Battle of Corregidor

Victorious Japanese troops atop the Hearn Battery, May 6, 1942.

Date	May 5–6, 1942
Location	Corregidor island in Manila Bay, Luzon Island, Philippines
Result	Japanese victory

Belligerents

United States

Commonwealth of the Philippines

Empire of Japan

Commanders and leaders

Jonathan M. Wainwright (POW)

George F. Moore (POW)

Samuel L. Howard (POW)

Masaharu Homma

Kureo Taniguchi

Kizon Mikami

Strength

13,000 US and Filipino troops

75,000 Japanese troops

Casualties and losses

800 killed
1,000 wounded
11,000 POWs

900 killed
1,200 wounded

United States

The Battle of Corregidor, fought May 5–6, 1942, was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during World War II.

The fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 ended all organized opposition by the U.S. Army Forces Far East to the invading Japanese forces on Luzon in the northern Philippines. The island bastion of Corregidor, with its network of tunnels and formidable array of defensive armament, along with the fortifications across the entrance to Manila Bay, was the remaining obstacle to the 14th Japanese Imperial Army of Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma. The Japanese had to take Corregidor; as long as the island remained in American hands, they would be denied the use of Manila Bay, the finest natural harbor in the Far East.

The US army recaptured the island in 1945.

Corregidor, officially named Fort Mills, was the largest of four fortified islands protecting the mouth of Manila Bay from attack and was fortified prior to World War I with powerful coastal artillery. At 3.5 mi (5.6 km) long and 1.5 mi (2.4 km) across at its head, the tadpole-shaped island lay 2 mi (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km) from Bataan. Its widest but elevated area, known as Topside, contained most of its 56 coastal artillery pieces and installations.

Middleside was a small plateau containing more battery positions as well as barracks. Bottomside was the low ground where a dock area and the civilian town of San Jose was located. American servicemen alternately dubbed it "The Rock" or the "Gibraltar of the East", in reference to the peninsular fortress that guards the main entrance to the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Africa.

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