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Post by joeconnor53 on Jun 17, 2015 21:08:08 GMT 8
I just finished a very interesting book: "Fighting for MacArthur: The Navy and Marine Corps' Desperate Defense of the Philippines" by John Gordon (Naval Institute Press 2011).
It contains some very ironic information about the turning of the tide in the battle for Corregidor.
As we know from Gen. Wainwright's biography and other sources, the presence of Japanese tanks near Malinta Tunnel was a major factor in Wainwright's decision to surrender. He lacked anti-tank weapons to stop them and he feared the havoc that even one tank could cause if it got into Malinta Tunnel.
The irony is that it was an American tank that got the Japanese tanks into the battle. Three Japanese tanks managed to get ashore on Corregidor: two Japanese tanks and one American M-3 tank that had been captured on Bataan. These tanks landed in a place where the terrain was too steep for the Japanese tanks and they couldn't get off the beach. The American M-3, however, was able to climb the steep terrain and it pulled the two Japanese tanks up the slope. In other words, without the captured American tank, the Japanese tanks would have remained on the beach and would not have been able to take part in the battle.
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Post by oozlefinch on Jun 18, 2015 5:25:09 GMT 8
I too found this book to be very interesting. It gives a different slant to the battle for both Bataan and Corregidor, and speaks well of the naval personnel who were totally unprepared for the job they were given. One small correction, however. The American tank was a M-5 Stuart light-tank, not a M-3 Grant medium-tank.
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Post by fortman on Jun 18, 2015 11:11:17 GMT 8
Hi Oozle,
Various sources, including Morton, give the US tanks in the Philippines as M-3 Stuarts. The Grant was never used in the Philippines.
Any views BB?
fortman
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Post by oozlefinch on Jun 18, 2015 11:36:01 GMT 8
I stand corrected, as Army Junk privately posted to me. Only the U.S. Army would classify 2 entirely different vehicles with the same number.
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Post by chadhill on Jun 21, 2015 5:11:13 GMT 8
Here are two views of the Corregidor Stuart.
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Post by chadhill on Jun 21, 2015 9:31:41 GMT 8
The "Corregidor Stuart" originally belonged to the 192nd Tank Battalion and had apparently been driven on Bataan by Sgt. Zenon Bardowski. Here is a link to his story: www.proviso.k12.il.us/bataan%20web/bardowski.htmAccording to an article published in the November 1982 issue of Quan, on Corregidor the captured M3 tank was commanded by Captain Hideo Ho. See the article entitled "Japanese Armor on Corregidor", and the photos, from batterboy's excellent thread "Japanese Tanks": corregidor.proboards.com/thread/429/japanese-tanks?page=1
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Post by cbuehler on Sept 3, 2015 0:48:27 GMT 8
I have not read Gordon's book yet, but hope to do so in the near future. It seems a different take on some aspects of the battle on Corregidor. One minor point is that I question is the name of Capt. Hideo Ho. The last name "Ho" is not Japanese, or if that really was his family name, is extremely unusual, and is possibly an error.
CB
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