The Battle for Corregidor was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Philippines. The fall of Bataan in April 9, 1942 ended all organized opposition by the USAFFE to the invading Japanese forces on Luzon in the northern Philippines. The island bastion of Corregidor with its network of tunnels and formidable array of defensive armament, along with the fortifications across the entrance to Manila Bay, was the remaining obstacle to the 14th Japanese Imperial Army of Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma. The enemy had to take Corregidor; as long as the island remained in American hands, they would be denied the use of the Manila Bay, the finest natural harbor in the Orient.
The Siege
From December 29, 1941 to the end of April, 1942, despite incessant Japanese aerial, naval and artillery bombardment, the garrison on Corregidor, consisting mainly of the 4th Marine Regiment and combined units, resisted valiantly, inflicting heavy enemy losses in men and planes.
The Fall
A concentrated aerial bombardment by the 22nd Air Brigade of Maj. Gen. Kizon Mikami, supported by ground artillery on Bataan from May 1-5, 1942 preceded successful landing operations by combined enemy forces led by Maj. Gen. Kureo Tanaguchi. Heavy fighting continued from
May 5-6, 1942, until enemy forces reached the fringes of Malinta Hill , the operations center on the island, resulting in 1,200 Japanese dead and 500 wounded, and with the defenders suffering 1,800 dead and 2,100 wounded, Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright finally surrendered the Corregidor garrison in the afternoon of May 6, 1942 .
Outcome and Historical Significance
Corregidor's defeat marked the fall of the Philippines and Asia, but Imperial Japan's timetable for the conquest of Australia was severely upset and her advance was ultimately checked at the battles for New Guinea ,to the turning point in the Pacific War at Guadalcanal.
Unlike their compatriots who suffered and perished in the Bataan Death March , about 4,000 of the 11,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war from Corregidor were marched through the streets of Manila to incarceration at Fort Santiago, a criminal detention center turned POW camp. The rest were sent off in cattle trains to various Japanese prison camps but nonetheless were subjected to the same hellish conditions. Over the course of the war, thousands were shipped to the Japanese mainland as slave labor.
On February 16, 1945, American liberation forces spearheaded by the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment ,recaptured Corregidor. Earlier on January 30, remnants of the Bataan and Corregidor POWs were rescued by the elements of the 6th Ranger Battalion at a raid in Cabanatuan .
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