2 MARCH

Imperialist U.S. Gen. MacArthur inspects Manila tunnel
after recapturing Corregidor from the Japanese

1945 - The imperialist United States forces retake from the Japanese Imperial Army the island fortress of Corregidor in the Philippines, American colony in Southeast Asia since the turn of the century, during World War II; the Bald Eagle forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines in November 1944 with the plan to launch major attacks on the islands of Luzon and Mindanao; after Manila was captured away from Japanese hand, the 38th Division of the U.S. forces landed on Luzon's Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor recaptured using two attacks--parachute drop and amphibious landing; Corregidor had fallen to the Japanese Imperial Army on May 6, 1942 as the Second World War swept through the Pacific, with Japan pounding the American military bases as part of the campaign to take the U.S. colony and MacArthur fleeing to Australia; it is said that it is the presence of the American imperialist forces in the Philippines that served as magnet for the Japanese invasion as the former Asian military power needed to neutralize U.S. Far East Air Force in its bid to push for its hegemony in a  "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" while seeking to "liberate East Asia from white invasion and oppression"; while Filipino revolutionaries dating back to the Himagsikan against Spain or earlier had sought the assistance of Japan including in terms of trying to secure arms shipments, the communist Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas joined the guerrilla warfare by organizing the HUKBALAHAP despite Japan's declaration of Philippine Independence from American colonial rule.



Photo credit: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=854f468920b67806