spite of these handicaps, over the next 5 days, American gunners manage to knock out at least for a few hours 30 guns on the shore (75 and 105 mm) and several 150 mm guns and even 2 of of the 240 mm howitzers. Even more satisfying the gunners on Fort Drum manage several 14 inch shell hits directly into the operations area of the 1st Balloon Company, and these rounds whose fuses have been altered to explode on impact, blast most of the personnel into casualties, wreck the support apparatus and cut the cable of a balloon in flight, which drifts away before falling into Manila Bay.
But all this only partially limits the fury of a bombardment that lasts every daylight hour from May 8 through May 13.
The Rock takes a Pounding
Damage on Fort Mills is relatively light, but the 3 inch guns at Battery Denver are all knocked out, as well as a number of observation points on the tail important for air defense. The radar on Topside is blasted into wreckage, while the 155 mm guns of Battery Keysor are all destroyed. Nearly every inch of barbed wire is blasted away, while the wooden structures are all reduced to charred wreckage at Kindley Field and Bottomside, although careful American planning ensured that all had been emptied of their contents in early April. The water tank on Water Tank Hill however manages to survive, although it is punctured to the point of uselessness and structurally unstable.
The Destruction of Fort Drum
Fort Drum takes the worst pounded as the 440 pound shells from the 240 mm howitzers inflict massive damage to the superstructure and knock inches of concrete each time they hit. Over the course of 5 days, between 10-20 feet of concrete are literally blasted into dust. The mast is blasted away, along with the searchlights, all of the anti aircraft guns are destroyed, and each night volunteers have to climb onto the deck to realign the 14 inch guns of the turrets which are repeatedly hit and knocked out of alignment. But worst damage begins on May 12, after days of pounding. Three of the 6 inch guns in casemates are destroyed after penetrations occur, while the a hit on the upper 14 inch turret (Battery Marshall) and knocks a hole 6 inches wide and 14 inches long in the turret which requires the hurried welding of steel rebar rods to provide splinter protection for the gun crew.
On May 13 however Fort Drum meets its doom. Fire continues as heavy as before, and while it is on this day that the gunners have the satisfaction of knocking out the Japanese 1st Balloon Company the joy of the soldiers of the 59th and 91st Coast Artillery who man the fort is short lived. It is not until postwar and careful analysis that details are determined, but observers on Fort Mills see at 1330 hours a bright flash from Battery Marshall, and then a few minutes later at 1338 hours within seconds of another 240 mm round impacting that turret the entire fort erupts in a massive explosion. One large piece of debris estimated at several tons flies several hundred feet into the air before falling into Manila Bay with a massive splash. Postwar this is determined to be a 10 ton chunk of armor from Battery Marshall. Investigation postwar reveals that a 240 round penetrated the gap in the armor of Battery Marshall, wiping out its entire crew in a heartbeat and opening up a gap of several feet wide in the armor of the turret. Another hit soon after penetrates deep into the fort and exploding in the ammunition handling room below the turret, igniting a chain reaction that results in the detonation of the primary magazine. Every man in the fort died almost instantly or soon after from smoke and flame that resulted.
View attachment 359950
Fort Drum May 13, 1942 1339 Hours
The Fall of Fort Frank
Fort Frank is only a half mile away from Cavite Province, and is only 44 acres in size. The sheer volume of mortar and artillery rounds means that inevitably damage is going to be heavy. By the last day of the shoot, every one of the 14 fixed guns have been damaged, all 4 of the antiaircraft guns have been wrecked as well, and only 3 mobile 75 mm guns remain operational due to being hidden away in tunnels, while only one of the mortars remains operational along with 2 of the 155 mm guns due to hurried repairs. Casualties are relatively light each day, but add up to 100 of the 720 men on the island, including 30 dead. Every structure, including the concrete ones, are damaged significantly and much of the brush and trees have been blasted or burned away.
By the night of May 13, the fort has been pounded to the point where the personnel are exhausted and when the shooting stops that evening, even the normal harassment shelling by the Kondo Detachment (with its 4 x 4.7 inch guns and 2 x 150 howitzers) which have been bothering all four forts every night for the last few days, the exhausted garrison mostly collapses from exhaustion and desperate need for rest. Thus they fail to note the movement of 45 bankas down the coast from Cavite harbor and the loading of the troops of the Guards Reconnaissance battalion on the beach across the half mile of water from the port. It is not until the boats are within a couple of hundred yards from the small beach at the base of the narrow cove below the loading derrick (which has been obliterated already). To defend this only vulnerable point, a provisional rifle company consisting of gunners from those weapons that have been knocked out already, hurriedly takes up positions and as the boats come into range, open fire with 22 machine guns of heavy and medium caliber, all 3 of its 75 mm guns, and of course every rifle that is available. The military police (now infantry) of the 803rd MP Company, remain in reserve. The American and Philippine Scouts inflict a fearful slaughter, sinking 22 of the 45 boats before they even reach shore, and killing many of the troops that manage to make it to the beach. But 150 of them survive and cling to base of the cliff, returning fire with knee mortars and light machine guns, while others use the darkness as well as the incredible stealth and suicidal bravery for which they will be known throughout the Pacific War, Japanese infantry begin to move up the narrow steep sloped ravine toward the top of the bluff.
They have accomplished their mission already however, as the full attention of the garrison is on the beach and thus misses the approach of 8 small steamers, tug boats and pilot boats that have moved across Manila Bay from Cavite taking advantage of the darkness and shelling of Fort Mills by Kondo along with an unusually heavy night air raid that has Fort Mills completely distracted. Between them the craft have 600 troops of the Guards Cavalry Regiment, and each craft has one or two scaling ladders taken from fire departments in Japan and shipped specifically for this mission. The craft approach the base of the cliff directly below the searchlight stations (all of which have been knocked out) and with excellent seamanship, the skippers hold their craft steady long enough for each of their passengers to climb up the ladders to the clifftop above. The entire force reaches the top with only 20 men falling to their deaths due to missteps and have achieved complete surprise.
For the boats and their crews it is a brilliant success for the Navy, marred only by two of the larger steamers ripping open their hulls to rocks on the way out (and sinking soon after) and allows the Navy to recover some of the lost face they have suffered in the Philippines Campaign so far.
The Guards Cavalry quickly overruns nearly a third of the island and it is not until they overrun men of the crew of the 14 inch gun of Battery Greer who are attempting to repair their gun and a frantic survivor runs off to warn the 803rd MP Company that the garrison is alerted. By then it is too late, as the Japanese Cavalry troopers hit the American soldiers by surprise and quickly slaughter most of them in an intense battle in the concrete communications trench that connects the various gun batteries. The American survivors are routed, and this leaves the rear of the coast artillery troops wide open. They too retreat, although in decent order, and thus the beach is now open and the surviving troops of the Guards Reconnaissance Battalion manage to climb up to the top (all 60 survivors). Enough boats survived the slaughter that the rest of that battalion, along with an engineer company, is ferried across by dawn.
Meanwhile Colonel Octave De Carre, commander of the 92nd Coast Artillery and garrison commander, views disaster in the face. With little choice, as his garrison is down to only 350 shaken men still on their feet, all his major weapons knocked out or overrun and with no hope of taking the island back, he surrenders his men at 0800 on May 14.
View attachment 359951
Official US Army Plans of Fort Frank, Manila Bay as of the 1930s
In a mere 48 hours, the Manila Defense Command has suffered very harsh blows and is left in shock. Only the arrival of submarines on the nights of May 8, May 10, and May 12 partially reduce the pain, as over 90 tons of supplies and 30 tons of mail are delivered, while 40 crippled hospital patients, 10 nurses and 10 staff officers with vital skills are evacuated.
The 7th Artillery Command spends nearly a week digging in its guns, preparing and filling ammunition dumps, deploying security to protect their guns and supply lines and ranging in their guns. An observation balloon company also sets up shop and by May 5 is making careful observations of the harbor forts, while daily reconnaissance missions carefully map every inch of the islands.
Meanwhile Kondo Detachment commences nightly bombardments of the various islands, not firing many shells, but just enough that sleep is disrupted by random shellfire at unpredictable intervals on all four forts. Every day sees bombing raids scattered throughout the day which do little damage but still disrupt work. However American antiaircraft fire, now aided by the arrival of sufficient mechanical fuses so that three of the 3 inch batteries can shoot up to 30,000 feet, is intense enough where the Japanese must remain at high altitude and bombing accuracy is poor, frequently seeing entire sticks of bombs missing the islands entirely and merely killing fish.
Japanese Army Bombers striking Corregidor May 1942
On May 9th the Japanese are prepared to open their first phase of the battle. The lighter 75 mm and 105 mm guns open fire on Tailside, targeting Battery Keysor (2 x 155 guns, semi-fixed mounts), Battery Denver (8 x 3 inch guns), Water Tank Hill (specifically the water tank), Kindley Airfield structures, and Bottomside including the North Dock, various warehouses and machine shops, as well as the barbed wire along the shore and various pillboxes that have been observed. The 4/59th and the 1st Marine Battalion are the beach defense units targeted, and both quickly move their mobile 75 mm guns, 4.2 inch mortars and 37 mm guns into the seaside of the island, or into the Navy Tunnel or Malinta Tunnel to preserve them, while the remainder of the machine gunners and riflemen hunker down in their dugouts and foxholes.
At the same time the 150 mm guns and howitzers from Bataan (now reinforced to 12 guns and 12 howitzers with the arrival of an attached artillery battalion that arrived with the Imperial Guards Brigade) open fire on Fort Frank, along with 3 dozen 90 mm mortars. The 10 heavy 240 mm howitzers have as their target Fort Drum, and every hit removes several inches of concrete up to two feet across and sounds like the hammer of doom each time.
The Americans are quick to reply, although forced to rely on maps and intuition to reply to the heavy guns and observation through smoke and dust for the lighter Japanese guns located on the shore of Bataan. In spite of these handicaps, over the next 5 days, American gunners manage to knock out at least for a few hours 30 guns on the shore (75 and 105 mm) and several 150 mm guns and even 2 of of the 240 mm howitzers. Even more satisfying the gunners on Fort Drum manage several 14 inch shell hits directly into the operations area of the 1st Balloon Company, and these rounds whose fuses have been altered to explode on impact, blast most of the personnel into casualties, wreck the support apparatus and cut the cable of a balloon in flight, which drifts away before falling into Manila Bay.
But all this only partially limits the fury of a bombardment that lasts every daylight hour from May 8 through May 13.
The Rock takes a Pounding
Damage on Fort Mills is relatively light, but the 3 inch guns at Battery Denver are all knocked out, as well as a number of observation points on the tail important for air defense. The radar on Topside is blasted into wreckage, while the 155 mm guns of Battery Keysor are all destroyed. Nearly every inch of barbed wire is blasted away, while the wooden structures are all reduced to charred wreckage at Kindley Field and Bottomside, although careful American planning ensured that all had been emptied of their contents in early April. The water tank on Water Tank Hill however manages to survive, although it is punctured to the point of uselessness and structurally unstable.
The Destruction of Fort Drum
Fort Drum takes the worst pounded as the 440 pound shells from the 240 mm howitzers inflict massive damage to the superstructure and knock inches of concrete each time they hit. Over the course of 5 days, between 10-20 feet of concrete are literally blasted into dust. The mast is blasted away, along with the searchlights, all of the anti aircraft guns are destroyed, and each night volunteers have to climb onto the deck to realign the 14 inch guns of the turrets which are repeatedly hit and knocked out of alignment. But worst damage begins on May 12, after days of pounding. Three of the 6 inch guns in casemates are destroyed after penetrations occur, while the a hit on the upper 14 inch turret (Battery Marshall) and knocks a hole 6 inches wide and 14 inches long in the turret which requires the hurried welding of steel rebar rods to provide splinter protection for the gun crew.
On May 13 however Fort Drum meets its doom. Fire continues as heavy as before, and while it is on this day that the gunners have the satisfaction of knocking out the Japanese 1st Balloon Company the joy of the soldiers of the 59th and 91st Coast Artillery who man the fort is short lived. It is not until postwar and careful analysis that details are determined, but observers on Fort Mills see at 1330 hours a bright flash from Battery Marshall, and then a few minutes later at 1338 hours within seconds of another 240 mm round impacting that turret the entire fort erupts in a massive explosion. One large piece of debris estimated at several tons flies several hundred feet into the air before falling into Manila Bay with a massive splash. Postwar this is determined to be a 10 ton chunk of armor from Battery Marshall. Investigation postwar reveals that a 240 round penetrated the gap in the armor of Battery Marshall, wiping out its entire crew in a heartbeat and opening up a gap of several feet wide in the armor of the turret. Another hit soon after penetrates deep into the fort and exploding in the ammunition handling room below the turret, igniting a chain reaction that results in the detonation of the primary magazine. Every man in the fort died almost instantly or soon after from smoke and flame that resulted.
View attachment 359950
Fort Drum May 13, 1942 1339 Hours
The Fall of Fort Frank
Fort Frank is only a half mile away from Cavite Province, and is only 44 acres in size. The sheer volume of mortar and artillery rounds means that inevitably damage is going to be heavy. By the last day of the shoot, every one of the 14 fixed guns have been damaged, all 4 of the antiaircraft guns have been wrecked as well, and only 3 mobile 75 mm guns remain operational due to being hidden away in tunnels, while only one of the mortars remains operational along with 2 of the 155 mm guns due to hurried repairs. Casualties are relatively light each day, but add up to 100 of the 720 men on the island, including 30 dead. Every structure, including the concrete ones, are damaged significantly and much of the brush and trees have been blasted or burned away.
By the night of May 13, the fort has been pounded to the point where the personnel are exhausted and when the shooting stops that evening, even the normal harassment shelling by the Kondo Detachment (with its 4 x 4.7 inch guns and 2 x 150 howitzers) which have been bothering all four forts every night for the last few days, the exhausted garrison mostly collapses from exhaustion and desperate need for rest. Thus they fail to note the movement of 45 bankas down the coast from Cavite harbor and the loading of the troops of the Guards Reconnaissance battalion on the beach across the half mile of water from the port. It is not until the boats are within a couple of hundred yards from the small beach at the base of the narrow cove below the loading derrick (which has been obliterated already). To defend this only vulnerable point, a provisional rifle company consisting of gunners from those weapons that have been knocked out already, hurriedly takes up positions and as the boats come into range, open fire with 22 machine guns of heavy and medium caliber, all 3 of its 75 mm guns, and of course every rifle that is available. The military police (now infantry) of the 803rd MP Company, remain in reserve. The American and Philippine Scouts inflict a fearful slaughter, sinking 22 of the 45 boats before they even reach shore, and killing many of the troops that manage to make it to the beach. But 150 of them survive and cling to base of the cliff, returning fire with knee mortars and light machine guns, while others use the darkness as well as the incredible stealth and suicidal bravery for which they will be known throughout the Pacific War, Japanese infantry begin to move up the narrow steep sloped ravine toward the top of the bluff.
They have accomplished their mission already however, as the full attention of the garrison is on the beach and thus misses the approach of 8 small steamers, tug boats and pilot boats that have moved across Manila Bay from Cavite taking advantage of the darkness and shelling of Fort Mills by Kondo along with an unusually heavy night air raid that has Fort Mills completely distracted. Between them the craft have 600 troops of the Guards Cavalry Regiment, and each craft has one or two scaling ladders taken from fire departments in Japan and shipped specifically for this mission. The craft approach the base of the cliff directly below the searchlight stations (all of which have been knocked out) and with excellent seamanship, the skippers hold their craft steady long enough for each of their passengers to climb up the ladders to the clifftop above. The entire force reaches the top with only 20 men falling to their deaths due to missteps and have achieved complete surprise.
For the boats and their crews it is a brilliant success for the Navy, marred only by two of the larger steamers ripping open their hulls to rocks on the way out (and sinking soon after) and allows the Navy to recover some of the lost face they have suffered in the Philippines Campaign so far.
The Guards Cavalry quickly overruns nearly a third of the island and it is not until they overrun men of the crew of the 14 inch gun of Battery Greer who are attempting to repair their gun and a frantic survivor runs off to warn the 803rd MP Company that the garrison is alerted. By then it is too late, as the Japanese Cavalry troopers hit the American soldiers by surprise and quickly slaughter most of them in an intense battle in the concrete communications trench that connects the various gun batteries. The American survivors are routed, and this leaves the rear of the coast artillery troops wide open. They too retreat, although in decent order, and thus the beach is now open and the surviving troops of the Guards Reconnaissance Battalion manage to climb up to the top (all 60 survivors). Enough boats survived the slaughter that the rest of that battalion, along with an engineer company, is ferried across by dawn.
Meanwhile Colonel Octave De Carre, commander of the 92nd Coast Artillery and garrison commander, views disaster in the face. With little choice, as his garrison is down to only 350 shaken men still on their feet, all his major weapons knocked out or overrun and with no hope of taking the island back, he surrenders his men at 0800 on May 14.
View attachment 359951
Official US Army Plans of Fort Frank, Manila Bay as of the 1930s
In a mere 48 hours, the Manila Defense Command has suffered very harsh blows and is left in shock. Only the arrival of submarines on the nights of May 8, May 10, and May 12 partially reduce the pain, as over 90 tons of supplies and 30 tons of mail are delivered, while 40 crippled hospital patients, 10 nurses and 10 staff officers with vital skills are evacuated.
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