Corregidor 1945: Repossessing the Rock
By (Author) Mark Lardas
Illustrated by Johnny Shumate
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Osprey Publishing
31st October 2023
20th July 2023
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Second World War
Naval forces and warfare
940.5425991
Paperback
96
Width 184mm, Height 248mm
A detailed and fascinating exploration of the 1945 US combined land, naval and air operation to retake Corregidor and the other Japanese-held islands in Manila Bay from a determined and well-entrenched enemy. The islands guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, Luzon, had been seized by the Japanese in May 1942. In February 1945, US forces were back, and closed in on Manila from the north and south against heavy Japanese resistance. A joint US parachute and amphibious assault was planned to capture the largest island Corregidor, using the much-reinforced 503rd PRCT and elements of the 24th Infantry Division and 2nd Engineer Special Brigade. Facing them were over 6,000 Japanese troops recently evacuated from Bataan, where they had been cut off by advancing US forces. General MacArthur desired the island, once a symbol of American defiance, to be liberated with a flourish. This superbly illustrated work examines the ambitious US assault on Corregidor, which witnessed the most dangerous and risky parachute drop in airborne history, and vicious, desperate fighting by the defenders as they sought to prevent American troops from taking the island. It also covers the recapture of other islands defending Manila Bay: El Fraile/Fort Drum, Caballo, and Carabao.
Mark Lardas, educated as a naval architect, worked over 30 years as an engineer, space navigator, and technical writer in the space, aviation, and energy industries. He has an abiding interest in aerospace, maritime, naval, and military history, with an emphasis on ship construction and engineering. Mark is the author of over three dozen published books on these subjects.