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Post by EXO on Oct 19, 2010 17:50:00 GMT 8
I tend not to take photos inside of tunnels - all I seem to get are photos of rock and dirt. The secret to excellent photos, even inside tunnels, is simple - have Fots accompany you. (This time, he couldn't. A small matter of a Typhoon, Class 5. Living in the Philippines is many things, and one of them is "never dull.") So I am posting these to assist Karl, because the multo got to his cameras, and though equipped with two, he didn't end up with any interior shots. I hope these give an idea of how oppressive and unpleasant and fun it was to be in there, and what it took to wade into that bilgewater. Nah, bilgewater is too nice a word to describe it. I won't paste a long story either. The honor is Karl's pure and simple. Karl's pack gives scale to the entrance. Looks like 10 years of accumulated garbage. Smells like it too. The Multo that screwed with Karl's camera. The shaft heads off to the left. There's ALWAYS an old tire in every creek!
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Post by Karl Welteke on Oct 21, 2010 18:45:22 GMT 8
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Post by okla on Oct 21, 2010 21:18:47 GMT 8
Hey Guys...I have long heard about tunnel/tunnels in the Mariveles area, but nothing definitive, other than "prior to Gen King's surrender, Engineers were busy with demolition of the storage tunnel/tunnels at Mariveles". We now have, thanks to you folks, actual pix of said excavations. Good stuff, as usual. Cheers.
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Post by fots2 on Oct 21, 2010 22:07:39 GMT 8
Good work you two.
Damn typhoon. I'll be there next time.
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Post by batteryboy on Oct 22, 2010 11:54:56 GMT 8
Good job guys!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2010 4:21:08 GMT 8
Wow, Great stuff. Thanks.
If anybody remembers I’ve always been curious about the tunnels on Bataan. And on that note, here is something else to consider. I found the following in the book ‘Bataan: the Judgement Seat’ by Allison Ind.:
First person narration is Lt Colonel Allison Ind “He” is Colonel Harold George “Lefty” is Captain Hal Eads All of the USAAC
Starting Page 224: the closest reference date prior to this section is Jan 1, 1942. The closest reference date after this section is Jan 14, 1942.
“During Reconnaissance with Lefty, He had decided on the proper location for his subterranean stronghold. It was in a saucer shaped depression just west of Mariveles. The Central portion of the saucer would scooper into a perfect landing field that would slope gently until it’s feet would slip under the calm waters of Mariveles Bay. Thus it would serve both land planes and amphibious craft landind on the bay. To the south a high ridge formed a natural tunneling face. The sharp rises to the north provided an opposite face. In these rugged hills he proposed to drive a series of tunnels, some of which would be joined to provide hangers repair bays and quarters. Others would be fuel and ammunition dumps safe from the heaviest bomb hits. In the meantime he proposed to dicker with the Navy for the occupancy of their partially driven tunnels to the east of Mariveles barrio.
"The Navy had cooperated and commenced evacuation plans. In the meantime work of mining went on apace. Lefty had scoured the country for miners, finding a few each day amongst the refugees that poured onto the Peninsula in ever greater numbers (adding hourly to our already pressing food supply problems)." "That talk on the field telephone, plus some hardheaded conferences of the type these three men specialized in, had a healthy whip-cracking affect in quarters where it was most sorely needed. All available heavy equipment was diverted from everything else except vital road maintenance and a few other necessary jobs." "And once more we were engaged upon the kind of defense and protective construction that should have been planned, executed and completed months before in the piping days of peace.”
And then on Page 302, this last small mention of the tunnels is referenced Feburary 23:
“Lefty was too beat to go down to the Mariveles tunnel job today.”
So were there also Air Corps Tunnels? Any Ideas?
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Post by fots2 on Oct 23, 2010 9:10:23 GMT 8
That is very interesting about an Air Corps connection in Mariveles. Anyone have any details?
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Post by batteryboy on Oct 23, 2010 19:01:51 GMT 8
Mariveles had a landing field but was seldom used as it was very obvious from the air. The air corp used Cabcaben and Bataan field which offered better concealment of the few remaining aircraft. For their supplies, a number of them were in Mariveles and were trucked to the fields mentioned above when they ran low. They could have acquired some space in the tunnel complex of Mariveles.
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Post by chadhill on Oct 25, 2010 10:29:32 GMT 8
Wow, this thread has taken an interesting turn with the possibility of Air Corps tunnels. I'll see if I can dig up something on that. Meanwhile... I do not have permission to reproduce Sackett's hand drawn wartime map, so here is Mariveles Harbor from a 1970 nautical chart: The eastern shore, where the tunnels are, is reproduced here for clarity: Sackett's map shows three tunnels just inland east of "Breakwater", on the eastern shore. The southernmost tunnel is U shaped, with the entrances facing west. The northernmost one is also U shaped, larger and faces the same way. The middle one appears to be a straight tunnel. These three tunnels are labeled "living" tunnels. A third U shaped tunnel, the largest of the U's, looks to be at about where the "0" is on the top nautical mile scale bar, that is, northeast of the three other tunnels. Its entrances face northwest. It appears to be also labeled as a "living" tunnel. Sixteen .50 caliber machine gun positions existed on the cliffs from "Breakwater" to Caracol Point. The USS Canopus was moored to bollards in Caracol Cove (part of Lilimbon Cove on the map) on the north shore of Caracol Point. Sackett's "148 foot high tunnel", where over 30 torpedoes were stored, was "inland and about a mile north of the ship". This would seem to place it off the top of the nautical chart above. Curiously, this particular tunnel is not depicted on Sackett's wartime map. Sackett's map depicts the Canopus scuttled position as just W-SW of Pagduruagan Point. A barrier net runs across the entire harbor, from Caracol Point to what appears to be Dilao Point on the western shore. The base camp is depicted on the northeast shoreline of Mariveles Harbor. The four 3" guns manned by the USMC are on the northern shore, just east of the Mariveles River. The emergency airstrip is depicted on the northwest shoreline of the harbor, with the runway running NW-SE. It is near the Mariveles River. The Dewey dry dock is depicted near the middle of the western shoreline. Hope this helps the non-resident readers. Keep up the great work, guys.
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Post by fots2 on Oct 25, 2010 21:14:04 GMT 8
Hi Chad,
Thanks for all the details. Even if most tunnels are closed today it would be nice to record where all the entrances were.
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