roughly 13,000 in OTL --- 4 coast artillery regiments and 1 Marine regiment plus Department HQ and Admin personnel
Eisenhower in the Pacific: Part 1 The Shoestring Warriors of Luzon
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- Start date
roughly 13,000 in OTL --- 4 coast artillery regiments and 1 Marine regiment plus Department HQ and Admin personnel
The Fall of Bataan (part 3)
Night April 29/April 30
The Philippine Army's 1st Infantry Division, down to 3,700 men, has been moving since early afternoon to get into position to attack the flanks of the Japanese eastern drive. Around 2200 hours (times are estimated from interviews post war), the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 1st Infantry Division launch the last Filipino counterattack of the campaign into the I Corps area, where the Japanese 228th Infantry Regiment and elements of 2 Japanese engineer battalions are resting after overrunning the support units of that corps. The Filipinos achieve surprise and overwhelm several unprepared Japanese platoons before the Japanese swiftly rally and launch their own counterattack. A fierce fight lasts nearly an hour before the Filipino troops exhaust their ammunition and are forced to pull back. The Japanese pursue, and heavy fighting lasts until dawn when the Japanese pause to rest. The battered remnants of the 1st Philippine Army Division begin retreated through the eastern slopes of the Bataan Mountains using the jungle to hide them as they head south.
During the night the isolated and cutoff 11th, 12th and 23rd begin to fall apart into small groups. The daring or those led by daring officers or NCOs take small groups and head north, hoping to use the jungle to hide them in hopes of making it north out of Bataan and into the Zambales Mountains. Many of those groups run smack into the Japanese 33rd Infantry Regiment, which along with military police from all 3 Japanese divisions are patrolling the Bagac-Balanga Road. In sharp fights, some still manage to break through and make it north, a number estimated at nearly 1,000 men post war, while a similar number die there or are never heard from again.
A few hundred more take the initiative and head south for Mariveles, but most have reached the point of despair and exhaustion and remain where they are, cut off from supply and communication to higher authority.
At daybreak, Japanese patrols are probing positions held by the 47th and 57th Philippine Scouts on both coast roads and are waiting for additional reinforcements to come up.
Dawn April 30, 1942 The Surrender
General King realizes that further resistance is now hopeless and would lead to nothing more than murder. He has no communications with any division except the 1st Division, and has lost contact with most of I and II Corps. Reports from yesterday are of overwhelming Japanese power and collapsing units. He has formal permission to do what he can to save lives so at 0715 Hours, he sends a party of officers to the Japanese lines with white flags and by 0900 hours King himself is driven to the Japanese headquarters where he meets with General Seichi and formally surrenders.
The final shooting ends at noon.
Four months of bloody fighting on the Bataan Peninsula have come to an end.
Bataan Death March
That afternoon, word finally reaches the various isolated units which are ordered to assemble along both coast roads into temporary camps. No food or water is provided by the Japanese, but most of the men still have a little water and a few bites of food. As a condition of the surrender, the Japanese agree to transport the sick and wounded in Hospital Number One and Hospital Number Two aboard American trucks as long as they are handed over intact. This would be a major mercy for 10,000 Filipino and 1,000 American wounded, sick and medical personnel who are driven to Camp O'Donnell directly. It is the only mercy shown.
The final battle cost the Filipino-American troops approximately 11,000 dead or missing, another 1,000 managed to escape north through the mountains, and 11,000 are transported by truck. Another 1,000 mostly American officers and NCOs are separated from the Filipino units they are assigned, or are special people like Generals Weaver, Parker and King, and are also transported by truck to Manila. Some of these officers are Filipinos with particularly valuable ties to the Filipino elites of Luzon. Those men will soon be released, while the Americans are soon transported to internment camps in Manchuria as captives (as the Japanese generally refuse to honor the conventions honored by the West under the Geneva Convention). They face a brutal captivity but still fare better than the remaining Americans captured at Bataan as well as most of the Filipino troops that remain.
On May 1, roughly 2,500 American and 37,000 Filipino troops begin marching north to the Capas Train Station at San Fernando, a distance of 60-70 miles depending on where their assembly area was, without canteens or rations and with many of the men suffering from diarrhea or malarial fevers. The march is marked by brutal discipline that varied in intensity from group to group, frequent murders and physical abuse, and little mercy shown to the sick. They are then loaded into boxcars, with the doors sealed, in brutal heat, and taken by rail to Camp O'Donnell for initial imprisonment. The official Japanese count from Camp O'Donnell shows the at least 500 American and 15,000 Filipino troops do not make it to the camp. Other post war sources indicate that roughly 5,000 Filipinos and 20 Americans managed to escape during the march. The others were murdered along the way.
The news of the Bataan Death March will reach American intelligence officers through intelligence intercepts in early May, although they are not decoded until mid summer and the first eye witness reports from Americans evacuated with the help of Filipino guerillas reaches the US South Pacific Command in September 1942. The American public is not informed until January 1944 when pictures are released in Life Magazine, along with the awful story.
Nearly 15,000 Filipino troops are released by the Japanese, all Philippine Army personnel, within a few months. Nearly half, along with most of those who escaped either during the Fall of Bataan or during the Death March, join guerrilla forces within a year. For the rest, a miserable and all to often fatal captivity awaits which nearly 30% do not survive.
Perhaps the best epitaph for the men and women of Bataan is this:
Radio Broadcast – Voice of Freedom – Malinta Tunnel – Corregidor –
“ Bataan has fallen. The Philippine-American troops on this war-ravaged and bloodstained peninsula have laid down their arms. With heads bloody but unbowed, they have yielded to the superior force and numbers of the enemy.
The world will long remember the epic struggle that Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coast of Bataan. They have stood up uncomplaining under the constant and grueling fire of the enemy for more than three months. Besieged on land and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and in America, the intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance could bear.
For what sustained them through all these months of incessant battle was a force that was more than merely physical. It was the force of an unconquerable faith—something in the heart and soul that physical hardship and adversity could not destroy. It was the thought of native land and all that it holds most dear, the thought of freedom and dignity and pride in these most priceless of all our human prerogatives.
The adversary, in the pride of his power and triumph, will credit our troops with nothing less than the courage and fortitude that his own troops have shown in battle. Our men have fought a brave and bitterly contested struggle. All the world will testify to the most superhuman endurance with which they stood up until the last in the face of overwhelming odds.
But the decision had to come. Men fighting under the banner of unshakable faith are made of something more than flesh, but they are not made of impervious steel. The flesh must yield at last, endurance melts away, and the end of the battle must come.
Bataan has fallen, but the spirit that made it stand—a beacon to all the liberty-loving peoples of the world—cannot fall!
(authors note: actual message sent on April 9, 1942)
The Philippine Army's 1st Infantry Division, down to 3,700 men, has been moving since early afternoon to get into position to attack the flanks of the Japanese eastern drive. Around 2200 hours (times are estimated from interviews post war), the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 1st Infantry Division launch the last Filipino counterattack of the campaign into the I Corps area, where the Japanese 228th Infantry Regiment and elements of 2 Japanese engineer battalions are resting after overrunning the support units of that corps. The Filipinos achieve surprise and overwhelm several unprepared Japanese platoons before the Japanese swiftly rally and launch their own counterattack. A fierce fight lasts nearly an hour before the Filipino troops exhaust their ammunition and are forced to pull back. The Japanese pursue, and heavy fighting lasts until dawn when the Japanese pause to rest. The battered remnants of the 1st Philippine Army Division begin retreated through the eastern slopes of the Bataan Mountains using the jungle to hide them as they head south.
During the night the isolated and cutoff 11th, 12th and 23rd begin to fall apart into small groups. The daring or those led by daring officers or NCOs take small groups and head north, hoping to use the jungle to hide them in hopes of making it north out of Bataan and into the Zambales Mountains. Many of those groups run smack into the Japanese 33rd Infantry Regiment, which along with military police from all 3 Japanese divisions are patrolling the Bagac-Balanga Road. In sharp fights, some still manage to break through and make it north, a number estimated at nearly 1,000 men post war, while a similar number die there or are never heard from again.
A few hundred more take the initiative and head south for Mariveles, but most have reached the point of despair and exhaustion and remain where they are, cut off from supply and communication to higher authority.
At daybreak, Japanese patrols are probing positions held by the 47th and 57th Philippine Scouts on both coast roads and are waiting for additional reinforcements to come up.
Dawn April 30, 1942 The Surrender
General King realizes that further resistance is now hopeless and would lead to nothing more than murder. He has no communications with any division except the 1st Division, and has lost contact with most of I and II Corps. Reports from yesterday are of overwhelming Japanese power and collapsing units. He has formal permission to do what he can to save lives so at 0715 Hours, he sends a party of officers to the Japanese lines with white flags and by 0900 hours King himself is driven to the Japanese headquarters where he meets with General Seichi and formally surrenders.
The final shooting ends at noon.
Four months of bloody fighting on the Bataan Peninsula have come to an end.
Bataan Death March
That afternoon, word finally reaches the various isolated units which are ordered to assemble along both coast roads into temporary camps. No food or water is provided by the Japanese, but most of the men still have a little water and a few bites of food. As a condition of the surrender, the Japanese agree to transport the sick and wounded in Hospital Number One and Hospital Number Two aboard American trucks as long as they are handed over intact. This would be a major mercy for 10,000 Filipino and 1,000 American wounded, sick and medical personnel who are driven to Camp O'Donnell directly. It is the only mercy shown.
The final battle cost the Filipino-American troops approximately 11,000 dead or missing, another 1,000 managed to escape north through the mountains, and 11,000 are transported by truck. Another 1,000 mostly American officers and NCOs are separated from the Filipino units they are assigned, or are special people like Generals Weaver, Parker and King, and are also transported by truck to Manila. Some of these officers are Filipinos with particularly valuable ties to the Filipino elites of Luzon. Those men will soon be released, while the Americans are soon transported to internment camps in Manchuria as captives (as the Japanese generally refuse to honor the conventions honored by the West under the Geneva Convention). They face a brutal captivity but still fare better than the remaining Americans captured at Bataan as well as most of the Filipino troops that remain.
On May 1, roughly 2,500 American and 37,000 Filipino troops begin marching north to the Capas Train Station at San Fernando, a distance of 60-70 miles depending on where their assembly area was, without canteens or rations and with many of the men suffering from diarrhea or malarial fevers. The march is marked by brutal discipline that varied in intensity from group to group, frequent murders and physical abuse, and little mercy shown to the sick. They are then loaded into boxcars, with the doors sealed, in brutal heat, and taken by rail to Camp O'Donnell for initial imprisonment. The official Japanese count from Camp O'Donnell shows the at least 500 American and 15,000 Filipino troops do not make it to the camp. Other post war sources indicate that roughly 5,000 Filipinos and 20 Americans managed to escape during the march. The others were murdered along the way.
The news of the Bataan Death March will reach American intelligence officers through intelligence intercepts in early May, although they are not decoded until mid summer and the first eye witness reports from Americans evacuated with the help of Filipino guerillas reaches the US South Pacific Command in September 1942. The American public is not informed until January 1944 when pictures are released in Life Magazine, along with the awful story.
Nearly 15,000 Filipino troops are released by the Japanese, all Philippine Army personnel, within a few months. Nearly half, along with most of those who escaped either during the Fall of Bataan or during the Death March, join guerrilla forces within a year. For the rest, a miserable and all to often fatal captivity awaits which nearly 30% do not survive.
Perhaps the best epitaph for the men and women of Bataan is this:
Radio Broadcast – Voice of Freedom – Malinta Tunnel – Corregidor –
“ Bataan has fallen. The Philippine-American troops on this war-ravaged and bloodstained peninsula have laid down their arms. With heads bloody but unbowed, they have yielded to the superior force and numbers of the enemy.
The world will long remember the epic struggle that Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coast of Bataan. They have stood up uncomplaining under the constant and grueling fire of the enemy for more than three months. Besieged on land and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and in America, the intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance could bear.
For what sustained them through all these months of incessant battle was a force that was more than merely physical. It was the force of an unconquerable faith—something in the heart and soul that physical hardship and adversity could not destroy. It was the thought of native land and all that it holds most dear, the thought of freedom and dignity and pride in these most priceless of all our human prerogatives.
The adversary, in the pride of his power and triumph, will credit our troops with nothing less than the courage and fortitude that his own troops have shown in battle. Our men have fought a brave and bitterly contested struggle. All the world will testify to the most superhuman endurance with which they stood up until the last in the face of overwhelming odds.
But the decision had to come. Men fighting under the banner of unshakable faith are made of something more than flesh, but they are not made of impervious steel. The flesh must yield at last, endurance melts away, and the end of the battle must come.
Bataan has fallen, but the spirit that made it stand—a beacon to all the liberty-loving peoples of the world—cannot fall!
(authors note: actual message sent on April 9, 1942)
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authors note: I have a personal link to the Bataan Death March, as my Uncle who served in the Texas New Mexico National Guard was present for it. I never met him, as he died a few years after the war ended having never left the VA Hospital he entered postwar.
So in his memory and the memory of all the others...
The Bataan Death March Memorial at Las Cruces NM, which specifically honors the unit he served in...
So in his memory and the memory of all the others...
The Bataan Death March Memorial at Las Cruces NM, which specifically honors the unit he served in...
Just got caught up on this story. Very well done and quite interesting. It's too bad Philippines was lost...but realistically there was no way to save it. Between holding longer and inflicting heavier losses then otl, plus evacuation some troops least it throws the Japanese empire timeline off and lays seeds that'll wreck them later on
A 26 mile hike is performed each year at White Sands Missile Range the last weekend in March. This has been held since 1989. It is sponsored by WSMR, US Army, and both the New Mexco and Minnesota National Guards participate. I walked it 10 years or so ago and survivors of the original Death March participated. Up to 12,000 marchers have participated in a march. During the 2015 memorial march, 10 Bataan survivors shook every participants' hand at the start and finish line. Seven Bataan survivors plan to attend the 2016 Bataan Memorial Death March. There is a 1,400' elevation climb. The original route with 100 or so marchers went from New Mexico State University and over Baylor Pass and down to White Sands Missile Range Parade Field. This was not practical or safe for more marchers.authors note: I have a personal link to the Bataan Death March, as my Uncle who served in the Texas New Mexico National Guard was present for it. I never met him, as he died a few years after the war ended having never left the VA Hospital he entered postwar.
So in his memory and the memory of all the others...
The Bataan Death March Memorial at Las Cruces NM, which specifically honors the unit he served in...
The Gibraltar of the East: Corregidor May 1942
The Gibraltar of the East
Fort Mills, the official designation of Corregidor, and its associated harbor forts, have been in the Japanese crosshairs since the beginning of the war. The entire point of the Bataan Campaign was to keep the Japanese from bringing artillery within range of the island forts for as long as possible. For months under frequent bombing attack it is not until the Fall of Bataan that the real siege of the 'Gibraltar of the East' begins in earnest
As of April 1942, the Harbor defenses of Manila Bay are the sole concern of the US Army Manila Bay Defense Command, under Major General George F. Moore. He has men from the US Army, Philippine Scouts, Philippine Army, Philippine Coast Guard, US Marine Corps and US Navy under his command and his force is now the sole remaining conventional Filipino-American force in the Philippine Islands after the fall of the southern and central islands and the surrender at Bataan on April 30.
Fort Mills (Corregidor)
3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles across (at widest point) and is tadpole shaped and is located 2 miles from the closest point on Bataan. In total land area it has 2,200 acres
Geology and climate.
Geologically consists of Topside (the largest section, the head of the tadpole, with the highest point over 600 feet above sea level, then plunging down to Bottomside, which is barely above sea level before rising again into Malinta Hill which is Middleside and trailing gradually to the tip of its tale which post war has become known as Tailside. Prewar the island was heavily forested, with the typical lush flora found throughout the Philippines except for the areas cleared for installations, the parade ground and the small airstrip at the tail.
Infrastructure
Tailside: Kindley Field (2,400 yard landing strip), small tunnel with Navy Intercept Station
Middleside: Malinta Tunnel 1,400 feet long, 30 feet wide, with 25 laterals each 400 feet long plus the Hospital with an additional 14 laterals (with 1,000 beds and extensive facilities). Co-located is the Navy Tunnel which is similar in size to the Hospital. Has blowers to clear the air, an electric trolley system, and the tunnel system is where all the shops as well as the primary location for headquarters, stores, medical facilities and most of the headquarters and support personnel.
Bottomside: Peacetime location of warehouses, cold storage facility, and the power plant along with the civilian barrio (village) of San Jose. The civilian population (mainly employees of the US Department of the Army or civilian dependents of Philippine Scout officers and enlisted men, where evacuated in early December 1941. The equipment from the cold storage and power plant were moved into the Malinta Tunnel and reinstalled. Most of the buildings were stripped of useful lumber for defensive positions, and the contents inside mostly went to make those positions marginally more comfortable. The two docks remain operational as of May 1, 1942.
Topside: Location of the majority of the heavy seacoast guns and antiaircraft guns, as well as Topside Barracks, the parade ground, officers quarters and barracks, as well as the lighthouse, radio transmitter, and radar station.
Additional infrastructure: 65 miles paved roads and trails, 13.5 miles of electric railway, 21 deep wells (water), diesel generators for all batteries and the Malinta Tunnel complex,
Heavy Guns
Battery Hearn and Battery Smith (each 1 x 12 inch gun, range 27,000 yards, AP ammunition only)(360 degree traverse, open mounts)(after March, the 1,070 pound round with an .05 second fuze is modified so that it can burst on impact, however it has a relatively small bursting charge although still similar in size to an 85 mm shell)
Battery Cheney, Battery Wheeler, Battery Crockett, (each 2 x 12 inch guns, range 17,000 yards) (see Battery Hearn)
Battery Way (4 x 12 inch mortars) and Battery Geary (8 x 12 inch mortars)(each has a range of 14,000 yards with a 700 pound shell or 2,400 yards with a 1,046 pound shell). These mortars have a limited number of high explosive rounds (only 1,000 rounds) available but can reach targets on Bataan due to their 360 degree traverse. However they are vulnerable to plunging fire and bombing as they are open mounts in a pit.
Battery Grubbs (2 x 10 inch guns)(range 14,000 yards, same issues as the 12 inch guns in terms of vulnerability and limitations)
Battery Malinta (1 x 8 inch gun)(range 24,000 yards, atop Malinta Hill, brought over from Bataan and crewed by Philippine Army personnel beginning January 1942)(has plenty of HE ammunition)
Medium Guns
Battery Morrison, Battery Ramsey (2 or 3 x 6 inch guns)(range 13,000 yards, open pit mounts)
Batteries Martin, Hamilton, Kysor, Rock Point, Sunset, Stockade, Monja, Cocepcion, Levagood (2 or 3 x 155 guns with a range of 17,000 yards but have an inadequate supply of HE rounds and thus counter battery fire will be limited).
Antiaircraft Defense
28 x 3 inch AA Guns, effective range 27,000 feet
48 x 50 caliber machine guns deployed throughout the island to fight strafers
10 x 60 inch searchlights
Anti landing Defenses
Batteries James, Keyes, Cushing, Hanna each with 2 x 3 inch guns
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion / 59th Coast Artillery (this battalion formed April 1942, with 8 x 75 mm guns, 12 x M1 4.2 inch mortars that arrived by submarine along with illumination and HE rounds) (4th Battalion located at Tailside)(also has a MG company with 12 x 30 caliber liquid cooled machine guns)
Organic weapons assigned to 1st Marine Battalion (separate) (12 x 37 mm guns, 24 x 50 caliber machine guns)(located at Malinta Hill and Bottomside)
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion/91st Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts)
(created April 1942 from artillery personnel evacuated from Bataan)(organized as an light artillery/heavy machine gun battalion with 12 x 75 mm guns (French 75s) and 24 x 30 caliber machine guns (M2 type, arrived by Submarine in March 1942) and has a platoon of 4 x 4.2 inch mortars for illumination.) Defending platoon sized positions along the perimeter of Topside, with most concentrated on the coast facing Mariveles and Bataan.
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion/92nd Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts)
(created along with the 4th/59th and 4/91st and equipped as a machine gun battalion with 36 x 30 caliber (M2 type) machine guns and 36 x Boys Anti Tank Rifles. Assigned to the defense of Topside as a mobile reserve. Also supports the 60th Coast Artillery (AA) and rest of the 92nd Coast Artillery (AA) in defending against any strafing aircraft.
Mobile Forces
26th Cavalry Regiment (500 men) reorganized as a battalion from the survivors of the 26th Cavalry Regiment (PS), 112th Cavalry Regiment, and 192nd Tank Battalion. They are the survivors of the 9th Cavalry Brigade which at the start of the war had 3,500 armored, mechanized and mounted troops and they have been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their outstanding service in the campaign so far. They have the last 5 American M3 Stuart tanks in the Philippines along with 6 Halftracks equipped with 75 mm guns The vehicles and their crews are in Malinta Tunnel along with the dismounted cavalrymen and are the counterattack force for a landing at Bottomside or Tailside.
809th Military Police Company was reorganized as an infantry company at Eisenhower's order, and spent much of the siege on Bataan until March when it went to Corregidor and late April when it was sent to Fort Frank, which as it was within 500 yards from Cavite Province needed an infantry garrison to back up its coast artillery gunners.
1st Engineer Brigade (Philippine Army) has been spending the last few months digging entrenchments and dugouts and then rebuilding positions and repairing damage. In a pinch, this force can be used as an infantry force although it is equipped only with a few submachineguns, with the rest of the men having only shotguns and a few old World War I Enfields. Spread about the island doing its work.
65th Infantry Regiment (US Army) fought extremely well at Lingayen Gulf and at Bataan but has been reorganized as a single battalion with 4 infantry companies and 1 weapons company. Located Topside to act as a mobile reserve in case of a landing.
31st Infantry Regiment (US Army). As for the 65th Infantry Regiment but located Topside just above Bottomside as a mobile reserve.
Manpower
65th Infantry Regiment (600 men)
31st Infantry Regiment (600 men)
1st Engineer Brigade (1,500 men)
26th Cavalry Regiment (500 men)
1st Marine Battalion (separate)(900 men)
59th, 60th, 91st, 92nd Coast Artillery Regiments (8,000 men)
Headquarters and Support personnel (2,500 men)
Misc Bataan escapees (2,200) (1,200 assigned to the Coast Artillery,500 to Support, remainder to Engineer Brigade)
Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, US Army Air Force personnel (400 men)
18,200 military personnel plus 1,000 civilians (many of whom are working as support and medical personnel)
plus 700 hospital patients (nearly all Americans) who were evacuated from Bataan or were wounded on the Rock
Other Islands
Fort Frank (Carabao Island) located 500 yards from Cavite, has cliffs 100 feet high all around the island except for a small point. It has a 2 x 14 inch guns, 8 x 12 inch mortars, 4 x 155 mm guns, and 4 x 3 inch AA guns plus numerous heavy and medium machine guns. A battalion of the 91st Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts) plus the 809th MP Company defends the island with 600 coast artillerymen (including reinforcements sent over from Bataan in April) and 120 US Infantry (who used to be military police).
Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)
The concrete battleship has 4 x 14 inch guns in turrets, plus 4 x 6 inch guns in casemates and 2 x 3 inch AA guns plus 3 light guns pointed toward Manila Bay. The arc of the turrets and casemate guns are such that there are blind spots directly behind the fort (facing Manila Bay). It has a garrison of 250 including Philippine Coast Guard personnel assigned to the fort after their craft were sunk in April.
Fort Hughes (Caballo Island) is furthest from Manila Bay and screened in part from shellfire from Luzon by Corregidor. Armed with 2 x 14 inch guns, 4 x 12 inch mortars, 2 x 6 inch guns, 3 x 155 mm guns, 3 light guns, it has only 350 men in the garrison until early April when personnel from the 3rd Coast Artillery (Philippine Army) were sent to the island forming a machine gun battalion of 600 men with the rest providing sufficient personnel to add another 100 men to the coast defense gunners.
Total Personnel Manila Bay Defense Command
Fort Mills: 18,200
Fort Frank: 720
Fort Drum: 250
Fort Hughes: 1050
total personnel: 18,220 men plus 1,000 civilians
The Defense Command has several motor launches and small fishing boats at Fort Mills which are hidden and used only when a US submarine is approaching plus a nightly patrol to inspect the signs that the Japanese are trying to clear mines.
Fort Mills, the official designation of Corregidor, and its associated harbor forts, have been in the Japanese crosshairs since the beginning of the war. The entire point of the Bataan Campaign was to keep the Japanese from bringing artillery within range of the island forts for as long as possible. For months under frequent bombing attack it is not until the Fall of Bataan that the real siege of the 'Gibraltar of the East' begins in earnest
As of April 1942, the Harbor defenses of Manila Bay are the sole concern of the US Army Manila Bay Defense Command, under Major General George F. Moore. He has men from the US Army, Philippine Scouts, Philippine Army, Philippine Coast Guard, US Marine Corps and US Navy under his command and his force is now the sole remaining conventional Filipino-American force in the Philippine Islands after the fall of the southern and central islands and the surrender at Bataan on April 30.
Fort Mills (Corregidor)
3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles across (at widest point) and is tadpole shaped and is located 2 miles from the closest point on Bataan. In total land area it has 2,200 acres
Geology and climate.
Geologically consists of Topside (the largest section, the head of the tadpole, with the highest point over 600 feet above sea level, then plunging down to Bottomside, which is barely above sea level before rising again into Malinta Hill which is Middleside and trailing gradually to the tip of its tale which post war has become known as Tailside. Prewar the island was heavily forested, with the typical lush flora found throughout the Philippines except for the areas cleared for installations, the parade ground and the small airstrip at the tail.
Infrastructure
Tailside: Kindley Field (2,400 yard landing strip), small tunnel with Navy Intercept Station
Middleside: Malinta Tunnel 1,400 feet long, 30 feet wide, with 25 laterals each 400 feet long plus the Hospital with an additional 14 laterals (with 1,000 beds and extensive facilities). Co-located is the Navy Tunnel which is similar in size to the Hospital. Has blowers to clear the air, an electric trolley system, and the tunnel system is where all the shops as well as the primary location for headquarters, stores, medical facilities and most of the headquarters and support personnel.
Bottomside: Peacetime location of warehouses, cold storage facility, and the power plant along with the civilian barrio (village) of San Jose. The civilian population (mainly employees of the US Department of the Army or civilian dependents of Philippine Scout officers and enlisted men, where evacuated in early December 1941. The equipment from the cold storage and power plant were moved into the Malinta Tunnel and reinstalled. Most of the buildings were stripped of useful lumber for defensive positions, and the contents inside mostly went to make those positions marginally more comfortable. The two docks remain operational as of May 1, 1942.
Topside: Location of the majority of the heavy seacoast guns and antiaircraft guns, as well as Topside Barracks, the parade ground, officers quarters and barracks, as well as the lighthouse, radio transmitter, and radar station.
Additional infrastructure: 65 miles paved roads and trails, 13.5 miles of electric railway, 21 deep wells (water), diesel generators for all batteries and the Malinta Tunnel complex,
Heavy Guns
Battery Hearn and Battery Smith (each 1 x 12 inch gun, range 27,000 yards, AP ammunition only)(360 degree traverse, open mounts)(after March, the 1,070 pound round with an .05 second fuze is modified so that it can burst on impact, however it has a relatively small bursting charge although still similar in size to an 85 mm shell)
Battery Cheney, Battery Wheeler, Battery Crockett, (each 2 x 12 inch guns, range 17,000 yards) (see Battery Hearn)
Battery Way (4 x 12 inch mortars) and Battery Geary (8 x 12 inch mortars)(each has a range of 14,000 yards with a 700 pound shell or 2,400 yards with a 1,046 pound shell). These mortars have a limited number of high explosive rounds (only 1,000 rounds) available but can reach targets on Bataan due to their 360 degree traverse. However they are vulnerable to plunging fire and bombing as they are open mounts in a pit.
Battery Grubbs (2 x 10 inch guns)(range 14,000 yards, same issues as the 12 inch guns in terms of vulnerability and limitations)
Battery Malinta (1 x 8 inch gun)(range 24,000 yards, atop Malinta Hill, brought over from Bataan and crewed by Philippine Army personnel beginning January 1942)(has plenty of HE ammunition)
Medium Guns
Battery Morrison, Battery Ramsey (2 or 3 x 6 inch guns)(range 13,000 yards, open pit mounts)
Batteries Martin, Hamilton, Kysor, Rock Point, Sunset, Stockade, Monja, Cocepcion, Levagood (2 or 3 x 155 guns with a range of 17,000 yards but have an inadequate supply of HE rounds and thus counter battery fire will be limited).
Antiaircraft Defense
28 x 3 inch AA Guns, effective range 27,000 feet
48 x 50 caliber machine guns deployed throughout the island to fight strafers
10 x 60 inch searchlights
Anti landing Defenses
Batteries James, Keyes, Cushing, Hanna each with 2 x 3 inch guns
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion / 59th Coast Artillery (this battalion formed April 1942, with 8 x 75 mm guns, 12 x M1 4.2 inch mortars that arrived by submarine along with illumination and HE rounds) (4th Battalion located at Tailside)(also has a MG company with 12 x 30 caliber liquid cooled machine guns)
Organic weapons assigned to 1st Marine Battalion (separate) (12 x 37 mm guns, 24 x 50 caliber machine guns)(located at Malinta Hill and Bottomside)
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion/91st Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts)
(created April 1942 from artillery personnel evacuated from Bataan)(organized as an light artillery/heavy machine gun battalion with 12 x 75 mm guns (French 75s) and 24 x 30 caliber machine guns (M2 type, arrived by Submarine in March 1942) and has a platoon of 4 x 4.2 inch mortars for illumination.) Defending platoon sized positions along the perimeter of Topside, with most concentrated on the coast facing Mariveles and Bataan.
Organic and attached weapons assigned to 4th Battalion/92nd Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts)
(created along with the 4th/59th and 4/91st and equipped as a machine gun battalion with 36 x 30 caliber (M2 type) machine guns and 36 x Boys Anti Tank Rifles. Assigned to the defense of Topside as a mobile reserve. Also supports the 60th Coast Artillery (AA) and rest of the 92nd Coast Artillery (AA) in defending against any strafing aircraft.
Mobile Forces
26th Cavalry Regiment (500 men) reorganized as a battalion from the survivors of the 26th Cavalry Regiment (PS), 112th Cavalry Regiment, and 192nd Tank Battalion. They are the survivors of the 9th Cavalry Brigade which at the start of the war had 3,500 armored, mechanized and mounted troops and they have been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their outstanding service in the campaign so far. They have the last 5 American M3 Stuart tanks in the Philippines along with 6 Halftracks equipped with 75 mm guns The vehicles and their crews are in Malinta Tunnel along with the dismounted cavalrymen and are the counterattack force for a landing at Bottomside or Tailside.
809th Military Police Company was reorganized as an infantry company at Eisenhower's order, and spent much of the siege on Bataan until March when it went to Corregidor and late April when it was sent to Fort Frank, which as it was within 500 yards from Cavite Province needed an infantry garrison to back up its coast artillery gunners.
1st Engineer Brigade (Philippine Army) has been spending the last few months digging entrenchments and dugouts and then rebuilding positions and repairing damage. In a pinch, this force can be used as an infantry force although it is equipped only with a few submachineguns, with the rest of the men having only shotguns and a few old World War I Enfields. Spread about the island doing its work.
65th Infantry Regiment (US Army) fought extremely well at Lingayen Gulf and at Bataan but has been reorganized as a single battalion with 4 infantry companies and 1 weapons company. Located Topside to act as a mobile reserve in case of a landing.
31st Infantry Regiment (US Army). As for the 65th Infantry Regiment but located Topside just above Bottomside as a mobile reserve.
Manpower
65th Infantry Regiment (600 men)
31st Infantry Regiment (600 men)
1st Engineer Brigade (1,500 men)
26th Cavalry Regiment (500 men)
1st Marine Battalion (separate)(900 men)
59th, 60th, 91st, 92nd Coast Artillery Regiments (8,000 men)
Headquarters and Support personnel (2,500 men)
Misc Bataan escapees (2,200) (1,200 assigned to the Coast Artillery,500 to Support, remainder to Engineer Brigade)
Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, US Army Air Force personnel (400 men)
18,200 military personnel plus 1,000 civilians (many of whom are working as support and medical personnel)
plus 700 hospital patients (nearly all Americans) who were evacuated from Bataan or were wounded on the Rock
Other Islands
Fort Frank (Carabao Island) located 500 yards from Cavite, has cliffs 100 feet high all around the island except for a small point. It has a 2 x 14 inch guns, 8 x 12 inch mortars, 4 x 155 mm guns, and 4 x 3 inch AA guns plus numerous heavy and medium machine guns. A battalion of the 91st Coast Artillery (Philippine Scouts) plus the 809th MP Company defends the island with 600 coast artillerymen (including reinforcements sent over from Bataan in April) and 120 US Infantry (who used to be military police).
Fort Drum (El Fraile Island)
The concrete battleship has 4 x 14 inch guns in turrets, plus 4 x 6 inch guns in casemates and 2 x 3 inch AA guns plus 3 light guns pointed toward Manila Bay. The arc of the turrets and casemate guns are such that there are blind spots directly behind the fort (facing Manila Bay). It has a garrison of 250 including Philippine Coast Guard personnel assigned to the fort after their craft were sunk in April.
Fort Hughes (Caballo Island) is furthest from Manila Bay and screened in part from shellfire from Luzon by Corregidor. Armed with 2 x 14 inch guns, 4 x 12 inch mortars, 2 x 6 inch guns, 3 x 155 mm guns, 3 light guns, it has only 350 men in the garrison until early April when personnel from the 3rd Coast Artillery (Philippine Army) were sent to the island forming a machine gun battalion of 600 men with the rest providing sufficient personnel to add another 100 men to the coast defense gunners.
Total Personnel Manila Bay Defense Command
Fort Mills: 18,200
Fort Frank: 720
Fort Drum: 250
Fort Hughes: 1050
total personnel: 18,220 men plus 1,000 civilians
The Defense Command has several motor launches and small fishing boats at Fort Mills which are hidden and used only when a US submarine is approaching plus a nightly patrol to inspect the signs that the Japanese are trying to clear mines.
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authors notes:
Major differences
OTL Corregidor had only about 1,200 trained Marines and another 2,400 former sailors and air force personnel as beach defense and a reserve of only about a company plus no tanks or portable anti tank weapons. Around 14,000 total garrison including the smaller forts.
ITL it has around 1100 trained infantry, a few tanks and self propelled guns, some portable anti tank weapons, dedicated beach defense troops, and engineers to fix damage (that did not exist in OTL) plus enough artillery crews to man all the guns. Another 900 Marines can be used as infantry in a pinch, along with 1,500 engineers. This is a marked difference in terms of ability to deal with an amphibious landing. This garrison is 2,000 men bigger and most of those troops are veteran combat troops who have successfully fought the Japanese in two major battles.
This is the major POD from OTL, the reserve. Another major departure is that dedicated submarines are bringing in supplies and taking out valuable personnel for further service, including large modified submarines
see this post
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...arriors-of-luzon.409504/page-51#post-14672217
Major differences
OTL Corregidor had only about 1,200 trained Marines and another 2,400 former sailors and air force personnel as beach defense and a reserve of only about a company plus no tanks or portable anti tank weapons. Around 14,000 total garrison including the smaller forts.
ITL it has around 1100 trained infantry, a few tanks and self propelled guns, some portable anti tank weapons, dedicated beach defense troops, and engineers to fix damage (that did not exist in OTL) plus enough artillery crews to man all the guns. Another 900 Marines can be used as infantry in a pinch, along with 1,500 engineers. This is a marked difference in terms of ability to deal with an amphibious landing. This garrison is 2,000 men bigger and most of those troops are veteran combat troops who have successfully fought the Japanese in two major battles.
This is the major POD from OTL, the reserve. Another major departure is that dedicated submarines are bringing in supplies and taking out valuable personnel for further service, including large modified submarines
see this post
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...arriors-of-luzon.409504/page-51#post-14672217
A small correction, in 1942 the 65th Inf regiment was an active army regiment, it became part of the Puerto Rico National Guard in 1956 after the Korean War. The PR National Guard regiments at the time were the 295th and 296th. some good sources for the 65 th fighting spirit can be found in “ korea the forgotten war” and “ the fighting 65th”.
Rafael A. Acevedo
LTC (R), FA
Former Fire Support Officer 65th INF regiment
Rafael A. Acevedo
LTC (R), FA
Former Fire Support Officer 65th INF regiment
you are right, my mistake and corrected
one of the reasons the 65th made into this timeline is from my reading of Blair's "Korea the Forgotten War" as it really did superbly