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A. My goal had been to find the mount of this 8 inch gun barrel of Battery RJ43.
NOT FINDING RJ 43
Text and Photos by John Moffitt
Thanks to Tony Feredo, I learned that there are some remnants of Battery RJ43 on the east side of Malinta Hill. The gun platform and some bolts still exist. The gun barrel from this position, the only 8 inch one on Corregidor, is now on display at the North Dock.
Although the area is not large, it is relatively open so vegetation was thick in places. After wandering around for quite some time, I found nothing except what I assume was a small cable vault at the top of a ridge.
Before deciding to leave this for a later time and move on to Denver Ridge, I made one wider pass around the hill. Down the north slope of the hill I came upon what appears to be a circular gun mount. It is approximately 8 meters (24 ft) wide. There is some damage to one side but it is mostly in very good shape. It is very close to the North Shore road just below it.
I cleared leaves, branches and roots from about 1/3 of the pedestal with my feet. There may be a circular hole in the centre but I cannot say for sure although two big trees are growing out of the center of the platform. I was guessing their roots go down through that hole.
For rough directions to the pedestal, start on the North Shore road at RJ43 and walk west down the hill. At the sharp corner before you come to the Malinta Tunnel North entrance, look left (uphill). It can even be seen through the tree from the road if you look at the right spot.
The GPS position is 51 P 240315 1592204 and I will be obtaining more GPS waypoints as part of Mapmaster Martyn Keen's geo-reference map project.
As for the position of the gun, it struck me at first sight as a curious place, and maybe less than ideal. After all, the field of fire seems so limited. However, a few factors might outweigh that - militarily, it is in a defilade, hidden from direct sight of that part of Bataan which is closest. It cannot be readily seen, except obviously by aerial recon, from which it could have been well camouflaged. From this position a gun could lob shells upon Bataan from behind the ridge. It might have also been able to direct fire on any large ship attempting to run the North Channel (although there were clearly other guns that could have dealt with that eventuality.) No wonder the Japanese felt it sufficiently important to utilize an artillery observation balloon.
Tony now tells me that the circular concrete platform I found is not a gun mount at all, but the mount for a searchlight used in the early Land Defense Installation of Corregidor, by name "IV-S-1" which means:-
IV Unit Command Sector 4 S Searchlight 1 1st searchlight or battery of the sector. But it doesn't quite add up. In my book, map actually, IV-S-1 is shown on the map above the 350 ft contour on the northern top of Malinta Hill. This is almost the exact location of what we know today as the position of Search Light #8. It is nowhere near the North Shore road where I found the pedestal. That pedestal is 475 feet north east of there at 175 ft elevation.
At present, the jury is still out.
That's just like Corregidor - you set out to find something, and end up finding something which is a whole lot more different, quite unexpected and more intriguing.
John Moffitt
B. The cable vault found at the top of the ridge. There are two conduit holes in all four sides of it.
Malinta Gasoline
Storage System |
Middleside Officer's Qtrs |
Btry Denver Tunnel |
The Final Line of
Defense | Not Finding
RJ-43 |
Btry Chicago
Malinta's Navy
Tunnels (Part 1)
(Part 2) |
Type 96 AA Gun
| A Walk
on Tailside |
G-1 Command Post