Malinta Hill

[fots2]

Hi Phantom,

I cannot say if the light area we see is concrete but I can say that the search light location is not below the gun shelter. The steps you are referring to are at the far north end of the top of Malinta Hill and the searchlight is below the top there. The gun shelter is quite a ways south of the steps.

Have a look at the armyjunk photo seen in Chad’s Reply #202. In the photo, south is on the left side, north on the right side. The gun shelter is labeled at the left and the top of the little hill is labeled in yellow. The steps can be seen at the northern end of Malinta Hill and cannot be seen from the gun shelter.

I think that the only way the ring on the bottom of the Pom Pom could remain undamaged is if it was still bolted down during the attack that put the gun out of commission. If the gun was pushed over due a very close shell blast, wouldn’t the ring be all warped as it ripped off nuts and bolts?

[fots2]

fortune40, that makes sense to me.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the platform and bolts seen in the photo were completely buried under 2 to 8 inches of soil. I never would have found it without directions from guys that had seen it years earlier. If not destroyed in 1945, it is possible that the Pom Pom's concrete pad and bolts are still there. Unfortunately tree roots are thick in this area now.

[chadhill]

Aug 5, 2012 0:10:58 GMT 8 fots2 said:

...If the gun was pushed over due a very close shell blast, wouldn�t the ring be all warped as it ripped off nuts and bolts?

Exactly, fots. And there would probably be at least a few broken bolts still attached to the ring, with small chunks of concrete hanging on.

Instead we see a clean base ring. Sure looks like the pom-pom has been intentionally unbolted for a reason. Furthermore, if the reason is only for scrapping, why would the Japanese choose a gun so difficult to access, with such relatively little metal compared to the many other larger caliber weapons on the island that were more easily reached, and then so soon after the battle?

[chadhill]

For convenience, here's a repost of armyjunk's photo and the two Japanese pics:











Just for interest's sake, here are two 1.1 inch pom-pom battle damage photos from the cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38). This damage was sustained off Guadalcanal on 13 NOV 42 (shortly before the action that took down the USS Juneau with the five Sullivan brothers aboard, okla):







(reposted PEF pom-pom photo 8/27/12 which had become deleted somehow)

[okla]

Hey Chad....Please orient me, in regard to the Japanese photo of the upturned Pom-Pom. At mid/lower, right edge of the pic....is that shoreline () the southside of Corregidor just west of Bottomside?? If so, then I know exactly where I am. Thus far, when I think I know what location I am viewing, I start doubting myself. Just another disadvantage of having never physically been to the Fortress. If this location is where I think it is I, now, have no doubt that you guys have pinpointed the positon of the "donation" from the USS Houston. It certainly got "smacked" around in the finale of this fight.

[chadhill]

You be right on target, eagle eye. That shoreline above the sandbags in the lower RH corner is just where you think it was

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I can imagine how difficult photo orientation could be for those who haven't been lucky enough to be able to step onto The Rock. Look at the collapsed 75mm gun shelter behind the pom-pom:





Now see where the collapsed 75mm shelter is on this view of the NE side of Malinta Hill:




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Sorry I missed your birthday by a day, wwalker...have two on me! ;D

[okla]

Hey WW....Have two more on me and you should be pretty well ignited for a B-Day Party to be remembered for posterity. Have a good one.......Oklahoma

[wwalker]

Thanks for the B-Day wishes guys, I appreciate it.

WW

[fots2]

Thanks to the inter-service co-operation of ex USAF and USN servicemen, both okla and Chad have it correct. Our forums are fortunate to have two sets of eagle eyes at work.

I have the advantage of having been there often but you two can pick anything out of these fuzzy old photos. I’ll do the groundwork and you two sort out what it means…team work at its finest. ;D

[chadhill]

Aye aye, matey. Good game plan....now, that would be something if there indeed was a circular bolt pattern in a concrete platform about where that yellow arrow is. Right, ol' airdale?