Quote:
Originally Posted by Falcon Jun
I found some info involving the Bataan Death March and Bataan when I visited Corregidor last Friday.
According to the historical guides on the island, the guns of Corregidor had inadvertently fired on the POWs of the Bataan Death March, causing some casualties.
This was documented, they claimed. Unfortunately, since I was only on a day tour, I lacked the time to look at the records on the island. They also mentioned that it was the British that first released this story while the Americans hushed it up.
As an aside, I bumped into a Japanese tourist who visited the island. On board the ferry, we discussed the Death March before I met the island's historical guides. According to the tourist, he was told that the Death March was a military necessity. It was a gruesome thing to do, he admitted but the Japanese had to use the prisoners as a human shield to force Corregidor to stop shelling Japanese positions and supply routes. The supply routes, he added, was partly the same route the prisoners took.
I don't know but this seems a coincidence. At first glance, it seems there might be something to the claim of friendly fire. It looks logical and plausible. Anybody else who has heard of this claim? It is a fact that some of the guns of Corregidor were still firing at Bataan when the troops in the peninsula surrendered.
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Hi Jun,
There was never an official "friendly fire" incident from Corregidor to Bataan. When Bataan surrendered on April 9, there were strict orders from USAFFE forbidding counter battery fire from Corregidor againsts Japanese positions in Bataan for fear of hitting surrendering US and Filipino forces. There was incident while the surrender was still taking place when the Japanese tried emplaced some of their light field artillery from the shores of the peninsula and tried to shell the beach defenses. They were immediately placed under counter battery fire from 75mm and 155mm abd silenced. From them USAFFE held any counter battery until such time that gunners from Corregidor could have identified and confirmed targets. It was only April 12, 1942 that an official order was handed down to fire againsts Japanese positions in Bataan.
Note the most effective counter battery fire to Bataan other than the 12-inch mortars of Batteries Geary and Way were the roving batteries of 155mm guns which were manned by Philippine Scouts. Batteries Hearn and Smith ( 12-inch M895A2 guns each on 1917 BC) ceased firing after the night of April 8-9. Battery Grubbs (2 - 10-inch DC guuns) was silenced on April 16 and Battery Morrison ( 2 - 6-inch DC guns were aslo rendered silenced) by Japanese artillery fire from Bataan.
Regards,
Tony