Middleside Barracks, ex Fort Mills, on Corregidor

Middleside Barracks from fots2 05 2007 aerial view of the barracks

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Built in 1915, Middleside Barracks was a modern structure for its day. I have never seen any sort of blueprints for the barracks so I cannot label any locations or room functions. Toilets and showers are obvious. Only one room had any indication as to who was quartered there.

Today the state of the barracks ranges from reasonably intact to just rubble as you will see in the following photos. The top floor is quite dangerous in places and you certainly have to exercise caution there. The day tour buses stop at the roadside but no one is allowed near the buildings. I would say a project about three years ago to reinforce fragile areas has been quite successful. Even a strong typhoon a few months ago did no damage that I am aware of.

In the rainy season the buildings look dark grey with moss in some areas. In the dry season they look light grey/yellowish. Some photos are from past trips however most were taken just last week.

The main reason establishing this album is to host pictures in the Corregidor forum, to replace the originals there, because they were watermarked by Photobucket. The vast majority of the pictures was shot or was collected by John Moffitt who uses “fots2” as his forum name.

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Middleside Barracks fots 01 description

Middleside Barracks fots 02 pre war

Middleside Barracks fots 03 1945 view of Middleside. The two barracks are in the foreground and the large building middle left was the Army Service Club (YMCA).

Middleside Barracks fots 04 1962 aerial view of the barracks. (courtesy chadhill).

Middleside Barracks fots 05 2007 aerial view of the barracks

Middleside Barracks fots 06 2007 aerial view of the west side barracks

Middleside Barracks fots 07 2007 aerial view of the east side barracks

Middleside Barracks fots 08 2007 wide view. Near top right is James Ravine on the north coast. Top left is the Fort Mills Hospital.

Middleside Barracks fots 09 2006 pre clean-up and reinforcement view.

Middleside Barracks fots 10 2006 pre clean-up and reinforcement view.

Middleside Barracks fots 11 2006 pre clean-up and reinforcement view.

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THE FINE WORKS OF FOTS2 CONTINUES (JOHN MOFFITT)

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Middleside Barracks fots 12 2010 photo taken from beside the barracks of the road going up to Topside.

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Middleside Barracks fots 16 You can see some of the metal reinforcement here.

Middleside Barracks fots 17 The road to Topside passes by the top of the steps. At the bottom of the steps was a walkway over to the third floor of the barracks.

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Middleside Barracks fots 31 The faded lettering says “Battery D 91st CA (PS)”

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John Moffitt’s fine work continues

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Middleside Barracks fots 32 Japanese writing on the wall.

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Middleside Barracks fots 34 Look at this damaged wall. This must be an example of the “prefabricated and modular metal lathe reinforcements” construction method used for these buildings.

Middleside Barracks fots 35 Close-up view of a prefab wall.

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Middleside Barracks fots 45 Roof top bomb hole. Note the recent metal reinforcement in some of these photos. When you look at the work up close you can see that they did a great job.

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John Moffitt continues with metal reinforcements and metal covers over tunnels dug into the floors.

Remember this album is established to be the host source for fots2 pictures in the forum and many of the texts are not copied here! https://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/858/middleside-barracks

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Middleside Barracks fots 53 Here is something I expect most people do not know about. As you wander around the barracks you may notice metal plates/covers on the floor.

Middleside Barracks fots 54 One of the metal covers that can be seen in several locations. Lift the cover and have a look

Middleside Barracks fots 55 Yep, that’s one of several tunnel entrances under these barracks.

I have heard of three possible builders of the tunnels. US Marines, treasure hunters and scrappers. I have no idea which or if any of those would be correct. Some tunnels are crude rat holes just under the floor where you crawl along on your hands and knees. Others are deeper tunnels including laterals with squared corners. In these, you can stand up. Obviously they are not the work of someone in a hurry.

When you consider history, the Marines theory does not seem logical to me. They arrived on Corregidor on December 26th,1941 and moved into the Middleside Barracks. Soldiers living there told the Marines that the building was bombproof so why would they dig any tunnels. Plus, only three days later on the first day of Japanese bombing, December 29th, the building was virtually destroyed. The Marines moved to their field positions the same day. (http://www.fourthmarinesband.com/shanghai.htm)

In my opinion treasure hunters and scrappers would never dig anything so elaborate. I have never read of these tunnels in historical books.

Does anyone know anything about them?

Middleside Barracks fots 56 The roof of this tunnel is the bottom of the building’s concrete floor.

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Middleside Barracks fots 58 Looking towards one of the entrances that has been chipped through the concrete floor above the tunnel.

Middleside Barracks fots 59 Looking up at another covered entrance

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Middleside Barracks fots 62 A typical cover.

Middleside Barracks fots 63 Early morning view of Middleside Barracks.

Middleside Barracks fots 64 Final view of the Middleside Barracks.

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Jan. 2011 John Moffitt has another look at the tunnels under the Middleside Barracks

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Post by fots2 on Jan 31, 2011 at 9:24am

This island never ceases to amaze me. Even in locations I thought had given up all their secrets, something new pops up.

Last week, Phantom, a return hiking buddy Jim Moffett (no relation) and I, headed towards Middleside Barracks as a shower approached. I had unfinished business there.

Remember our discussions on the origin of the tunnels under Middleside Barracks. Scrappers, treasure hunters or soldiers quartered there were possibilities. After having a look again I think the answer may be “all of the above”. One low short tunnel does go from one wall over to a toilet pipe (approximately 15 feet long) so that may have been dug by a scrapper or treasure hunter. Another one quite a bit longer is also low, very rough and erratic in shape, no pipes in sight. Perhaps it is also the work of scrappers or treasure hunters years ago. These types of tunnels run directly under the concrete floor.

One straight tunnel is quite different from the rest and from a distance looks like the work of people who knew what they were doing. It has a ceiling 6+ feet high, squared walls and is around two feet or more under the concrete floor. Looking down one of the entrances, you can see laterals on both sides with squared corners. I’ll try to describe what you will see here. I was in for a surprise.

Entrance is via a vertical shaft. A ladder is useful here. Looking along the tunnel you can see a few laterals on both sides ahead of you. The floor is mostly level and there is no concrete lining anywhere. Humidity is 110%. As you approach the first set of laterals you realize that something is “different” here. Both laterals are only 3 feet or so deep but cut like that was the plan. The rear walls are rounded. The next set of laterals was similar and I was a bit baffled as to the purpose of what I was seeing. Moving further the laterals have “trim” cut into the entrances. The last two laterals made me think of tunnels I saw years ago under Alexandria, Egypt which were a couple thousand years old. A second entrance is nearly filled with debris.

What I was looking at here are shelters under the barracks made by soldiers who obviously had lots of time on their hands waiting for their shooting war to start. (assumption there of course).

These tiny laterals may best be described as alcoves or even cocoons. The most finished one has a label above the entrance saying “CPT W White”. A carved entrance about one foot thick surrounds the opening. Inside the entrances, all alcoves are rounded and a couple are almost polished. Interior space is very limited. Sitting on the floor, a man would look like a Buddha statue from Thailand, no one could stand up in them. A lot of work went into carving these shelters. Only two are finished, the rest being in various stages of construction. A couple others have some text above the entrance but it is difficult to read. One says SGT ? Tunnel. The name was a Filipino name but I forgot it and cannot make it out in the photos. Each one seems to be individual with respect to the detailed carving.

It is rare that I can put a name or face to what I see when wandering around Corregidor but two days in a row I see a tombstone with a lady’s name on it and now shelters of W. White and another soldier. So far W. White has not been identified. One thing that we can probably all agree on is that this is an interesting slice of Corregidor history. Photos in this confined space do not do this tunnel justice but here they are anyway.

Middleside Barracks fots 65 After descending into the tunnel, this is the view along the main shaft.

Middleside Barracks fots 66 Approaching more alcoves.

Middleside Barracks fots 67 Alcoves on both sides.

Middleside Barracks fots 68 Notice that the inside is larger than the entrance.

Middleside Barracks fots 69 The interior wall is quite smooth.

Middleside Barracks fots 70 Shallow or eroded letters are difficult to photograph using the camera’s flash face on. To try to see them better I disabled the flash and used my flashlight off to the side to create shadows across the letters. Color balance sucks but you can read it.

Middleside Barracks fots 71 This alcove entrance was carved to make it look like a two section pillar. The interior is larger than the entrance and the rounded rear wall is almost polished.