Fort Drum during the Japanese Invasion

Shortly before the Japanese Invasion, the US Army started to resupply the Fortress with ammunition, food and other supplies. Before the War, a series of wood and corrugated sheet shelters had been built over the fortress for the men but these were thrown overboard to provide free and un-restricted firing angles for the main guns.
Following the landfall of the Japanese forces at the Island of Luzon, the fortress was constantly bombed by 150mm Artillery guns from the Imperial Japanese Army without success due to the strong wall while at the same time using it´s main guns to hit the advancing Japanese forces on the Island of Corregidor, sinking many troop barges and causing huge casualties to the invading forces. Later 240mm Siege guns were brought close enough to hit it, destroying the 76mm AA guns and one of the 152mm guns.
Still, Fort Drum continued in operation.

However, following the surrender of Corregidor, Fort Drum´s crew was also forced to surrender; although the base still had lots of supplies and shells to continue fighting for many more months, their fresh water tank had been damaged during the bombings and the Desalination Plant that had been installed many years before had rusted over the years without proper maintenance.
Before surrendering, the guns were destroyed to prevent their use by the Japanese; because of this and the fact that thousands of Japanese soldiers had been killed by the fort guns, the American crew was very poorly treated by the Japanese, with only around 30-40 of them surviving the war.

Following this, the Japanese occupied the Island, although they were unable to re-use it on it´s original intended role once again due to the damage performed by the Americans. Fort Drum was the last Japanese position to be conquered by the Americans after the famous return of General Douglas MacArthur; after a failed aerial and naval attack, a small group of American troops were carried into the Island on a modified Landing Ship Medium (LSM) and used a ramp on the top of the control turret of the ship to access the fortress. Instead of entering the fortress and fight the Japanese inside it with grenades and machine guns, a smaller LCM boat that also took part on the operation was used to drop a mix of gasoline and petrol into the ventilation system of the base. The American troops then left the installation and 30min later, a colossal explosion completely destroyed it.
The small 62 Japanese-garrison on the fortress (many of them survivors of the sinking of the Super-Battleship Musashi) were incinerated by the massive explosion which threw huge blocks of concrete hundreds of meters away.
Since then, the fortress was left abandoned and has become a tourist attraction on the Philippines although it´s technically not open to the public.

To know more about the functionalities of this model, click here for the next image:
www.flickr.com/photos/einon/52923811082/

Eínon

Taken in: Philippines / Calabarzon / Ternate / Okno (show map)

Taken on: April 30, 2023

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