040 - Siege of Corregidor

 Although the Imperial Japanese Army had advanced through Luzon and captured Manila, there were still two final objectives in the conquest of the Philippines: Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island. Once they occupied these two encampments, they would surely have a stranglehold on the Philippines, and in turn, all of Southeast Asia.

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With access to Manila Bay being so vital to Japanese Operations in the Pacific, the Japanese Navy laid siege to Corregidor Island. Japanese ships surrounded Corregidor, not allowing anyone to enter or leave while Japanese Army planes went to work softening up the Corregidor defenses by air.

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Siege Warfare had been around since mankind’s earliest battles. Huge armies surrounded castles during medieval times and even in prehistoric times, tribes blocked cave exits, all in hopes of literally “starving out” the enemy. So, too, it was with the Japanese Forces and Corregidor. The Japanese combined forces surrounded the island and by land, sea, and air. Japanese ships circled the island and fired their ship-mounted guns. Coastal artillery at the southern tip of Bataan pointed their howitzers across the Bay and fired large shells.

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However, unlike all sieges prior to World War II, the invaders had the new aviation technology at their disposal. Now, bombs could be delivered precisely by air. With the Philippines so close to the Japanese Army Base in Formosa, Japanese commanders relied heavily on the wide variety of Japanese Army Air Service planes, such as the Ki-21 “Sally” bombers, and even the Ki-27 “Nate”, and Ki-43 “Oscar” fighter planes, (shown above) which had been fitted with small bombs to help soften up Corregidor’s defenses.
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Meanwhile, U.S. Soldiers manned any one of the numerous Anti-Aircraft and machine gun batteries around the island, sending artillery shells into the sky in hopes of stopping the Japanese attackers. However, with the siege, ammunition and supplies soon ran low. In the end, though, the constant bombing would win the day and soon, Japan would claim Corregidor as their own, too.
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