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Some of its laterals were so secret only
those working there knew of their existence, and even they were blindfolded to and from
each work shift. Things changed after the war broke out.
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This
picture taken from Ordnance Point shows the South Coast of Corregidor, with
Camp Point
in the right foreground, Malinta Hill in midground, and Topside in the background. South
Dock, said by MacArthur to be the site of his departure, can be seen. In all likelihood,
MacArthur left from the Lorcha Dock. His reminiscences weren't always reliable.
"My new headquarters was located in an arm of the Malinta
Tunnel. Carved deep in the rock, the central tunnel was actually the terminal point of a
streetcar line. Other passages had been hewn out of the rock and these now housed hospital
wards, storerooms, and ammunition magazines. The headquarters was bare, glaringly lighted,
and contained only the essential furniture and equipment for administrative procedures.
MacArthur, "Reminiscences"
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The USAFFE Headquarters was situated in Lateral No. 3, which was
bare except for a row of desks and a minimum of office equipment. Pieces of cardboard had
to be placed over documents lying on desks to keep off the seepage that occasionally
dripped through the rock ceilings.
During 1998 the Corregidor Foundation enhanced the eastern end of
Malinta with faux sandbagging and mounted two heavy Japanese MG's within them.
Nice Touch. |
The
labyrinth of tunnels that the Army engineers had gouged and blasted out of Malinta Hill
was a marvel of durable construction that enabled it to endure a fearful beating and still
be the Rock's single most fascinating surviving attraction. Begun as a public works
project in the late 1920's, it's real purpose as a bomb proof storage and personnel
shelter was known only to the Chief of Coastal Artillery. The main tunnel, completed in
1932, was 1450 feet long and 30 feet wide at it's base. The walls arched up to a domed
ceiling at a height of 20 feet, and the walls, floors and overhead arches of all the
laterals were of reinforced concrete. The island's electric streetcar ran on dual
tracks through the main tunnel. It's laterals were glaringly lit by fluorescent
lights.
In anticipation of the necessity
of moving the seat of both the civil and military governing apparatus to a secure site, in
June 1941, the Engineer's Office of the Philippine Department sent Captain Arnold
Boettcher to Corregidor to to design and build the required facilities for the senior
civilian and military officials oft he Philippines. Armed with precise instructions about
his mission, Boettcher, his surveyors, and engineer crew blasted five new laterals off the
main tunnel under Malinta Hill. In contrast to the grim austerity of the other facilities
under the hill, these laterals were painted and furnished cots, tables, chairs, rugs and
desks. Constructions continued even until the declaration of war.
Malinta's tunnels were
uninhabitable if they were not ventilated by power driven blowers.
Many of the laterals on the
southern side, and particularly the Navy Tunnel laterals, are closed off by the rock
and debris of the Japanese defence, exploded in a mass suicide during February 1945. Many
of the laterals were never cleared, and beyond the plugged throats that one still
encounters in those laterals, hundreds of Japanese defenders still lay entombed.
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There is a division between the men in the batteries and
the 'tunnel rats', as well as the one between the Corregidoros and the refugees from
Bataan |
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In 1978, there was a landslide at the Western Entrance, which made
one recognize how dangerous Malinta Hill actually was. Malinta was fairly rough at the
time too, which was nice. |
These men, whether
Filipinos or Americans, were frankly tired of war. Gaunt, unshaven, dirty, wrapped in a
sullen despair, they squatted silently on the tunnel curbs by day. By night, they
stretched out on their scraps of blankets or on the bare cement, across the path of trucks
and cars. They cluttered up the neat tunnels with their heterogeneous possessions, with
the garbage and wreckage of war.
Yet it was impossible to clear them
out for they had a certain tired stubbornness that defied command or insult. And it
was equally impossible to allow them to remain, not only because they made normal traffic
in the tunnels difficult, but principally because their shame and despair was contagious -
it was a sinsiter and insidious disease that daily infected and drew closer to them the
garrison of Corregidor.
Leon Guerrero, "The Last Days of Corregidor", Philippine
Review, May 1943 |
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Malinta
1998
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By
1998, a "restoration" of sorts had been completed. Research would have
shown that in the laterals at least, fluorescent lights (an invention of a
Filipino engineer named 'Flores') were utilised. Once again, historical
accuracy is sacrificed for the purpose of a tourist drama. It would have been better
display for the recreators of history to be accurate on both counts, as the life in the
laterals was overcrowded, acrid, oppressive and pervaded by a sense of false hoped
helplessness. At the best of times, the tunnels were hot, dusty and filled with the
stench of bodies, vermin and large blue flies. During air raids, with the power off, they
were foul and almost unbearably hot. |
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The
second lateral on the right-hand side from the Eastern Entrance leads to the hospital
laterals, which appear to have largely survived intact. They're used for the
"special" visitors and the main lateral is hung with a series of photographs of
the political events connected with the island and of President Quezon.
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During
the night of 23rd February 1945 the Japs inside the tunnel began to explode
ammunition deep inside the mountain. Trapped in the tunnels of Malinta, the Japanese
were making their most serious attempt to demolish Malinta Hill. In the early morning
hours, seven explosions, all in quick succession, threatened to tear the hill asunder.
Foxholes crumbled, flames belched from every hole in the central and northern portions of
the hill, and with it belched corpses blown out by the blast, and men driven out into
American fire and death. It was devastation - stark, awe inspiring, terrifying.
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