FORT
DRUM. El Fraile Island before the
concrete battleship was constructed. |
|
The defenses of the three other islands in
the entrance to Manila Bay were hardly less formidable, proportionately,
than those of Corregidor. Caballo (Fort Hughes), just south of
Corregidor, was the next largest in size. Only about one quarter of a
square mile in area, this island rose abruptly from the bay to a height
of 380 feet on its western side. The east coast, which was lower than
the rest of the island, was vulnerable to amphibious attack and a marine
detachment of about 100 men was sent there to augment the garrison.
Later, 200 sailors from Corregidor were added to the marine detachment
and Comdr. Francis J. Bridget, who had commanded the naval battalion in
the Battle of the Points, assumed command of the beach defenses. His
force was almost doubled when the crews of four gunboats, about 225 men,
were sent to the island. By the end of April the garrison of Fort Hughes
numbered about 800 men of whom 93 were marines and 443 belonged to the
Navy. The antiaircraft defenses of the island were tied in with those of
Corregidor and consisted of four 3-inch guns. Seacoast artillery
numbered thirteen pieces: two 14-inch guns, four 12-inch mortars, two
6-inch guns, three 155-mm. GPF's, and two 3-inchers. (Table 10)
About four miles south of Fort Hughes lay
Fort Drum, the most unusual of the harbor defenses. Cutting away the
entire top of El Fraile Island down to the water line and using the
island as a foundation, the engineers had built a reinforced concrete
battleship, 350 feet long and 144 feet wide, with exterior walls of
concrete and steel 25 to 36 feet thick. The top deck of this concrete
battleship was 40 feet above the low-water mark and had 20-foot-thick
walls. Equipped with four 14-inch guns in armored turrets facing
seaward, a secondary battery of four casemated 6-inch guns, and
antiaircraft defense, the fort with its 200- man garrison was
considered, even in 1941, impregnable to attack.
The southernmost of the fortified islands
was Carabao, only 500 yards from the shores of Cavite Province. Except
at one point along its eastern shore, the island rises precipitously
from the sea in cliffs more than 100 feet high. On this uninviting
island the Americans had placed Fort Frank, which late in 1941 had a
military garrison of about 400 men, mostly Philippine Scouts. Its
armament consisted of two 14-inch guns, eight 12-inch mortars, four
155-mm. GPF's, as well as antiaircraft and beach defense weapons.
All four forts in Manila Bay, as well as
Fort Wint in Subic Bay, had been formed before the war into an
organization called the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays which,
in August 1941, became a part of the Philippine Coast Artillery Command.
Both were commanded by Maj. Gen. George F. Moore who also commanded the
Corregidor garrison. The 5,700 men assigned to the Harbor Defenses were
organized into three seacoast and one antiaircraft artillery regiments,
headquarters, and service troops. The three seacoast units included the
American 59th and the Philippine Scout 91st and 92d. The 60th, the
antiaircraft regiment, was composed of Americans. About 600 Philippine
Army soldiers in training were organized into the 1st and 2d Coast
Artillery Regiments (PA), but operated under the control of the two
Scout regiments.