Fort Frank (Carabao Island, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

) was one of the defense

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

s at the entrance to

Manila Bay Manila Bay (; ) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the Manila, capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Philippines and ...

established by the United States. The entire island was designated as Fort Frank, in honor of Brigadier General Royal T. Frank, as part of the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays built by the

Philippine Department The Philippine Department (Filipino: ''Kagawaran ng Pilipinas/Hukbong Kagawaran ng Pilipinas'') was a regular United States Army organization whose mission was to defend the Philippine Islands and train the Philippine Army. On 9 April 1942, duri ...

of the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

in the early 1900s.Bogart, Charles
"Carabao Island's Fort Frank"
The Corregidor Historical Society. Retrieved on 10 March 2018.
/ref>

Geography

Carabao Island is located near the southern end of the entrance to

about off the coast of Maragondon in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

. The long, narrow island is surrounded by sheer cliffs over . The whole island and fort has an area of with the highest elevation at .

History

Construction

The establishment of the islands of Manila Bay as military reservations was requested by the US Army and enacted by Executive Order of President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

on 11 April 1902. All but two of the fort's batteries were completed in 1913. These included Batteries Greer and Crofton, each with one gun M1910 on a disappearing carriage. Battery Koehler had eight mortars, and Battery Hoyle had two seacoast guns on pedestal mounts. Circa 1940 Battery Hoyle was disarmed (one gun went to defend the "stern" of

Fort Drum Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, near the western border of northern New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. ...

), and Battery Frank (or Frank North) was added, with four Panama mounts for mobile guns. In 1941 the

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

Battery Ermita was added, with four AA guns on mobile mounts. Three

field gun A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances (field artillery ...

s (possibly the gun M1917 also used by a Philippine Scouts regiment) for beach defense were also on the island. Battery Greer was named for Col. John E. Greer, an Ordnance Corps officer. Battery Crofton was named for Captain William Crofton, an infantry officer. Battery Koehler was named for 1st Lt. Edgar F. Koehler, killed in the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

. Battery Hoyle was named for Brigadier General Eli D. Hoyle, a Spanish–American War veteran who was an administrator in World War I. Battery

Ermita Ermita is a district in central Manila, Philippines. It is a significant center of finance, education, culture, and commerce. Ermita serves as the civic center of Manila, bearing the seat of city government and a large portion of the area's e ...

was probably named for the district in Manila. Battery Frank North was possibly named for Major Frank North, commander of the Pawnee Scouts.

World War II

The fort's design included little protection against air and high-angle artillery attack except camouflage. Also, most of its heavy ammunition was armor-piercing, intended for use against battleships, rather than the high explosive type that would be more useful against enemy troops and artillery. Fort Frank was heavily engaged in the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. On 31 January 1942 the fort's mortar battery bombarded mainland positions in the Pico de Loro Hills that the Japanese were emplacing artillery in. The 75 mm guns were also able to engage mainland targets. The Japanese began bombarding

and Fort Frank on 6 February 1942. Fort Frank was vulnerable in another way: its normal water supply was from a dam's reservoir on the Japanese-held mainland. On 16 February the Japanese discovered this and removed part of the pipeline near the dam. Although the fort also had a

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

plant to provide fresh water, this consumed fuel that was also needed for the gun batteries' generators that powered the ammunition hoists. The fort's commander ordered the distillation plant started, but also directed a 15-man team to attempt to restore the pipeline on the 19th. They successfully engaged a Japanese patrol but could not get to the pipeline. Eventually another party repaired the pipeline on 9 March.Morton, pp. 485-486 On 20 March 1942, thirty-four soldiers were killed by Japanese artillery when a round ricocheted into a tunnel at Battery Crofton. Fort Frank was surrendered, along with all other US forces in the Philippines, on 6 May 1942, after destruction procedures were executed on its guns to prevent their use by the enemy. During their occupation the Japanese were reportedly able to repair the gun of Battery Crofton and add three guns. In April 1945, during the American liberation of the Philippines, Fort Frank was heavily bombarded with bombs and

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...

(among other ordnance) in preparation for recapture. On 16 April 1945 the 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment and Co. C, 113th Engineer Battalion landed on Fort Frank to find that the Japanese had successfully evacuated the island.

References

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External links