The Times WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1945. Corregidor

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 44, 21 February 1945, Page 4

The Times WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1945. Corregidor

The past week lias brought news of spectacular and important happenings in the war against Japan. It may be that in terms of long-range strategy the carrier strikes and naval bombardments on an unprecedented scale against the home islands of Japan arid the Bonins will prove to have a value exceeding that of events in the Philippines. But to the American nation even the new features associated with the sea-air assault on Japanese territory will serve simply to underscore the deep significance of fresh stages in the drama of the Philippines. Bataan and Corregidor have again come prominently into the neu s, and they are two names which burn like flame into the hearts and minds of Americans. Iveypoints in the strategic defences of the main Philippine island of Luzon, Bataan and Corregidor have been described as the graveyards of an illusion—the illusion that American troops could not be beaten under any circumstances. It was at Bataan and Corregidor that men of the American nation lasted the fullest ignominy of unconditional surrender. This fact bit deep into American minds, to an extent greater than the disaster of Pearl Harbour. There were the factors of treachery and surprise to temper the blows to American pride at Pearl Harbour. But in the cases of Bataan and Corregidor Americans were forced to the acknowledgment that in its unprepared state even their great nation could not help those of its fighting men waging hopeless battles against overwhelming force. After Manila fell to the Japanese on January 2,1942, American and Filipino troops waged a gallant fight on the adjacent Bataan Peninsula until the following April, when, ragged, starved and racked by illness, they were forced to give in. The island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Harbour held out for a month after the capitulation on Bataan, but on May 6 it too was forced into surrender. The defenders of Bataan and Corregidor unquestionably played an important strategical role in the early development of the Pacific war in that they denied to the Japanese for a useful period of time possession of the harbour of Manila, and it may be that history will support General MacArthur’s claim that the defence of the peninsula was one of the decisive battles of the world. But of greater importance is the fact that Bataan and Corregidor became, symbols of a new American fighting spirit, more deadly than the old, because it included appreciation of the enemy’s power and inspired determination to outproduce and outfight him. The fruits of that spirit are strikingly exemplified in the current news from the Philippines. Products of American industry in the form of warships, aircraft, guns, bombs and shells have beeii made available in abundance for the return to Bataan and Corregidor, and in generalship and in fighting qualities the Americans are demonstrating their ability to outfight the enemv and to strip him of his victories of 1942. But there is more than moral satisfaction, deep though it may be, to be derived from the latest news from the Philippines The clearance of the Bataan Peninsula and the successful landings on Corregidor have an important meaning in the Far Eastern war In conjunction with other operations on Luzon the new developments foreshadow the swift arrival of the day when the vast harbour of Manila will be available to the Allies. Manila Bay is a great strategical prize which can be exploited for the furtherance of Pacific strategy in several directions. It can be a big factor in the development of the Philippines as a barrier between Japan and the Dutch Indies, and if it be that the future direction of Allied advances is to follow the line of Formosa and the China coast then Manila will prove to be a nlost valuable sally-port. For these strategical advantages in the war against Japan their Allies will share with Americans satisfaction at the latest developments in the Philippines. They will also share in some part American gratification at the new aura that events have thrown over the names Bataan and Corregidor.