Back in May 1942, after an incredibly successful campaign in the Pacific Theatre, the Japanese
captured the last bastion of US resistance against them. Corregidor, officially named
Fort Mills, was an island bastion situated in the Bay of Manilla in the Philippines.
The capture of the island fortress marked the fall of the entire Philippines and US
resistance in Asia. Now… nearly 3 years later, the United States planned to recapture
the Philippines as the table had turned on the Japanese.
A vital part of the retaking of the Philippines was the retaking of the island fortress of
Corregidor. What followed was a spectacular airborne assault and invasion of the island
where close to 7000 Japanese troops were dug in, and ready to fight to the death.
-intro-
Background to Corregidor
Now, the history and strategic importance of Corregidor to the Americans goes way back.
Already back in 1898 in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, the island guarding
the entrance to Manila Bay in the Philippines had been heavily fortified. The headquarters
on the island was known as Fort Mills, the largest seacoast fortress of the Philippines.
The island became known as ‘the Rock’, with its network of underground tunnels, fortifications
and abundance of natural defences. After the Japanese launched their attack on
the Philippines in December 1941, the Americans and Filipinos managed to hold out for several
months against the invaders. General Douglas MacArthur, the US commander in the Far East,
left the Philippines in February 1942. He left the Corregidor island in a PT boat escaping
to Australia. I’ve created a previous video about those PT boats if that interests you.
Considering the US commander had left, it’s pretty safe to say the Americans were in a
very dire situation although the last remaining forces were still holding on.
The Americans had surrendered the Bataan Peninsula in April that year. Basically surrounded,
Fort Mills under the command of General Jonathan Wainwright, was besieged by the Japanese.
After a month of aerial and artillery bombardments, the Americans clung on to the defence. Although
admittedly, not much was left of the fortresses above-ground structures.
On May 5th over 2000 Japanese infantry troops landed on Corregidor. It was a hopeless case,
and General Wainwright surrendered the next day. The last US stronghold of the Philippines,
Corregidor, had fallen. From then on, the Japanese occupied the Philippines. Now, when
Douglas MacArthur had left the Philippines in February, he is said to have said “I
shall return” - and he would, but not until autumn 1944.
It took much convincing to persuade the American Joint Chiefs of Staff that the reconquest
of the Philippines was a crucial step in defeating Japan. On October 20 1944, Douglas MacArthur
returned, he landed on Leyte island on the eastern side of the Philippines. The Americans
now embarked on their reconquest of the Philippines - and by December that year, US troops were
moving onto Manilla and Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines.
Preparing the mission
The Americans made plans to recapture Manilla - this would eventually culminate in the incredibly
bloody battle of Manilla. Recapturing Manilla had to coincide with the liberation of Corregidor
- and the unit tasked with liberating the island was the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment
under the command of Colonel George M. Jones. Interestingly enough, this regiment had been
the first regiment to perform the first Allied parachute jump in the Pacific Theatre. Once
again, these men would now parachute onto the island fortress in Subic Bay, in an attempt
to clear the Japanese garrison on there. During the US invasion of Leyte island, on the Eastern
side of the Philippines, and subsequent battle, they had been held in reserve, though they
did participate in the amphibious assault on Mindoro, northwest of Leyte. All in all,
these were battle-hardened paratroopers, ready to carry out their mission.
Regardless of the incredible difficulty an invasion of Corregidor posed, the paratroopers
were confident. Perhaps it isn’t too obvious in this video, but the obvious drop zone of
Corregidor was basically a death pit. The island was around 3.5 miles long and only
600 yards wide at its narrowest point. So, the ideal landing strip for the paratroopers
would be on the level low part of the island. Thing is, this part of the island, also known
as ‘bottom side’ was overlooked by higher ground plateau, named topside. And it was
exactly on this plateau Japanese defenders dug themselves in and were all too ready to
launch a barrage of fire on any paratroopers on the ground or amphibious landings on the
beaches. Once landed, the Americans would have to dash over nearly 30 metres of open
ground overseen by the Japanese. That is if they would even reach the ground and not be
shot from the sky beforehand. A suicide mission, and the US commanders figured they had to
find another place to drop the paratroopers. As such, it was decided 3 battalions of the
paratroopers were to be dropped on 2 incredibly small sites on the plateau on topside. The
places on the plateau that were designated as landing areas were a miniature golf course
and a former parade ground. The surrounding area of these landing sites were sloped and
steep, with not much more than a speck on the map viable for the paratroopers to land
on… but it sure beat dropping in an open area with a Japanese garrison unleashing machine
gun fire on them. 6000 paratroopers were readied for the drop. As the airborne assault would
take place, they were supported by an amphibious invasion of tanks, landing crafts and around
1000 infantry soldiers. Alright, so that part of the mission was in
the clear. But there was arguably an even bigger problem: the Americans had absolutely
no idea how many Japanese soldiers were garrisoned at Corregidor! It was assumed between 600
and 1000 Japanese soldiers were holding the island. In fact, there were well over 6000,
both units from the Japanese navy and infantry. Though perhaps this misconception was balanced
out by the fact that the Japanese made mistakes themselves: they figured the US would never
launch an aerial assault - and the defences on the island were primarily readied to counter
an amphibious operation. After all, an aerial assault on the Rock… it was deemed a suicide
mission. The paratroopers were divided into 3 groups
and were to be dropped in 3 separate waves. The C-47s dropping them flew low to the ground
because of the small landing ground: if the paratroopers didn’t accurately coordinate
their jump they would certainly end up in the sea. Now, PT boats were surrounding the
island in order to rescue any paratroopers that ended up in the sea, but still.
Recapturing Corregidor
On February 16th 1945 the operation to recapture Corregidor was launched. Before the paratroopers
were dropped, a massive aerial and naval bombardment took place in order to force the Japanese
underground. Furthermore, the communication systems on the island were destroyed. Because
of this, the commander of the Japanese could not properly instruct his troops in the defence
of the island anymore. In the wake of the bombardments the first
wave of paratroopers now jumped from their aircraft onto Corregidor. The Japanese had
not yet come above ground after the aerial assault, and the men managed to reach the
ground without many casualties. No, the Japanese weren’t the primary danger for this wave
of paratroopers: it was lumps of rock and concrete scattered over the drop zone due
to the bombardment earlier. These sharp shards gave the landings another serious hazard aspect
to worry about. Within 2 hours the entire first wave of paratroopers
had landed on Corregidor. Part of the group landed near a Japanese command post with a
commander in it. A well-targeted grenade ended the command post and left the Japanese garrison
leaderless. By the time General Jones dropped onto the
top plateau, as the final C-47 flew over Corregidor, the paratroopers of the first wave had lost
a quarter of all their men, with many injuries caused by hard landings. Nevertheless, the
whole of topside was secured, and even heavier casualties were inflicted on the Japanese.
The defending Japanese now realized an airborne assault was in full swing and turned all their
attention on the paratroopers on the island. Ironic, considering it was then the amphibious
assault was launched. Four waves of infantry stormed the beaches without any noteworthy
opposition by the Japanese. The 5th wave, however, was pinned down until 2 tanks arrived
and they too could advance onto the island. By midnight the second wave of paratroopers
parachuted into Corregidor. Over 3000 US troops were now on the island, coordinated by Jones
to face the imminent Japanese counter attack. The plateau they were on had to be held in
order to prevent air-dropped supplies from falling into Japanese hands. The troops were
outnumbered around 2 to 1, but due to their positioning on high ground, they managed to
barrage the Japanese forces with howitzer fire and artillery, whilst naval gunfire was
launched from the sea on the Japanese positions. During the night of the 17th of February,
the Japanese attempted to launch several counter-attacks. Due to the destruction of their communication
facilities, these were largely uncoordinated and destined to fail. Jones decided to change
his tactic for the third wave of soldiers that was supposed to be dropped from the air
the next morning. At 8:30 AM, the third wave of troops managed to land on the beach via
landing craft instead of an airdrop. Aircraft were only used to drop supplies for the troops
on the island from now on. It showed the Americans were slowly but surely assuming a stronger
position on the island.
Final Battle
After the third wave of paratroopers landed the Japanese spent the entire day launching
multiple suicide charges. Whilst these charges were taking place, behind the scenes the Japanese
were preparing for a major counter-attack. During the morning of the 18th over 500 Japanese
soldiers charged from their caves, foxholes and hiding places.
What followed was a grotesque scene of hand-to-hand combat in which nearly all Japanese soldiers
died. Many accounts of what happened during those fights are about incredible bravery.
One of them is about American private, Lloyd McCarter, who on his own stopped a Japanese
charge, resulting in his death. His body was found with piles of Japanese soldiers around
him. Posthumously, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Following the beating of this charge, what is called a mop-up operation took off. Only
isolated pockets of Japanese kept up the fight. The Americans now searched for these pockets
that had survived the fights. For the next couple of days underground bunkers, tunnels,
caves and foxholes were combed through. As always, in true Japanese fashion, very few
were willing to surrender. Even on the last day of official battle, over a week after
the mop-up operation commenced, a magazine was blown up by the Japanese, killing 52 Americans.
Lots of Japanese lurked underground and often skirmishes broke out. It was a nerve-wracking
operation for the Americans to secure the entire island.
By the evening of the 26th of February, 10 days after the first wave of US paratroopers
had landed, Corregidor was finally been secured. Whereas the Americans estimated the killed
Japanese at around 4000, it eventually turned out to be well over 6500. Of the entire Japanese
garrison on the island, only 20 prisoners were taken, with most of them being knocked
unconscious by explosions meaning they did not freely surrender. On the American side,
over 200 men were killed with nearly 700 wounded in action.
And that was how the Americans recaptured Corregidor, after nearly 3 years. It was a
symbolic victory for the US army to recapture the last bastion that had fallen to the Japanese.
Because the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment played such a crucial role in capturing the
island, its shoulder patch was redesigned to incorporate the ‘Rock’. General Douglas
MacArthur even visited the island, and when he saw that the American flag was flying over
it, he is said to have said: “Have the troops hoist the colours to its peak and let no enemy
ever haul them down”. Now, I briefly touched upon Patrol Torpedo
boats this video. Make sure you check out the World War 2 playlist on the screen to
watch the video about these nimble vessels that played a crucial role in the Pacific
theatre. Thank you for watching this video, there’s
an entire playlist about the second World War on screen if you enjoyed it. I would also
like to thank all my Patrons for their generous support. If you enjoy House of History and
want to support my work consider checking me on Patreon. For just 1$ a month you will
gain access to the exclusive Patreon series. Don’t forget to subscribe. See you next
time!