Last week, we covered the first carrier battle in history, one of the most important events of
the Pacific War which directly tied with the American victory at Midway. Thus,
the Battle of the Coral Sea and the downfall of Operation MO were such important events that they
warranted their own episode, but in that week, other developments were also unfolding as well.
The most important one was the Battle of Corregidor, leading up to the events of this week
in which the whole of the Philippines were finally taken. So join us as we look
at General Homma’s last offensive and the final surrender of the Filipino defenders.
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April had been a good month for General Homma and the Japanese forces based in the Philippines.
After receiving some strong reinforcements, he had finally broken through the American
defenses on the Bataan Peninsula, culminating with the surrender of General King on April 9.
Further operations against the Visayas had also been carried out successfully, and he now counted
with a foothold from where to launch his invasion of Mindanao. Now, the last obstacle that he had
to overcome was the American island fortress of Corregidor . There, General Wainwright maintained
control over the Manila Bay with a garrison of some 13000 men, including the 4th Marines Regiment
of Colonel Samuel Howard. Known to the Americans as the Gibraltar of the East, Corregidor had been
heavily fortified across its history, yet its defenses had not been improved since World War
One. It nonetheless boasted a formidable armament of some 56 coastal guns and mortars, 48 machine
guns , 28 3-inches guns and 10 Sperry searchlights . This constituted the Harbor Defenses , which was
led by General Moore in an effort to protect the beaches and execute inshore patrols. Furthermore,
his responsibility not only included Corregidor, but also the three other fortified islands that
protected Manila Bay. Moore had also tried to update thd’s fortifications prior to the war,
but he had had little time and thus wasn’t able to correct the most important weaknesses of the
harbor defenses: their vulnerability against air attacks and on their landward flanks.
In result, Corregidor had been regularly bombarded from December 28 to January 6
by the strong air forces commanded by Lieutenant-General Obata Hideyoshi, suffering
heavy damage and a morale drop, but luckily keeping the armament of the island unscathed.
The defenders were also suffering from food shortage and living on 30 ounces of food per day.
When bombardments killed horses of the cavalry, the men would drag the carcasses down to the mess
hall for consumption. Additionally, Japanese artillery from Cavite intermittently shelled
the defenders’ positions during the month of February, although failing to cause severe
damage. By March 15, new reinforcements arrived to start a heavier bombardment from Pico de Loro,
which caused much damage to Forts Frank and Drum. With the fall of Bataan, however,
General Homma could now place his heavy artillery on the slopes of the Mariveles Mountains,
from where he could now start inflicting some real damage over the American defenses. Meanwhile,
to the south, General Sharp was also working tirelessly to make all defenses ready on Mindanao.
There, he had three poorly-trained and inadequately-equipped Filipino divisions , with
few artillery pieces but with an additional division being recently organized at Cagayan.
Sharp divided the defense of Mindanao into five sectors , with the most important being
the Cotabato-Davao Sector, where the Japanese had already landed back in December, 1941.
Whereas Corregidor’s importance lay with its ability to control Manila Bay, MacArthur desired
to use Mindanao as a base for his reconquest of the Philippines, so keeping American control of
the island was also of the utmost importance. As for the Japanese, they kept a small presence
over Davao with the battalion-strong Miura Detachment , under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Miura Toshio. Since his arrival to the island, Miura had tried
to extend his control into the interior, but even despite the air and artillery support,
he hadn’t been successful in this endeavour. With the fall of Panay and Cebu, however,
Homma prepared to finally seize the island with a coordinated attack from three directions, so Miura
was ordered to move to the town of Digos, from where he would strike towards the Sayre Highway.
At the same time, the Kawaguchi Detachment was to land at Cotabato on the west coast,
where a small force would advance east to link with Miura’s troops while the bulk of the
detachment pushed north towards Cagayan. Finally, the Kawamura Detachment was to land at the head
of the Macajalar Bay, with a small force striking west to meet Kawaguchi’s men while the rest of the
detachment marched south along the Sayre Highway. Thus, Homma planned to encircle and neutralize the
American defenders across three fronts. On April 26, the operation was set in motion with the
departure from Cebu of the Kawaguchi Detachment, followed by Kawamura from Panay five days later.
At dawn on April 29, the day of Hirohito's birthday, Kawaguchi’s men began to land at
Cotabato and Parang. Whereas they could come ashore unharmed at Cotabato, Kawaguchi saw much
more opposition at Parang. There, the 1st Regiment of Colonel Calixto Duque had established solid
defensive positions at the beaches, which enabled him to hold the town for more than six hours.
Despite initially landing without problem at Cotabato, Kawaguchi also saw heavy resistance
when entering the city, only managing to push the Filipinos back with the aid of Japanese aircraft.
Soon, both Calixto’s men and the 101st Division found themselves encircled and had to withdraw
inland . In the meantime, Miura had moved against Digos in strength, engaging the
Filipino forces there and starting his advance west towards the Sayre Highway. The defenders,
led by Lieutenant-Colonel Reed Graves, opposed the Japanese advance stubbornly and got to effectively
slow them down with mortar fire. On April 30, though, Kawaguchi began his advance eastwards
towards Miura’s position, both moving overland and sailing up the river . This was very dangerous,
as the Japanese could rapidly set up roadblocks in front of the retreating men of the 101st Division.
And this is exactly what the invaders would do, capturing Pikit and forcing the Filipinos to move
north and away from the roads. From there, Kawaguchi then wanted to advance on Kabacan,
where he would completely cut off Graves’ men. A race would thus start for the heart of the sector.
Meanwhile, the Japanese would also start to advance from Parang towards Malabang,
which was held by the 61st Regiment of Colonel Eugene Mitchell. There, the defenders immediately
withdrew to some better defensive positions behind the Mataling River. When Kawaguchi
landed at the city, action immediately opened along the Mataling line. The Filipinos held on
for a few hours, but, having suffered heavy casualties, they started to give way against
the incessant hammering of Kawaguchi’s men. Desperately, Mitchell launched a counterattack
against his weakened rear, but the arrival of Japanese artillery and the reluctance of
some of the Filipino soldiers to attack ended up forcing his men to retreat . The following day,
the 61st was engaged again by Kawaguchi’s men, suffering heavy casualties and having to continue
its withdrawal northwards. Although they were later reinforced by elements of the 84th Regiment,
a third Japanese assault finally overran and routed the defenders. Making his way to the rear,
Mitchell reorganized the remainder of his forces with a detachment of the 81st Regiment,
but hot on their heels, the Japanese struck and finally annihilated the Filipino force,
capturing Mitchell in the process . Now, Kawaguchi aimed his detachment against the town of Ganassi,
where the 73rd Regiment Led by Lt. Col Robert Vesey stood as his last obstacle on the way to
Cagayan. On May 2, Kawaguchi’s vanguard started a preliminary assault, which rapidly forced the
defenders to withdraw towards Bacolod, though the Japanese would not keep their pressure.
In the meantime, after carrying out successful delaying actions against the Miura Detachment,
Graves was ordered to withdraw immediately or else get annihilated by the enemy. By a hair’s breadth,
the Filipinos would get to escape through Kabacan just as the town was starting to be
attacked by the Japanese. They would then set up defensive positions along the Sayre Highway,
successfully holding their ground against the invaders until the end of the campaign.
Early on May 3, Kawaguchi resumed his advance towards Cagayan, but was abruptly stopped by
the successful delaying actions of the 73rd. One IJA tank attempted to cross a stream (and was
knocked out by a 2.95" mountain gun while the 73rd shot out the IJA halting them. Yet despite them,
the Japanese would manage to start a renewed assault, as they received artillery support
and that sent the defenders packing. With this victory, Kawaguchi had consolidated
his control over southern and western Mindanao, only leaving the Filipinos on the north standing.
There, however, the Kawamura Detachment had landed at two points during the early hours of May 3.
Supported by Japanese destroyers and aircraft, Kawamura’s forces quickly came ashore
and successfully pushed back the defenders. Only a strong counterattack by the 103rd Regiment
almost managed to drive back the invaders into the sea, but the retreat of the other elements
of the 102nd Division ended up forcing the regiment to withdraw as well. At this point,
General Sharp sent forward his reserves to halt the Japanese advance along the Sayre Highway.
By nightfall, new defensive positions were thus established parallel to the Mangima Canyon, with
three regiments holding the town of Dalirig and two regiments defending Puntian. Luckily for them,
Kawamura decided not to continue his advance, so the defenders could dig in at their new positions.
But before we can conclude the invasion of Mindanao, we have to look back to Corregidor.
With his heavy artillery now in place on the slopes of the Mariveles Mountains
and along the shores of Cabcaben, Homma was preparing his final assault against Corregidor.
The 4th Division of General Kitano was selected to carry out two consecutive amphibious
attacks , reinforced with the 7th Tank Regiment and one battalion of mountain artillery , while
at the same time, the 16th Division would launch a feint attack from Cavite against Forts Frank and
Drum. For the assault, the Japanese artillery had the most important task, starting their incessant
barrage of the island on April 10. This force, led by Major-General Kitajima Kineo, included
18 batteries with some 116 field pieces and had to neutralize the enemy’s guns, destroy Corregidor’s
installations, sink vessels in the bay and allow Japanese aircraft to get close to the island with
the destruction of all anti-aircraft guns and short-range batteries. It would also drown out
the noise of the transports’ engines as they entered Manila Bay through the North Channel,
successfully allowing the invaders to assemble some 60 transports at the bay by April 22.
During the 27 days of siege, Kitajima’s artillery unleashed hell upon the defenders with great
effectiveness, raining such a heavy amount of fire over them that most of the beach defenses
ended up demolished, the anti-aircraft guns destroyed and the land cratered. The shelling
never really stopped , making it impossible to repair or replace any of the defenses.
The devastation caused by the Japanese was also accompanied by several aerial bombardments,
which were carried out by the 22nd Air Brigade. Emboldened by the success of the artillery,
the pilots came in at lower altitudes and bombed much more accurately, thus increasing
the damage to the American defenses . By the start of May, large sections
of Corregidor lay shrouded under a dense cloud of smoke and dust;
and now, the even heavier pre-assault bombardment was commencing. With such barrage, the only place
safe for the Americans was on the Malinta Tunnels , but they could not fight back from there.
Concentrated fire over the narrow tail of the island hinted where the assault was going to take
place, but the harshness of the attacks left this area really vulnerable. With each passing day,
the intensity of the bombardment increased to the disbelief of the demoralized defenders;
and by May 5, the defenses of Corregidor had truly been destroyed, with dust laying
so heavy over the island that the men could not see beyond their position. That night,
Kitano’s assault was commencing and the fall of Corregidor was coming close to fruition.
Surprisingly, the defenders valiantly employed the few remaining batteries they had against
the invaders, managing to sink a number of boats and inflicting hundreds of casualties.
Then, after running to the island in the dark, the 61st Regiment came ashore further east than
expected, immediately starting to push west towards Malinta Hill and south against Monkey
Point. By the early hours of May 6, the Japanese had taken the position of Battery Denver,
swiftly defeating the little opposition of the US marines and threatening the Malinta Tunnels.
While Moore tried to reinforce the entrance to the tunnels under heavy artillery fire,
the Japanese fended off three consecutive counterattacks against their position.
Desperately, Colonel Howards sent forward his last reserves, a provisional battalion of 500 marines,
sailors and soldiers, which started a last counterattack by 06:00. To the surprise of
the Japanese, the obstinate and bold attack of the Americans managed to make gains, but
it was eventually stalled and the defenders had to retreat. At this point, however, the situation
was very bad for the invaders as well. Several ammunition crates never made the landings and as a
result several Japanese attacks and counterattacks were made using Bayonets The retaliation of the
American batteries had destroyed some 31 vessels, preventing Kitano from launching the second wave
of landings by the 37th Regiment unless Malinta Hill was first taken. Despite this, the 61st had
now assembled with its tanks and artillery and was starting a coordinated assault that managed
to rapidly route the marine defenders. By 10:00, the situation was hopeless for the Americans.
Knowing that a wholesale slaughter would occur if the Japanese got to the tunnels,
General Wainwright had no other choice but to surrender the four fortified islands in Manila
Bay . While he traveled to Bataan, the Japanese actually got to seize the Malinta Tunnels,
leaving the men there to their mercy. Despite Wainwright’s initial reluctance to surrender the
rest of the Philippines, General Homma finally forced him to order the Visayan-Mindanao forces
to surrender as well or else the 11000 men in Corregidor could be brutally executed. At
Mindanao, May 6 had actually seen Kawamura resume his offensive with an attack against Dalirig,
yet he made little progress against the defenders. Only on May 9 could the town be taken as the
62nd Regiment retreated in disarray, but this effectively breached the Mangima line and left
northern Mindanao in the hands of the invaders. General Sharp was in a difficult position,
if he ignored the surrender order from Wainwright, the hostages on Corregidor could be massacred.
Yet his men were still capable of mounting guerilla warfare and several smaller groups
were released from his command while the remaining defenders retreated to their mountain-hideouts.
Between May 10 and 15, Wainwright’s orders for surrender began to arrive to the commanders of
the scattered Filipino forces. Generals Sharp and Chynoweth, among many others , decided to
surrender to avoid the slaughter of the Corregidor garrison, but many officers refused to carry out
these orders and continued to fight as guerrilla groups, mostly made of Filipino soldiers. Most
of these guerrillas would continue to fight until the liberation of the Philippines, proving to be
pivotal for the operations that would take place there in the future. The last place to surrender
would be the island of Negros, where the Filipino forces mutineed against their commander and held
hostage some 200 Japanese internees. Eventually , most of the Filipinos surrendered on June 3,
but two of these battalions never surrendered at all, thus continuing the fight from the mountains.
With this, however, the fall of the Philippines had been completed after six months of long
resistance, and the archipelago was now in the hands of the Japanese. Homma had finally
won the campaign, but Tokyo had expected this to happen by February - in 2 months,
rather than 5 he has spent, so he was promptly and disgracefully relieved from his command.
As for the Allies, the epic of Bataan and Corregidor would act as a beacon of
hope for the future, proving that the Japanese were not really unstoppable.
Next episode, we will look at some of the events that we didn’t get to cover in the last few weeks,
primarily focusing on the final evacuation of Burma, and if you don’t want to miss that episode,
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