On 16 February 1945 paratroopers of the American 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team dropped onto Topside, the high ground of Corregidor in Manila Bay, while an infantry battalion landed from the sea. The island had been lost to Japan in May 1942. Its garrison proved far larger than expected, and the fighting lasted into late February.
Back to the Rock
Corregidor, nicknamed the Rock, guarded the entrance to Manila Bay and had been the last American stronghold in the Philippines in 1942; it fell to Japan in May of that year, a story told in our article on the 1942 Battle of Corregidor and, for Bataan, in its own article. The fight for Manila itself in February 1945 is described in our article on the Battle of Manila. As long as the Japanese held Corregidor, the bay could not be used safely by Allied shipping.1
Planners chose a combined attack. The 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team would drop onto Topside, the high western part of the island, while a battalion of the 34th Infantry Regiment crossed from Mariveles on Bataan and landed on the beach below. The only open ground on Topside was a small parade ground and a golf course among wrecked buildings and splintered trees. American intelligence estimated the garrison at only about 850 men.2
The jump onto Topside
Corregidor had been bombed for weeks: the Army Air Forces history counts 3,128 tons of bombs dropped on the island by 16 February, and the Army's history describes weeks of air and naval bombardment. At about 8:30 a.m. on 16 February the first C-47 transports of the 317th Troop Carrier Group came over the drop zones, and the paratroopers began to jump. A strong wind blew many men away from the zones, onto ruins, trees and the cliffs. A second lift arrived around midday.3
The battalion of the 34th Infantry came ashore at San Jose beach later that morning and took Malinta Hill. The Japanese had prepared for an attack from the sea, not from the air, and the double blow caught them off balance.4
Fighting for the tunnels
The garrison was far larger than expected: the Army's official history counts over 5,000 men, nearly all of them naval troops, and the Army Air Forces history close to 6,000. The fighting became a slow clearing of caves, bunkers and tunnels, supported by air strikes, and by 27 February only scattered parties of Japanese remained on the island.5
Losses and the return of MacArthur
The Army's official history puts American losses up to 2 March, including jump injuries, at over 1,000 killed, wounded, injured and missing, and counts about 4,500 Japanese dead and 20 prisoners. The Army Air Forces history gives the paratroopers' losses on the first day alone as 222 of the 2,065 men dropped.6
On 2 March 1945 General Douglas MacArthur, who had left Corregidor by PT boat in March 1942, returned to the island and watched the American flag raised again. His long road back to the Philippines is told in our portrait of Douglas MacArthur.7
