Malinta Hill

[fots2]

I think you are correct Chad. By the way, the correct name of that bath tub is EG IV 3. (Second Supplementary Emergency Gun Group Command Post for Unit #3). That’s a mouthful. It was for mortar batteries Way and Geary.

Military Map symbols and labeling are confusing. You probably know this but here is a quick guide for everyone.

B – Battery Command Post
BC - Battery Commander's Post
G – Gun Group Command Post
E – Emergency Command Post (w/o roof)
Postscript numbers:
I – Primary station
II – Secondary station
III – Supplementary station
IV – Second Supplementary station
Subscript numbers:
Unit number

[fots2]

Hi Chad,

A week ago when I was on Corregidor I came up with a bright idea that the dark spot you saw in the bathtub command post might be the over-tuned pom pom gun. It would have been a ready-made concrete platform with surrounding walls just above Searchlight #8. There was only one way to see if this was feasible and that was to go up there. Since I had been told that the trail (old road) up to the top of the hill has been cleared since the typhoon a few months ago then this sounded easy. It turned out that the workers took an extended break at the 75% complete point and never returned. A few detours were required and a bit of cutting but it was not too difficult to get up there. The worst section is actually between the intact 75mm gun shelter and the Searchlight #8 air shaft.

The first thing I noticed was how compact the area is at the top of Malinta Hill’s north end. Immediately I knew that my idea was not so great.




In this photo notice how wide the quad 1.1-inch pom pom was. The two seats are far apart. No way would that fit in the command post that is 6 feet wide (E-W) and 9 feet long (N-S).

The command post sits on the only flat spot here. Using it as a reference point, it is 4 paces to the east cliff, 5 paces to the steep north slope and 5 paces to the steep west slope. The distance south to the SL #8 air shaft is only 6 paces. The old two dimensional photo does not give an accurate impression of the limited space up here. The gun may have been south of the airshaft. If any concrete pad remains then it is now buried under the broken branches and grasses. A look here in the dry season would be worth the trip.


Here are a few photos taken that day:




From Bottomside I walked around Malinta’s South Shore Road to get to the trail leading up the Hill. Here was a recent rock slide down onto the road. Two chunks of rock weigh as much as I do.

On the way up I stopped at a tunnel that housed a 3-inch pedestal mounted coastal defense gun. A photo of the gun in the tunnel is posted on the first page of this trip report.




Looking into the tunnel entrance.




Looking towards the rear of the tunnel.




A small tunnel at the rear is dead ended around the corner to the left.




The view looking back out the tunnel.




The original WWII photo showing the north end of the ridge on top of Malinta Hill.




The bathtub command post, EG-IV-3.




EG-IV-3 looking east. Note how close the cliff is to the command post.




At EG-IV-3 looking towards the Searchlight #8 airshaft. The distance is only 6 paces.




Standing at the edge of the airshaft and looking towards EG-IV-3 in the shadows straight ahead.




Looking in a SE direction down into the SL #8 airshaft.




Notice the concrete that makes square corners to the rounded command post. This has obviously been added after the initial construction.

I have seen quite a few “bathtub” command posts and this is the only one with such a modification. This is purely speculation but would the squared corners be quickly built extra support for something such as a platform? Was a platform (metal plate?) added to support a heavy object such as a quad pom pom gun? If the gun actually was at the north end of the hill then there is nowhere else it could have been. There is barely room for ammunition and working space let alone a bulky gun. Perhaps the dark shadow in the original photo beside the command post actually is the overturned gun. I wish I could say for sure.




See the cut-off metal pole near mid photo. This is the first hand rail of the steps down to Searchlight #8. It is quite close to EG-IV-3.

Very little of the steps down to SL#8 can be seen today. They are probably covered up but a few steps and some cut-off metal handrails are visible.




A few of the steps down to SL #8 are still visible.




The entrance to SL #8 tunnel. I never noticed this before but see the white paint above the entrance.




Close-up of the paint. I don’t know why that was painted.




Near the end of the concrete lined tunnel is a bare rock unlined area. This is the bottom of the vertical airshaft.




Looking up the airshaft.




Looking back out the SL #8 tunnel.

The tunnel is oriented toward the north as I mentioned earlier however your original guess as to where the air shaft was in the original photo is correct. I have no idea what the darker spot a bit south is unless it is just a shadow. Nothing appears to be there now.

The mystery of where the gun was hurriedly installed is not solved but at least we know the general area a bit better. We might get lucky someday and see a photo of the gun sitting up here somewhere.

[armyjunk]

Fots if you look closely, I don't believe the 3inch gun in the 1946 pic was in that tunnel. I think it was in the other tunnel.

[armyjunk]

CASE REPORT


YOUR PIC

[The Phantom]

The squared off concrete on the bathtub atop Malinta certainly bears further investigation.
Good catch fots.
I've seen none like that on Corregidor either.

It's the little clues that seem to get us closer to the bigger picture.

Could the Pom Pom frame have been made of wood and steel parts and placed over the top of, and anchored inside the bathtub for added support?
I'm sure the metal parts are long salvaged with the gun, maybe some metal rings in concrete under the current debris............

Maybe some railroad ties still in the area.

Another site added to the list...........

[chadhill]

Wow, I had to be gone for a week...and now that I'm back, to my great surprise there's yet another fantastic fots foto show!! Nice, nice job there, Fots.

Looking straight up the ventilation shaft photo, that Japanese 240mm shell must have exploded when it hit the wire "net" part way down. If it had detonated at the bottom of the shaft, I doubt we would see the concrete liner still intact at the back of searchlight # 8 tunnel. Lieutenant Colonel Barr's account says that Lieutenant Friedline and four others died of burns from the explosion, and that four others were seriously burned. Again, I would think that if the shell bottomed out when it exploded they would have been blown to pieces.

Very interesting view looking from the back of SL # 8 tunnel towards the entrance. If I'm not mistaken the searchlight was a Sperry 60 inch type. I wonder if the pieces on the ground in your photo are wreckage from it. When I was there in 1986 I saw pieces like that, plus busted glass, a burned boot sole, broken eyeglasses, and unfortunately some bone fragments.


Your fine efforts prompted me to do some more digging, Fots, and I think I've found where the pom-pom gun was mounted. First, let me repost Armyjunk's original photo:





I was able to extract the following stills from a Japanese newsreel taken atop Malinta Hill shortly after the 1942 battle. Sorry about the focus quality, but it was hard to get perfect "freezes" with the photographer moving the camera around.


Here, up close is the 75mm shelter on the right (north) of the ridge in Armyjunk's picture ("Shelter 1"). The gun is still there. In the left background, higher up on the ridge, is the overturned pom-pom gun. Note the wreckage higher on the ridge between the 75mm shelter and the pom-pom.





This position is on the ridge, just below the pom-pom. It is looking north, down the ridge, from the pom-pom and towards the 75mm shelter (Shelter 1). I think the square object in the bottom center of this picture is part of the pom-pom gun. This position must have been the gun crew's station which Friedline and his men abandonded for SL # 8 tunnel on April the 29th (or 30th, according to which text is refrerenced) to escape the heavy bombardment. Armyjunk's picture must have been taken much later in the war because I do not see it in that photo.






The pom-pom gun. It was not directly above SL # 8 tunnel, as some texts claimed.





This is the partially collapsed 75mm shelter seen in the center of Armyjunk's photo. The gun is still inside. It is just south of the pom-pom, and higher on the ridge.





This is just beyond, or south of, the collapsed 75mm position. The corner of the collapsed shelter is on the right. In the center is another shelter, labeled "Shelter 2" in Armyjunk's photo. Behind Shelter 2 is the final wreckage on the south edge of the ridge.

[fots2]

Hi armyjunk,

You are correct of course.

The last paragraph was an attempt to summarize the post and not imply that either gun was located in the Searchlight #8 tunnel. What I wrote does sort of sound like I was saying that. (I’ve got to stop writing these things at midnight). Sorry for the confusion. Look at the text between photos 2 and 3, it is correct there.

[fots2]

Hi chadhill,

What you say about the Japanese 240mm shell makes perfect sense to me. Good point.

There still is scrap metal lying around that tunnel. A bit of digging would probably uncover more of what you noticed. Hotel overnight hikers come up here sometimes so anything obvious is long gone.

Damn, your ability to find and interpret the photos you post is impressive. I mention finding a photo to show the gun and you post it the next day!!!

So the pom pom never was on top of SL #8. Now we have photo evidence of where it was. The top of that little ridge is the area where the typhoon damage was the worst. The trees there are small but are bent all over the place.



Your photo taken from the intact 75mm gun shelter looking north. Notice the dark area at the far left. This is the entrance to a small tunnel that I assume was the magazine for the 75mm gun just a few paces away. A rear entrance is destroyed but light still filters down from cracks in the concrete above it.



A similar view also looking north. Here we are looking through the same 75mm gun shelter at the small tunnel straight ahead in the shadows. The wooden hand rail is beside the hiking trail heading up the slope heading further north to Searchlight #8. That trail must pass beside or even over where the pom pom was. From the 75mm gun shelter to the SL #8 air shaft is only 30 seconds walk on a clear trail. (Note the camo paint pattern still inside the gun shelter).

A few extra photos for you.



A closer view of the small tunnel/magazine entrance.



Inside looking at the collapsed rear entrance.



The round pedestal for the 75mm gun can still be seen inside the shelter.

There certainly was a lot of “junk” on top of Malinta Hill at that time. I’ll be back there again next month and will let you know if anything remains at that spot. You have peaked my interest in the other shelter and ruins also. Thank-you for your valuable input.

[okla]

Hey Guys...What a great, treasure trove of info you all have posted this morning. I can spend hours prowling thru this new poop from group. Kinda like Santa has arrived early. Cheers and thanks again.

[chadhill]

Fots, thank you for the great photos and commentary! After studying your material it suddenly dawned on me that I was mistaken yesterday about the position of the pom-pom. Originally I looked at the slope of the ridge and the direction the 75mm gun seemed to be pointing, eastwards I thought:






The slope of the ridge led me to believe that the pom-pom was to the left of "Shelter 1" and up on the ridge near the collapsed shelter, inspite of the narrowness there. If that is true, then the 75mm gun in Shelter 1 is seen pointing eastward. The wreckage of the gun in the collapsed shelter also seems to point eastward. This Malinta Hill post-surrender photo is from "Philippine Expeditionary Force":




But none of that explains the position of the pom-pom from this PEF photo, unless the gun had been moved to be brought off Malinta Hill. I doubt that it could have been transported around Shelter 1 on the narrow ridge without being disasembled. The pom-pom may have been unsalvagable, anyway.




Thank you for your help. Now I realise the the pom-pom was actually on the top of the lesser sloped ridge just to the right of Shelter 1. If you view the Japanese newsreel it is clear the the pom-pom crew station is well below the gun. The extreme north end of the ridge does indeed slope downward towards the "bathtub" command station, and the stairway to SL # 8.

I have a hunch about the dark round shadow in Armyjunk's photo. Here's another extract from the Japanese newsreel:



This shows the crew station, looking down from beside the pom-pom. Note the dark object at the bottom center. I think it might be a disk shaped piece turned on its side. There is also a dark object to the left of the pom-pom in the PEF top-of-the-ridge photo where the gun is overturned. The bottom of the pom-pom has a round base mount. My guess is that the dark round "shadow" is part of the lower mount or base plate. Maybe the dark color is a Navy thing, remember that the gun was originally destined for the USS Houston. Just a hunch, though...

So, I'm thinking that the pom-pom was mounted near the "dark shadow" and that the crew station extended from there down to the "bathtub" command post. It places the whole position much closer to the top of SL # 8 than I thought yesterday, and is more in line with the books.

And for some reason, the 75mm gun in Shelter 1 is facing westwards. It could be that all the 75mm guns on top of the ridge, together with the pom-pom, were out of service by May 5, so it wouldn't matter if the gun was facing the wrong way to shoot tailside invaders...