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Post by roland1369 on Jan 13, 2024 1:44:09 GMT 8
Excellent report Karl. It fills in a little known area relating to the fort. Obviously this was only a peacetime convience. No way it could survive wartime operations.
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Post by roland1369 on Jan 1, 2024 0:01:39 GMT 8
As always great info Karl. As a confirmed "Tecke" I am always interested in the emplacements. I was one of the tour in 2013 when the marines kicked us of the island. I had visited the 14 inch DC batteries but did not reach the mortar battery prior to our enforced departure. It was very dissappointing as it is not only a late construction but one of the few 12 inch M 1908 gun batteries. It is certainly a unique construction. One question, were there any loading tables. I saw no sign of them. Will have to check my plans.
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Post by roland1369 on Dec 1, 2023 6:48:23 GMT 8
Karl, I notice this monument is politically correct by using the word "ENEMY" thus avoiding offending the Japanese.
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Post by roland1369 on Feb 28, 2023 1:43:53 GMT 8
Karl, I think this is a Japanese position also. Other than the graffitti is there any indication that it is a 155 emplacement. Speaking as an old intell SGT I would question this graffitti as being period. I saw no sign of Military Rank or Unit as is present in other graffitti on the Rock. The construction strongly says to me that it is japanese construction. If so it would have been for one of the 140 MM japanese type 3 low angle naval guns which formed the Anti Ship armament Of Japanese Corregidor. All were sourced from sunken ships in Manillia bay. The only way to confirm this would be to excavate the soil at the gun embrasure to search for the bolt holdowns of the gun mounting. I have always been curious that no survey pics seem to have surfaced of the Japanese defenses and weapons after the recapture. A complete survey of the remaining us armament but none of the japanese. Is this emplacement a different on than the one we saw on the CDSG tour.
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Post by roland1369 on Nov 30, 2020 0:20:13 GMT 8
The 37 mm at gun was considered obsolete by 1943 in europe however it was effective against most Japanese tanks and more importantly bunkers in the Pacific theater. Its light weight and small size made it easier to deploy in the jungle terrain of the pacific. aside from the above reasons there were depots of new equipment in the US mainland and no need to return the equipment there. The same was true on other islands in the pacific. Vehicle storage areas full of Trucks, Artillery, and sherman tanks were abandoned in place after the war. Some equipment especially the sherman tanks were later recovered just prior to and during the Korean war, refurbished in Japanese Plants and sent into battle during the start of the Korean War. I suspect that the reason for dumping them in the Philippines was to keep them from being recovered and utilized by some of the insurgent groups in the postwar era.
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Post by roland1369 on Nov 28, 2020 23:59:34 GMT 8
Both the 37 MM M3 at guns and the M 8 75 mm SP guns were obsolete and sending them back to the US for scrapping would have been cost prohibitive for unwanted ordnance. An additional reason was that all shippin g was needed for repatriation of US and Japanese personnel to their respective countries. Note that the end of the war the US was converting Aircraft carries to temporary troop transports to get soldiers home. Thus a shortage of shipping space was prevalent at the time. Note that the tires have been removed from the gun s as they are the same size as Jeep tires.
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Post by roland1369 on Oct 26, 2020 20:35:57 GMT 8
Additionally the area must being used as a command post from the amount of Commo wire hanging from the barrell as well as the long wire radio antennae hanging from the "A" frames in the foreground.
Dan Malone
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Post by roland1369 on Oct 26, 2020 20:21:39 GMT 8
From the stepped gun tube as well as the slow traction wheel with the grooved rubber covering I would say that this is the wreckage of US 155 MM GPF. The lack of a reinforcing ring on the muzzle pretty much ensures that it is no a Japanese heavy field piece. What has always amazed me about Corregidor is the lack of pictures of the japanese armament. For instance the primary Japanese Defense was 7-140 MM Naval guns removed from the two light cruisers sunk by aircraft in Manilla Bay and emplaced in underground emplacements. I have yet to see apicture of one of these.
Dan Malone
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Post by roland1369 on Aug 29, 2020 21:53:32 GMT 8
Karl the more i look at the construction of these objects the less they look as if they could have been air raid shelters. The Cantilever roof of the entrance is too fragile and likely to collapse under fire and block the entrance This as well as not having two exits makes them unlike normal construction. In the Army the facility engineers would have maps showing the purpose of such construction and I would sugesst that the Navy would have an equivalent offi ce which maintains the base. A contact with them could clear up the mystery. I still feel that the pedestrian under road walkway is the best guess.
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Post by roland1369 on Aug 27, 2020 20:57:23 GMT 8
Karl from the construction I would believe they were ordinary pedestrian crossoves under the highway which have been blocked for security purposes and have no military purpose. At most they might have been air raid shelters.
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