FALL OF CORREGIDOR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24912, 11 May 1942, Page 5

FALL OF CORREGIDOR

SHORTAGE OF WATER ENEMY'S COSTLY ASSAULT MELBOURNE, May 8. "Unlike the defenders of Batan, the men of Corregidor did not surrender because of hunger and disease, but most probably owing to a water shortage," writes the American, Mr Frank Hewlett, United Press correspondent, now in Australia. "I was the last correspondent to leave Corregidor, and on that date, April 13, the fortress had sufficient food for approximately six weeks. The miliitary leaders' greatest concern was water. In an effort to conserve supplies, baths were eliminated. A constant fear existed that bombs or shells would hit the precious water tanks. An acute water shortage resulted from broken mains. "It is so easy to understand how the supply would be affected during the nearly continuous bombing, and shelling, since Batan collapsed. I remember well the brutal beating Corregidor took last full moon, and can imagine how the intensity of the Japanese drive must have increased with Batan's resistance eliminated. Still, I am happy, for the sake of Corregidor's defenders, that the rock fell after the Japanese attempted a landing, because the brave American soldiers and marines and Filipino scouts and conscripts, who long defended \he beaches with only rifles to fight back against the Japanese artillery, had a chance to meet the enemy on a semblance of even terms. "Although white flags replace the Stars and Stripes on the emu the shell and bomb craters of Corregidor's once majestic parade ground, I am certain the Japanese, in conquering the fortress, paid the greatest price of any assault in the war."