The Battle for Corregidor (5-6 May 1942) was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Philippines during the Second World War.
The fall of Bataan on 9 April 1942 ended all organized opposition by the U.S. Army Forces Far East to the invading Japanese forces on Luzon in the northern Philippines. The island bastion of Corregidor, with its network of tunnels and formidable array of defensive armament, along with the fortifications across the entrance to Manila Bay, was the remaining obstacle to the 14th Japanese Imperial Army of Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma. The Japanese had to take Corregidor; as long as the island remained in American hands, they would be denied the use of the Manila Bay, the finest natural harbor in the Far East.
The U.S. and Filipino army recaptured the island in 1945.
Corregidor, officially named Fort Mills, was the largest of four fortified islands protecting the mouth of Manila Bay from attack and was fortified prior to World War I with powerful coastal artillery. At 3.5 mi (5.6 km) long and 1.5 mi (2.4 km) across at its head, the tadpole-shaped island lay 2 mi (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km) from Bataan. Its widest but elevated area, known as Topside, contained most of its 56 coastal artillery pieces and installations.