The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1942. DRAW YOUR BLINDS—5.45 p.m. CORREGIDOR’S EPIC FIGHT.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXI, Issue 15039, 9 May 1942, Page 2

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING SATURDAY, MAY 9, 1942. DRAW YOUR BLINDS—S.4S p.m. CORREGIDOR’S EPIC FIGHT.

Corregidor has fallen, but its namt and those of its gallant defenders will shine amid the legends and re cords of yalour and endurance as long as freedom lives. For five months the island fortress has been under the fire of the Japanese; since the fall of Bataan it has withstood an ordeal of an intensity and fierceness which no beleaguered garrison except Malta has ever been called upon to face. Ceaselessly battered by the biggest guT.s which the Japanese could mount on the shores surrounding the islet, remorselessly hammered by heavy bombers, shot at every hour af every day by divebombers, harassed by sorties from the sea under the cover of th e most intensive barrages, short of food and water, so short of ammunition, with no hope of replacement, that every shell had to be counted before it was fired, given no respite day or night, the heroic garrison fought an epic battle against overwhelming odds. It fell, but its dogged resistance was of incalculable value to the Allies during the most critical period of the war. It prevented the use of Manila as a Japanese base, it immobilised a great force of men, guns and planes, it delayed the Japanese High Command’s programme of attack and thus, in all probability, contributed in a very important degree to the mobilisation of the Allied forces now disposed about the South Pacific, and to their safe and s]>eedy occupation of th© 'posts from which their offensive will eventually be launched. Psychologically its stand was a much needed tonic to the Vibes, a reminder that even partly equipped forces endowed with courage and resolution can. stem the tide of enemy progress and give back blow for blow so long as rescurces stand the strain. The defences of Corregidor will shine as a beacon of valour and confidence until the end of the war; it will inspire the Allied forces to an emulation which will bode no good to the enemy. Corregidor has helped to give us a breathing sjiace; while that respite continues we must take the fullest advantage of it by a determination to work at the highesu l>ossible pressure in our own defence to strengthen our forces and to ensure that the quality of our leadership, in civilian life as well as i»the army, shall reach its apex while there is yet time.