FINAL SCENES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24268, 8 May 1942, Page 5

FINAL SCENES

islandTortress POUNDED BY BIG GUNS BEACH DEFENCES BLASTED (Reed. 10.45 p.m.) LONDON, May 6 General D. Mac Arthur, commander in the South-west Pacific area, paid a brief but high tribute to the defenders of Corregidor to-day. General Mac Arthur said :—"Corregidor needs no comment from me. It proclaimed its own story at the mouth of its guns. It has scrolled its own epitaph through the bloody haze of its last reverberating shot. I shall always seem to see the vision of grim, gaunt, ghastly men, still unafraid." The final scene at Corregidor is indi-

cated by an American communique stating: "One of the last messages received from Lieutenant-General Wainwright prior to the fall of Corregidor mentioned that in the fighting on Tuesday before the successful Japanese landing, heavy artillery, including 250millimetre guns, firing from many new positions, shelled Corregidor and the other island forts throughout the day. Our guns replied with counter-battery fire. Again, for the fourth day in succession, there were 13 separate air attacks on Corregidor. "The artillery and air attacks have been much heavier since April 29, after which there was little respite. Artillery fire proved more disastrous than aerial bombardment. During the last few days there have been many casualties among our troops and the damage to military installations has been severe. "The landing was preceded by heavy artillery attacks on the beach defences, which swept away barbed wire entanglements, and blasted machinegun installations and other centres of resistance. The Japanese used a large number of steel barges in the short waterway from the tip of Batan Peninsula to Corregidor. "General Wainwright also reports that enemy reinforcements have landed at Mindanao, where heavy pressure is being exerted on our troops near Digos."' A Washington message states it is estimated that there were over 7000 combatants on Corregidor and that with the capitulation of Batan a total of 42,000 American and Filipino combatants have been involved. There were 68 army nurses on Corregidor at the time of the evacuation of Batan. Prior to the outbreak of fighting Corregidor's population was 8000. A spokesman at General Mac Arthur's headquarters said that between December 9 and the surrender Corregidor sustained over 300 air raids, some lasting for 24 hours. During the campaign the troops saw 200 Japanese aeroplanes crash and others damaged.

SMALL VESSELS LOST NAVAL PERSONNEL'S FATE (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 6 The Navy Department has announced the loss of three minesweepers and two gunboats during the final battle before the fall of Corregidor. The American forces demolished all local small craft. The Navy Department has assumed that 3845 officers and men of the Navy and Marine Corps have been captured by the Japanese.