Miscellaneous travels on Corregidor

[JohnEakin]

Never doubt the American GI's ability to dig a hole when someone is shooting at him. Believe me, when there's incoming you can't get close enough to the dirt. <G>

But I suspect that this structure was fortified well before December 8 when the war began. Look at how the roof was reinforced - a concrete sandwich is not how you build something to last. This was a hasty reinforcement and what they wanted was just something strong enough to hold five or six layers of sandbags. The way the roof was done makes me think this was created well in advance. If there was no rebar in the floor, it wouldn't be that difficult to break up the floor, either.

And while few bunkers will withstand a direct hit from a 240 - or even a 105 - with sandbags it would deflect small arms and mortar fire. One is much more likely to get hit by the mushroom cloud of shrapnel than a direct hit. Keeping the sun and rain off is gravy. A few logs and a lot of sandbags and this would have made a first class bunker.

[fots2]

Hi xray,

Since we do not know when these holes were dug, the work could easily have been done early on in the defense before the shooting war got serious. The 4th Marines (and probably everyone else) spent months creating and reinforcing defenses before Bataan surrendered. The soldiers may still have been on half rations and were much better off than their brothers across the channel who did quite well for a long time considering what they had.

Even if the holes were dug later, I expect falling artillery shells and bombs are an effective incentive to dig as deep as you can. These buildings are not within view of the nearby Japanese guns on Bataan. The larger building has just a single hole in its roof.

We are talking about only a couple holes in un-reinforced floors a few inches thick. Consider the effort required to dig tunnels through solid rock which continued until the surrender. Other defensive work and repairs continued on Corregidor until the end. When it was required, those guys had the energy.

So why are the holes are relatively clean now? Phantom has good suggestions. As I said, I saw no evidence of recent activity there.

Anyone who has not experienced it would be dumbfounded to see the extent at which treasure hunters go when digging for whatever they think is buried far underground. Sherwino is 100% correct.

[fots2]

johneakin,

I just saw your message and agree fully, sounds like the voice of experience.

Regarding the bunkers, when you read battery histories etc from that time, the soldiers were constructing mostly 'splinter proof' shelters and not many 'bomb proof' shelters. This was shrapnel protection and not direct hit protection.

Good points.

[The Phantom]

Exo, there aren't that many small piles of concrete, most are big or bigger...........

Johneakin has a great point, it's probably those pesky fishermen again looking for souvenirs.

There are so many stories of what the U.S. and Philippine troops did in 1942 with their valuables after they found out the Japanese confiscated watches rings, money etc.

Flushed them down toilets, put them in pipes, sink drains, holes in walls in all the tunnels on the island, cracks in rocks near their positions and buried them of course.
Some buried them under concrete floors by digging under the floor from the sides of buildings or positions.

Some things were hidden long before the surrender.
Which group buried their regimental fine china, or was it their silver service and came back after the war and dug them back up and took them home?

And what of the American Helicopter that landed on Corregidor just before Clark and Subic were turned over....... only to dig up large boxes and take them off the island?

Those types of stories keep people digging, just a rumor gets a hole dug.

I visited the Mary-knoll Convent and School in Baguio years ago.
They teach the blind.
That was where Yamasita was reputed to have had his headquarters later in the war.
The Mother Superior took us on a tour of the buildings and the grounds high on a ridge, there were large pine trees and beautiful grounds around the buildings.
There were also several recently dug holes.

She said "people are always sneaking in at night to dig up Yamasita's GOLD, it had been going on since the end of the war."

The only problem with finding what you hide on Corregidor after the war is how much the Topography changed due to all the bombing and shelling done in 1945.
not to mention what a typhoon will do to an island denuded of vegetation.

Imagine you buried your valuables by a big tree, a thousand lb. bomb hits your marker, good luck.

And how many of the guys were even alive to try and come back, or did they even care by that time?

And then there are the thousands of dollars of thousand dollar bills that didn't get burned.... but were put in ammo cans and buried under small piles of concrete.

[xray]

Points taken, treasure hunters the most likely explanation.

[oozlefinch]

Here I am, a day late and a dollar short. For those of you who have been part of this group longer than I have, it's easy to keep up. When you come in late, like I have, it takes a while to get through 17 pages, like this one. In any event, I have a couple of comments about past postings.

Reply #122 shows a picture of a trench line with overhead canvas covering. Al McGrew once showed me a picture of this area taken from the right of this picture. As I recall it was along the west side of Malinta Hill in the vacinity of the bakery.

Reply #229 shows in one of the pictures bases for machine gun towers on a hill. Do you remember which hill they were on?

[fots2]

Take your time, there is lots to see here.

(Responses in red)

Reply #122 shows a picture of a trench line with overhead canvas covering. Al McGrew once showed me a picture of this area taken from the right of this picture. As I recall it was along the west side of Malinta Hill in the vacinity of the bakery.

The old wartime trench photo in Reply #122 looks like a beach defense to me. Sandbags and sand at the right. The Bakery building was almost in the middle of Bottomside. I do not know exactly where the trench was located as there are few landmarks to be seen.


Reply #229 shows in one of the pictures bases for machine gun towers on a hill. Do you remember which hill they were on?

On the 1936 map, four machine gun towers are shown to have been up on Way Hill (NW of the Ordinance Machine Shop). This is a photo of one of those bases.

[oozlefinch]

Thanx. The trench photo was the one with men in it, and they had canvas awnings for protection from the sun. I'm not sure which road it is, but it skirts the southside of Malinta and then turns into the South Shore Road. If I recall correctly the bakery was just west of the road. I don't remember which side of the road the trench line was.

[fots2]

Here is a map for you oozlefinch.

The Bakery is Green.
The South Shore Road around Malinta Hill is Yellow.

[oozlefinch]

Yes. The picture I remember seeing was, I believe, along the South Shore Road somewhat southeasterly of the bakery. That was what made me think the picture in #122 was the same area. The vessel in the background could well be in the bay south of bottomside.