The Bataan peninsula, partly shrouded in fog and clouds, is visible
twenty-five miles across Manila Bay.
Across the entrance to Manila Bay are several small islands. The largest
and most important, Corregidor, lies two miles off Bataan and, with
Caballo, separates the entrance into the North and South Channels.
Shaped like a tadpole with its tail to the east, Corregidor measures
three and one half miles in length and one and one half miles at its
widest point. One mile south of the tip of the tail is Caballo, less
than one third the size of Corregidor. In the South Channel, about a
mile from the southern headland, lies El Fraile, a rock about 200 by 100
yards jutting up into the entrance of Manila Bay. Just outside and to
the south of the entrance is Carabao, the fourth of the small islands
whose location in Manila Bay gave them a strategic importance out of all
proportion to their size. In the history of American plans for the
defense of the Philippines, these islands loom large.