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The Fall of Corregidor

The 11,000 defenders of Corregidor held out against intense Japanese bombardment until 6 May 1942. With some 12,000 shells crashing onto the island every 24 hours, sleep for the exhausted defenders was virtually impossible. Even huddled deep underground in the Malinta Tunnel, women and children bled from the ears from the concussive effect produced by the earth-shaking explosions overhead. Food, water and ammunition had dropped to critical levels when the Japanese finally secured a beachhead on the island on 5 May, and landed tanks. On the next day, General Wainwright ordered the American flag lowered on Corregidor in the hope of avoiding a massacre. In a flagrant repudiation of international convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war, General Homma warned Wainwright during surrender negotiations that he would execute all prisoners of war unless the surrender applied not only to Corregidor but to all American and Philippine troops still resisting the Japanese on other islands of the Philippine archipelago. In the hope of avoiding reprisals against his troops, and the women and children under his care, Wainwright agreed.

When MacArthur heard in Australia that Wainwright had surrendered to the Japanese, he was furious and countermanded Wainwright's order to his troops to surrender. This last insane order by MacArthur was ignored. It would almost certainly have produced a massacre of all American and Philippine prisoners of war, and placed at risk the lives of civilian captives, including the women and children under Wainwright's care. MacArthur responded to the rejection of his order to fight to the death by vindictively refusing to sign a recommendation from the US Army Chief of Staff, General Marshall, that General Wainwright be awarded the Medal of Honour.

The heroic defenders of Corregidor were subjected to the same appalling brutality that had been inflicted by the Japanese on the survivors of Bataan. American and Philippine troops suffered 16,000 casualties in the Battle of the Philippines, and 84,000 endured cruel imprisonment or execution at the hands of the Japanese. Of 20,000 American troops captured by the Japanese in the Philippines, about half died in captivity before the Pacific War ended. Some were murdered, others died from starvation, sickness or brutal treatment. Lieutenant General Wainwright remained in Japanese prison camps until the end of the war in 1945. He emerged from captivity resembling little more than a skeleton. He was awarded a hero's welcome in the United States, promoted to full general and finally awarded the Medal of Honour which had been denied to him by MacArthur's spite.

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Maps and infographics that trace and illustrate events from December 1941 to May 1942. This period marks the Fall of Corregidor to Japanese Imperial Forces.