Fort Drum 1945 from CDSG & NARA

[EXO]

THIS IS POSTED ON BEHALF OF KARL WELTEKE (who is having internet issues) - EXO


USS LSM-51 WAS A BRIDGE TO FORT DRUM 1945-04-13



V128. USS LSM-51 provided the platform to recapture Ft. Drum by the Avengers of Bataan, the 38th Inf. Div. This picture shows LSM-51 picking up Japanese POWs from various islands in the Philippines. This picture is from the USS LSM-51 web page.

LSM-51 Specifications:
Displacement 520 t.(light), 743 t. (landing) 1,095 t.(fully loaded)
Length 203' 6" o.a.
Beam 34' 6"
Draft light, 3' 6" forward, 7' 8" aft, fully loaded, 6' 4" forward, 8' 3" aft
Speed 13.2 kts. (max.), (928 tons displacement)
Complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament one single bow mounted 40mm gun, four single 20mm gun mounts
Vehicle/Boat Capacity 5 medium or 3 heavy tanks, or 6 LVT's, or 9 DUKW's
Troop Capacity 2 officers, 46 enlisted
Armor 10-lb. STS splinter shield to gun mounts, pilot house and conning station
Propulsion two Fairbanks Morse (model 38D81/8X10, reversible with hydraulic clutch) diesels. Direct drive with 1,440 BHP each @ 720rpm, twin screws, Endurance, 4,900 miles @ 12kts.(928 tons displacement)

These specifications above came from this web page:
www.navsource.org/archives/10/14/14051.htm



V129. LSM-51 Commissioning Crew at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. This picture is from the USS LSM-51 web page. Most of the Sailors named below were still on board during the assault and so we have many names of participants on the day to recapture Fort Drum.

L-R Kneeling: Claude Massey, Joe Hiller, Gerard Walsh, Milton C. Browne, Lucien Horent, Mack Prescott, Robert Glover, Howard Manthie: L-R Row 2: Jerry M. Libritz, Emil O'Bernier, Carl W. Mays, LT(CO) James O. Potts, Ens Warren H. Treece, LT(JG) Wilson M. Dickson, Ens Stuart M. Ellsworth, Russel Kelly, Bert Halverson, Dozier P. Forsyth: L-R Row 3: Raymond Smith, Robert Winters, Cranston Wilson, Kenneth O'Deen, Jerry L. Sage, Steve Bukovics, Alex Kicinski, Bella J. Ducsak, Charles Campbell, Clifford Kiner, Paul Cain, Albert J. Kennerson, Clyde B. Montgomery, Paul A. Nunnally, Robert L. Frye, L-R Row 4: Woodrow P. Duso, Albert Cain, Robert Wakefield, Howard Fenton, John Kann, Roy Cuneo, Irwin F. Sentilles, James E. Gardner, Roland Motley, Anthony Ghilardi, Bert McGuffie, Marvin Swain, William K. Steinbeck, Rudy Kasak, Joe E. Sherrill, Peter J.Krebbs, Mike Karolczak:



V130. Joe Sherrill is in this picture and that is why I chose it.
Back Row: L-R: Daniel Yokis, Bill Steinbeck, Robert Bierback, Kneeling: L-R: Joe Sherrill, Irwin Sentilles. WHO ARE THOSE THREE GUYS OUT OF UNIFORM.
I used that argument a few times in my Navy career with the my ship’s Officer leadership quoting many stories and pictures of WWII with sailors taking off their shirt, topside in the tropics at the High-Seas with no Admirals or Generals around; sometime it worked!


USS LSM-51 was a small ship and only had a crew of about 60 men. But today in 2016, seventy one years later from the assault on Fort Drum the crew is still maintaining this interesting webpage about their ship. Our shipmate friend Joe Sherrill was a Petty Officer Radioman 3rd Class (E-4 pay grade) then and he seems to be the webmaster. This is the URL:
usslsm51.com/

Joe Sherrill has been looking into our forum for many years now, he and I have been communicating and here are two emails he sent in regards the assault:

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

From: Joe Sherrill
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 7:39 AM
To: Karl-Welteke Welteke
Subject: Fort Drum
Hi Karl,
Actually two sailors were the first aboard. Milton C. Browne and William McGuffey were the guys. The reason they went first, we had to secure the ship to the Fort and they took the lines onto the Fort and secured them. I have this on a copy of the deck log. I actually never was aware of who it was until I obtained the copy of the deck log.
Regards,
Joe

V131. Joe Sherrill had a mischievous streak in his soul.

This is a true story that occurred in San Pedro Bay, Leyte early 1945. John Kann and Joe Sherrill were told to go over the side to scrape and paint. This was as punishment since the two had fallen in disfavor with Ensign Treece. While over the side a bright idea struck one of the two. Let's paint for sale on the side. Now the idea would have been mine (Joe) if we got caught, but John's when we were out of danger. With bright orange chromate, rust inhibitor, we painted the sign in large letters; FOR SALE.

A couple of days later Captain Potts received a message from the Task Group Commander, "how much do you want for it"? Captain Potts had no idea what he was talking about and told the signalman to have the message repeated. It came back "how much do you want for it"? Once again the Captain did not understand what was being asked. Repeat the message was once again blinked over to the TG Commander. This time the message read " I see your ship is for sale. How much do you want for it"? The Captain got in the dingy and rowed around to the side and saw the sign. When he came back aboard he swore he would KILL the *$*& person that painted that sign. Thank God no one remembered who was over the side painting, since some were over every day. It was not until over 50 years later that we ever breathed who did it. No matter what John Kann says, it was my idea.

[Karl Welteke]

THE NAVY WAS ON BOARD FORT DRUM FIRST!!!!!!!!!

This above line was supposed to be in front of Joe Sherrill’s email (in EXO’s previous entry) that the sailors were first on Fort Drum during the assault!

Hello fellow friends, members and visitors, I had trouble uploading the previous entry (reply) about the USS LSM-51. EXO did it for me but he did not get everything. These are the few lines that EXO did not get.

Here is the other email:

From: Joe Sherrill (email address)
Sent: 3/1/2011
To: Karl Welteke
Subj: Fort Drum
Hi
We were not told that we were going to attack Fort Drum. The Engineers spent a couple of days aboard and built a ramp to get aboard the Fort and we could not get anyone to tell us what it was for. We only found out where we were headed after we got under way, however, for me I had more concern about it being mined. We did lose an LSM to a mine near Corregidor several weeks earlier. The Air Force had a P51 fly over the Fort until we pulled alongside, to keep the Japs inside. I was a radioman, but on this mission my GQ duty station was on the flag bridge just below the Con. I did find out from an Army Major that the guns were no longer functioning so had no concern about them. Basically we never knew before getting underway where we were going. I did know on one occasion but was sworn to secrecy since the Task Force Commander was aboard with his staff to discuss the operation of taking Ormoc, Leyte. It was in the radio shack that they held their meeting and I was on duty and the TFC asked me if I had a Secret clearance. I told him no and he swore me to secrecy. It was the only time I knew before hand where we were going and couldn't tell anyone. Of course we always had a rumor about where we were going, you know how that is.
I really enjoy those pictures since we spent a lot of our time in the area.
Joe

[Karl Welteke]

Another Fort Drum drawing from the Avengers of Bataan 38th Inf. Div. Report



V132. This is the drawing of the upper internal deck in Fort Drum. It came from the Avengers of Bataan 38th Inf. Div. Report.

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM


Entry 1 (the first) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. If you read this first page carefully you can tell that Sgt Hooper did not have the Ft. Drum history completely right. But it is still a very interesting eye witness report.





V133. By Sgt Thomas J. Hooper, Yank Field Correspondent.


His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.


The island of El Fraile in Manila Bay had been fortified to be impregnable by the Yanks, and the Japs, when they moved in, made it even stronger. It still wasn’t strong enough to resist the new assault technique of the 38th infantry Division.


With the 38th Infantry Division, Luzon the Philippines – The taking of Japanese-held Fort Drum, a “concrete battleship in Manila Bay, was like a mid ocean pirate raid on an unwieldy merchant vessel. It had elements, too of a medieval battle, with knights in armor thundering across the drawbridge into an enemy castle. It was a little bit of everything, even of the Podunk fire department getting a burning boathouse under control. It took place early in April and now its detailed story may be told.


Fort Drum, which shows up on the maps as El Fraile Island, was built by the U.S. long before the Japs moved in, about three miles south of Corregidor in Manila Bay. The island was originally just another sharp-toothed coral reef jutting out of the bay waters.


Then our Navy decided it would be a handy addition to the chain of bay fortresses-
Corregidor, Caballo and Carabao Islands and proceeded to turn it into a blunt-nosed square-stern, battleship shaped structure, 345 feet long, 135 feet wide, rising from the waters as a 40-foot concrete Cliffside. These concrete walls were 36 feet in width and the top deck 18 feet thick, strong enough to withstand any land, naval or air bombardment.


Two revolving turrets, each mounting two 14 inch naval rifles were mounted on the flat top. At the north and south (port and starboard) sides two 6-inch guns were set in “blister" turrets. Inside there were four levels. At the east (stern) end there were two sally ports opening both north and south. Boats carrying men, mail and provisions to the fort tied up here. The ports opened on the inside to an axial tunnel running through the island and connecting all four levels.



Note from Karl: here are two URLs about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM


Entry 2 (the second) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it as interesting reading thru the eyes and thought of 1945.





V119 (D3) 38th Inf.Div. Rep.Drum, LCM for oil & pump. Photo is from the 38th Inf. Report. For the final accepted plan; the LCM boat drawing rigged to pump oil and gas into Fort Hughes and Fort Drum for the assault and capture Fort Drum on El Fraile Island on the 13th April 1945


His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.


It was a miniature Gibraltar, a salt-water pillbox and when the Japs overran the Philippines they were happy to have won it as part of their military loot.

The 38th Infantry Division drew the job of mopping up Fort Drum. The division had already cleared the way by finishing off Corregidor and invading and securing Caballo Island.

But Drum was a harder, trickier job than anything that had gone before. To some of the GIs in the 38th, it was going to be just another souvenir hunt with expensive kimonos, samurai swords, pistols, cameras and maybe a bottle or two of sake at the end.

To the men who had to do the planning it was a ticklish problem that would take careful planning and ingenuity in preparation and split-second precision in execution. To the interested observer it was a technical study in how to crack a tough nut, a fortified concrete nut in the middle of Manila Bay.

The earlier taking of Caballo was the inspiration for the plan by which the 38th cracked Fort Drum. Caballo was a horse-shaped rock and most of its garrison had been knocked off within a few days. A band of 60 survivors, however, had been able to take cover in two huge mortar pits which resisted all efforts of infantry, engineers and artillery. They were of reinforced concrete and at least 20 feet thick, another case of an installation originally built by Americans and improved by the Japs.

Various plans for cleaning out the mortar pits were proposed and rejected. One public-relations officer, with a weather eye cocked at a front-page story in the stateside press, suggested that a fire siren be lowered into the pits and allowed to scream for a few days. The idea, borrowed from some of our better horror magazines, was to drive the Japs crazy. The PRO'S inspiration was turned down on the very logical ground that no fire sirens were handy.

The finally accepted plan was formulated by Lt. Col. Fred C. Dyer of Indianapolis, Ind., G-4 of the 38th. An LCM was fitted with a centrifugal pump and two tanks capable of holding more than 5,000 gallons of liquid. A special mixture of two parts Diesel oil and one part gasoline was mixed and then pumped into the tanks.





V134. This is a still picture from the below video URL. It shows the LCM forward well deck loaded with oil or gasoline drums in accordance with the final accepted plan. This picture also shows this LCM still alongside Ft. Hughes, on Caballo Island.





V135. This still image from the below video URL shows the LCM loaded and rigged in accordance with the final accepted plan. The plan is to smoke the enemy out on Fort Drum by destroying him with fire. The LCM is located between the Stbd Quarter of LSM-51 and about mid-ships, port side of the concrete battleship, Fort Drum.


Note from Karl: here are two URLs and one video about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up


Some still photographs came from this video:

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM


Entry 3 (the third) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it interesting reading thru the eyes and thought of 1945.






V136. This is a cropped section of an image in the above Yank Magazine; a drawbridge was necessary, to enter the sally ports was out. A naval reconnaissance force, attempting a landing from a PT boat, ran into machine-gun fire from the tunnel and suffered KIA casualties.



His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.



The landing craft plowed its clumsy way out to Caballo and drew up alongside the hill where the pits were located. Engineers, working under sniper fire, constructed a pipeline up the steep slope of the hill into the emplacements. The mixture of oil and gas — 2,400 gallons of it — was then pumped into the pits. As soon as the last drops had been pumped in, riflemen posted a few hundred yards away cut loose with tracer bullets. There was a loud sucking sound and dense black cloud of burning oil billowed to the sky. The mortar pits surrendered only charred Japs when the flames died down. This was the plan selected by Brig. Gen. Robert H. Soule, assistant division commander, as the best for reducing Drum.


Training and preparation for the landing were begun a week before Drum D-day. On Corregidor -a reinforced platoon of riflemen from Company F, 151st Infantry, and a platoon of demolition men from Company B, 113th Engineers, made repeated dry runs to school each man for his individual job when he stepped aboard Drum.


On the Corregidor parade ground the surface of Drum's deck was simulated. Dummy guns and air vents were built and each rifleman was assigned to cover a specific opening in the surface of the fort. Every gun turret, every air vent every crack in the surface was to be under the sights of an M1 or a BAR so that no enemy would be able to come topside. The men went through the dry run until they could do it in their sleep.


Some engineers practiced planting explosives at strategic intervals on the rock. Others went through the motions of dragging a fire hose from the LCM to the deck of the battleship-fort. The LCM was scheduled to pull up alongside Drum in the same manner used in the Caballo operation.


The sally ports were ruled out as possible points of entrance when a naval reconnaissance force, attempting a landing from a PT boat, ran into machine-gun fire from the tunnel. This made it necessary to work from a ship larger than an LCM, so the 113th Engineers went to work on an especially designed wooden ramp, running like a drawbridge from the tower of an LSM. The ramp was necessary since the 40-foot walls of the island would prevent troops from landing in the usual manner.






V137. This is an image in the above Yank Magazine; 113th Engineers handle the fuel/oil hose topside on Fort Drum. I chose this picture to represent the practice runs on a simulated Ft. Drum topside deck at the Ft. Mills, Corregidor Island, for several days by the Infantry and Engineer Soldiers of the 38th Inf. Div.



Note from Karl: here are two URLs about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM



Entry 4 (the fourth) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it as interesting reading thru the eyes and thought of 1945.





V138. This is a still picture from the below video URL. LSM-51 is making her final approach.


His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.


Three sailors had been killed in the attempted PT landing and this got the Navy's dander up. To pave the way for the taking of the fort, dive bombers were called in to knock out the large guns on its top deck. On Wednesday, April 11, a cruiser steamed up and bombarded the 6-inch gun emplacements with AP shells. The cruiser broadsides weren't enough to breach the fort, but they did shut up the remaining guns.

April 13—a Friday—was the day selected and H-hour was set for 1000. At 0830 the troops loaded from Corregidor's south dock, walking a narrow plank from the pier to an LSM. The engineers carried 600 pounds of explosives and the infantrymen were loaded down with rifles and bandoliers of ammunition. In the crow's nest, towering above the landing ramp, a BAR man kept lookout and below him, a light machine gun was set up on an improvised platform. The BAR and the machine gun could give covering fire to the men who were to land.

At 1000 hours on the nose, the LSM pulled alongside Fort Drum. It was a ticklish job to maneuver the squat, bulky ship snug and tight against the island and to hold it steady there. As the LSM inched up on the port side of Drum, three LCVPs manned by naval personnel came up alongside her, bows first, and with motors racing pushed against her side and shoved her as flat as possible against the cliffside. As soon as the LSM was close alongside the fort, sailors standing in the well deck let down a ramp by means of a block and fall. Other sailors rushed ashore across the ramp, carrying lines which they fastened to the Japanese-held gun turrets or to any other available projections. The LSM was made secure.

These sailors were the first Yanks aboard Drum. Just after them came the infantry riflemen in single file up the circular ladder to the tower and from there, helped by sailors, onto the ramp and across it to the flat top of the fort.





V139. This still image from the below video URL, sailors or soldiers storm across the draw bridge, sailors were the first on Fort Drum. Notice the machine gun on a platform above the drawbridge and a BAR man is even higher on the mast.


Note from Karl: here are two URLs and one video about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up


Some still photographs came from this video:

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM



Entry 5 (the fifth) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it interesting reading thru the eyes and thought of 1945.





V140. This picture is from Yank Magazine and shows the battered Battery Benjamin K. Roberts, the lower gun is gone from yesterday’s cruiser bombardment. You see a group of soldiers around the man hole just aft and right of Battery Roberts.






V141. This is a still picture from the below video URL. Army engineers are busy around one of the 2 man holes leading into Fort Drum and are covering it good.



His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.

Despite the strong lines from ship to fort and the pushing of the LCVP’s, the LSM pitched and rolled and the ramp scraped precariously back and forth over the concrete. The operation was at its touch-and-go stage.

The LCM which had been used in the Caballo invasion was brought in behind the larger LSM. A line attached to a fire hose was thrown up to the engineers on the LSM and relayed by them to the deck of Drum where other waiting engineers grabbed it and pulled up the hose.

The infantrymen had deployed according to their previous briefing on Corregidor, each man covering his objective. Every vent had its rifleman. No Japanese could raise his head above the surface of the deck without running the risk of having it blown off, and the engineers went to work. They planted their explosives to do the most good in the least time. Particular attention was given to the powder magazine which lay below the surface on the first level, protected by 6-inch armor plate under a layer of reinforced concrete.

All the while the same Diesel oil mixture that had been used on Caballo was being pumped from the LCM into the fort. It was like a high colonic enema given at sea to some ugly, gray Japanese monster of the deep. As minute piled on minute, more and more oil — 3,000 gallons in all — were squirted into the bowels of Drum.

In 10 minutes, the job of the engineers was finished. Thirty-minute fuses were lighted and the engineers and riflemen began to file back onto the LSM. Suddenly an unidentified engineer shouted, "The oil line’s busted!" By this time all the men were back on the LSM.

Lt. Col. William E. Lobit, CO of the 151st, called for volunteers. "Six men, up here. Let’s go." More than six men fell in behind him and took off up the ladder and across the ramp to the island. The oil, still pumping from the LCM which had pulled about 100 yards away, shut off the instant the hose connection broke apart. The LCM pulled in again and engineers hung over the side and repaired the break. By good luck, the hose was still above water, held up by a floating oil drum to which the next to last section had been lashed.







V142. This is a still picture from the below video URL. Army engineers got the fuel mixture running into one of the 2 man holes leading into Fort Drum.





V143. This is a still picture from the below video URL. An Army engineers is lowering a detonating charge down into one of the 2 man holes leading into Fort Drum.






V144. This is a still picture from the below video URL. A slow burning time fuse has been lid and will detonate the charges lowered down into the 2 man holes leading into Fort Drum. It is time to clear the fort!



Note from Karl: here are two URLs and one video about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up


Some still photographs came from this video:

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM



Entry 6 (the sixth) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it interesting reading thru the eyes and thought of 1945.





V145a. This picture is from Yank Magazine and shows the 20mm machine gun at the stbd quarter on the LSM-51. A sailor had worse luck. A Japanese shot split the fittings that connected the three air hoses to the gyroscopic sight of his 20-mm. gun and several pieces of the scattered wreckage were embedded in his throat. Army and Navy medics teamed up to give him an immediate transfusion and to dress his wounds.




His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.


Col. Lobit and his men snuffed the fuses and stood by to relight them as soon as the break could be repaired. It was while they were waiting that the first and only opposition to the combined oil enema and demolition job developed. An evidently nearsighted Japanese sniper, hidden in one of the 6-inch gun turrets on the port side opened up.

His aim was bad on the first two shots and gave away his position without doing any damage to the Yanks. Sailors, manning the LSM's 20-mms were ready and anxious to spray the turret, but a red-headed ensign yelled from the bridge for them to hold fire. Oil was leaking from an aperture in the turret and if a shell ignited it, our own landing party, the LSM, the LCM and the LCVPs would probably all be blown to hell along with the Japs. The sailors held their fire.

The sniper opened up again and a bullet cut through the fatigue jacket of Sgt. Mack Themson of Springfield, Mo., the colonel's driver and radio operator. Thomson had been standing amidships unaware that he was a target. The bullet made seven holes, passing through the outside of the jacket, the baggy pocket and a sleeve. Thomson wasn't even scratched.

Another sniper bullet grazed the back of Cpl.Vincent Glennon's right hand. Glennon, an aid man from Gary, Ind., had dropped behind a ventilator for protection at the first sniper shot. The bullet went through the light, thin metal of the ventilator and creased his hand, drawing no more blood than a pin scratch.

A sailor had worse luck. A Japanese shot split the fittings that connected the three air hoses to the gyroscopic sight of his 20-mm. gun and several pieces of the scattered wreckage were embedded in his throat. Army and Navy medics teamed up to give him an immediate transfusion and to dress his wounds. He, Glennon, and Thomson were the only casualties; a bargain-basement price to pay for Fort Drum. By now the leak had been repaired. Col. Lobit and his men relit the fuses on the island and-got back safely to the ship. The lines from the LSM to Ft. Drum were cut and all the ships pulled away. Drum had received its quota of oil and the late invaders stood off in the bay to watch the show.





V146. This is a still picture from the below video URL. Army engineers, Col. Lobit and his men relit the fuses on the island and-got back safely to the ship. The lines from the LSM to Ft. Drum were cut and all the ships pulled away. Drum had received its quota of oil and the late invaders stood off in the bay to watch the show.


Note from Karl: here are two URLs and one video about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up


Some still photographs came from this video:

[Karl Welteke]

THE BLASTING OF FORT DRUM



Entry 7 (the seventh and last) of 7, the copy that I have, of the below story, has 7 Pdf pages and I decided to present it with 7 entries. I find it interesting reading thru the eyes and thoughts of 1945.





V147. Soldiers and Sailors held their breath, waiting whether the explosions will occur or not but then it went and they were watching the show in awe! Photo, courtesy of Karl Schmidt of CDSG.org and NARA.




His story appeared in the US Army Yank Magazine: Yank, the Army Weekly, Vol. 4, No. 7 August 3rd 1945.


In 30 minutes there was a slight explosion, not much more than a 4th of July token. Nothing else happened. Disappointment was written on the faces of the GIs and the sailors. The job would have to be done over.

But before they could even phrase a gripe, the second explosion came. In the time of an eye wink it seemed as if the whole island of El Fraile were blown out of the sea. First there was a cloud of smoke rising and seconds later the main explosion came. Blast after blast ripped the concrete battleship. Debris was showered into the water throwing up hundreds of small geysers. A large flat object, later identified as the 6 inch concrete slab protecting the powder magazine, was blown several hundred feet into the air to fall back on top of the fort, miraculously still unbroken.

Now the GIs and sailors could cheer and did. As the LSM moved toward Corregidor there were continued explosions and more smoke and debris.

Two days later, on Sunday, a party went back to try to get into the fort through the lower levels. Wisps of smoke were still curling through the ventilators and it was obvious that oil was still burning inside. The visit was called off for that day.

On Monday the troops returned again. This time they were able to make their way down as far as the second level, but again smoke forced them to withdraw. Eight Japs —dead of suffocation — were found on the first two levels. Two days later another landing party returned and explored the whole island. The bodies of 60 Japs — burned to death—were found in the boiler room on the third level. The inside of the fort was a shambles. The walls were blackened with smoke and what installations there were had been blown to pieces or burned.

In actual time of pumping oil and setting fuses, it had taken just over 15 minutes to settle the fate of the "impregnable" concrete fortress. It had been a successful operation in every way but one; the souvenir hunting wasn't very good.







V132. This is the drawing of the upper internal deck in Fort Drum. It came from the Avengers of Bataan 38th Inf. Div. Report. I present this drawing again to help you in your orientation around Fort Drum.


THIS IS HOW FORT DRUM LOOKS LIKE NOW.




V148. The manhole shaft to Battery Benjamin K. Roberts (port side) where the oil-gasoline mixture was pumped in first until it was noticed that the mixture was spilling into sea thru the battery and so they pumped the mixture thru one of the vents. But the detonating charge and time fuse was lowered into here. This is 2009-08-14 photo from Karl.



V149. This is Battery Benjamin K. Roberts, looking forward, the deck between the higher and lower 6 inch guns is gone, and the lower gun is gone. The ammo comes thru the forward section. Behind me are the passage ways in the interior upper deck of the fort and to the exit/entrance manhole shaft in the previous picture. This is 2009-08-14 photo from Karl.




V150. The passage ways into the interior upper deck of the fort and to the exit/entrance manhole to topside from the Six Inch Battery Tully B. McCrea. The actual exit/entrance manhole to topside is at the far end. Here the 600 pound charge was lowered, set off and it blew the upper covers away. This photo is from Karl.



V151. This is the interior of the Six Inch Battery Tully B. McCrea of what is left of it. This is 2009-08-14 photo from Karl.



V152. This picture shows the longitudinal passage coming up and forward from the athwartship passage (between the sally holes, the light section) to the Enlisted Berthing. This space has two large hatch openings that lead to the messing area below. This picture shows the aft hatch. This picture is from Karl.



V153. This Fort Drum drawing came from the original Concrete Battleship web pages, Welch/King, and which are now part of the Concrete Battleship web pages at Corregidor.org! I added it here for more help in finding your way around the fort.



V154. This is the stbd set of steps, coming down from the upper interior berthing deck and we are looking forward, standing on the mess deck. These, steps, port and stbd are attached to the after 14 inch turret, Battery John M. Wilson. Below these steps are the magazine spaces and above them is the Hospital Deck; we sailors would call it Sickbay. This is 2009-08-14 photo from Karl.



V155. The deck between the Hospital Deck and the magazine area is pretty much shot. The main reason all the I-beams holding it have been scrapped a long time ago. We are looking forward from those steps in the previous image. This is 2009-08-14 photo from Karl.



V156. We are in the bottom of Battery William L. Marshall, the forward 14 inch battery, and the person in the picture is exiting the turret to the port side. Scrappers have made a mess of the turret interior and very hazardous.




Note from Karl: here are two URLs and one video about the same story with just a different presentation:


www.concretebattleship.org/king/King_41.htm


archive.org/stream/1945-08-03YankMagazine#page/n1/mode/2up