Yanks recapture Bataan after seaborne invasion
All important objectives on peninsula quickly seized by MacArthur’s troops
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops have deemed historic Bataan with a bold seaborne landing on the southern shores of the peninsula under the guns of Jap-held Corregidor.
“We have captured Bataan,” Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced in a triumphant communiqué.
Less than 48 hours after the landing, all the peninsula’s militarily-important objectives were in American hands. Gen. MacArthur’s troops were pursuing the disorganized enemy over the same dark around where on April 11, 1942, some 30,000 Americans and Filipinos laid down their arms and began their tragic death march to Camp O’Donnell.
Japs flee into hills
Covered by the big guns of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the bombs and bullets of hundreds of American warplanes, a big invasion convoy swept into the mouth of Manila Bay at dawn Thursday to spill tanks, troops and guns ashore at Mariveles.
The startled Jap coastal defenders fought back briefly, then broke and fled into the hills under a storm of rockets and gunfire.
Corregidor’s giant batteries, partially neutralized by days of continuous aerial and naval bombardment, fired a few bursts at the convoy but they were silenced quickly by salvoes from American cruisers and destroyers.
Captured by first wave
Mariveles, where the remnants of the American-Filipino army embarked for Corregidor after the fall of Bataan three years ago, was captured by the first wave of attacking infantrymen, who found the town reduced to rubble by the preliminary air and sea barrage. All of the native population had fled before the attack began.
Doughboys of 38th Infantry Division who made the surprise landing fanned out to the east and west of Mariveles. They quickly established contact with spearheads of the 6th Infantry Division advancing down the east coast of Bataan.
Limay and Lamao were captured by the 6th Infantry Division’s 1st Regiment in an 11-mile advance south of Pilar and the juncture was made at an undisclosed spot on the 15-mile coastal strip between Lamao and Mariveles.
The linkup sealed off several thousand Japs in the mountainous and militarily-useless southwestern corner of Bataan. The survivors were badly scattered and disorganized, however, and it was indicated the fight had become a large-scale mopping-up operation.
A third American force was rapidly sealing off the west coast of Bataan in an advance south from Moron toward the highway terminal at Bagac, 13 miles northwest of Mariveles.
Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué paid high tribute to the covering support of the Seventh Fleet, particularly the daring minesweepers that combed the approaches to Mariveles Bay for two days under direct fire from Corregidor.
Speed Manila mop-up
The triumph on Bataan momentarily overshadowed the savage battle still raging in the streets of southern Manila. Units of the U.S. 37th Infantry Division, the 11th Airborne and the 1st Cavalry were slowly chopping down the enemy’s major pocket of resistance on the Manila waterfront in and directly south of the old Walled City.
The mopping-up was proceeding more swiftly, although the remaining Japs were still fighting for every barricaded house and street corner in the city.
Marikina and Santo Nino village, 5½ miles east of Manila, were captured, and American units on the southeastern outskirts of the capital seized two airfields at Mandaluyong and fought their way to the west gate of Fort McKinley.