Figure 1.--Here Manila children display a captured Japanese flag after the Battle for Manila. The city was liberated in a month-long bsattle in whivh the Japanese committed terrible sttroities. The city was liberated, but destroyed in the process. /i>

General MacArthur after landing at Lingayen Gulf (January 9) apushed toward Manila. The Americans within a month had crossed Luzon's Central Plain, taken Clarke Field and were approaching Manila. They also landed forced in the south and were pushing north. The POWs and internees at Santo Tomas were the highest priority. Yamashita at this time evacuated Manila for defenses prepared in the mountains where most of his men were already dug in. He left troops in Manila to take a toll on and tie down the advancing Americans. Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi commanded a force of 16,000-19,000 mostly Imperial Marines in Manila. I am not sure what orders he was following. He defied Yamashita's orders. What ever the orders, cut off by the Americans, the Japanese turned on the defenseless civilian population of Manila. They seemed to have decided that if they were going to die that they would take as many Filipinos with them as possible. The Japanese targeted and killed an estimated 100,000 Fhilippino civilians in an outporing of mindless violence which has become known as the Rape of Manila. The city had to be taken block by block in vicious hand-to-hand combat. Iwabuchi and almost his entire force were killed. Manila finally fell (March 4).

Reaching Manila

American forces from the north and south reached the outskirts of Manila by early February. The 11th Psaratroop Division did not have the strength to break through the city from the south. Thus the fight to reach Manikla shifted to the stronger norther force. The "race" for Manila became a contest between the 37th Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. The First Calvalry was best equipped to rapidly reach Manila. They were not only highly mechanized, but suceeded in seizing bridges and binding fords through rivers. The Divisions flying column at times reported speeds of 50 miles ab hour (February 2). The 37th division was slowed down by difficult river crossings. lt crossings which forced it to either ferry its artillery and tanks across or wait for the engineers to build bridges. It was the First Calvalry that first reached Manila (February 3). Units entered the northern outskirts. Here the Tuliahan River threatened their rapid drive. An 8th Cavalry reached the bridge just ascthe Japanese were about to blow it. Lt. James P. Sutton, a Navy demolitions expert attached to the division, ran through intense Japsanese fire and managed to cut the fuse. This opened the way to liberate the city. The 8th Cavalry passed through the northern suburbs and into Manila proper. A 1st Calvalry tank named "Battling Basic" crashed through the walls surrounding Santo Tomas University, the site of a camp holding almost 4,000 civilian prisoners. Thanfully it was located north of the Pasig River where the Japanese Naval Defense Force were preparing to fight to the death. The Japanese guards did not mount a defense and soon the inmates, many near death from malnutrition and unmedicated illness were liberated. [U.S. Army, p. 11.] Liberating the rest of the city would proce much more difficult.

The City

Manila was one of the grest cities of Soiutheast Asia. It was the capital and largest city of the Philippines. It had a population of 0.8 million as was called the Pearl of the Pacific. Thanks to the American presence, Manila had one of the largest and most efficient pors in the Pascific. Much of the city consisted of what can only be described as ramshackle huts. The downtown, however, had modern, massive reinforced concrete buildings. They were built to withstand earthquakes. There was also anold Spanish stone fortresses. While it did not have reinforcing steel, it has massive stone walls. These buildings were located south of the Pasig River which cuts through the cspital. This provided a natural defensive line and the Japanese converted the important buildings into small fortresses.

Japanese Defenders

General Yamashita saw Manila as indefensible. He ordered the Commander of Shimbu Group, General Yokoyama Shizuo, to destroy all the bridges in the city and other facilities useful to the Americans and evacuate the city as soon as the Americans reached the city in strength. Rear Adm. Iwabachi Sanji, the naval commander for the Manila area, rejected Yamashita's orders. The Navy and the Army throughout the Pacific War had difficulty cooperating. This was only one of many examples, but perhaps the most tragic. Iwabachi vowed to resist the Americans. Amd General Yokoyama decided to defy his commander and support Admiral Iwabachi. Yokoyama committed three Army battalions to Iwabachi's 16,000-man Manila Naval Defense Force and prepared to battle the advancing Americans. The sailors had no training in infantry tactics, let alone street fighting, but they were well armed and dug in throughout Manila. Iwabachi braced for a fight to the last man.

Santo Thomas and Bilibid Liberated (February 3)

The POWs and internees at Santo Tomas were the highest priority for the Americans. General MacArthur was so impressed by the Ranger raid on Cabanatuan which was still in progress that he ordered Major General Mudge's 1st Cavalry Division to form a 'Flying Column' to accomplish the same thing with the 3,700 civilians interned at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.The Santo Tomas Internment Camo, also known as the Manila Internmernt Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans. The campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila was utilized for the camp. Forttunately as it would turn out, the University was no located in the center of the city. There was not much teaching going on after the Jaoanese arrived and thus the University had no real use. The internment camp was opened immediateltly afyter the Japanese occupied the city (January 1942). Conditions for the internees deteriorated as the War began to go against Japan. Many of the internees were near death at the time U,S. Army units reached them. The primary problem was the inadequate food the Japanese provided. The advancing American units were unaware of the 1,300 Allied prisoners at the old Bilibid prison which was only a few blocks from Santo Tomas. After some heavy fighting in confusing outskirts of Manila, the Santo Tomas Column encountered Captain Manuel Colayco, a Filipino newspaperman and clandestine intelligence officer. He guided the Americans to the main gate of the prison camp (February 3). After a brief fire fight in the evening with surprised Japanese guards, the M-4 Sherman 'Battlin Basic', followed closely by the 'Georgia Peach', of the 44th Tank Battalion broke through the gate of the prison. Unfortunately Cpt. Colayco was killed in the action. The stunned internnes and POWs were finally free. his occurred before the battle for Manila began. It is unclear if the Japanese commanders in Manila had given any thoughts to the internees and POWs, but given what they did to the Philippino civilians in Manila, it is fortunate that the Ameriucans got to Santo Thomas before the Battle of Manila began.

Short-lived Euphoria

The entry of American units into Manila caused short-lived euphoria. Much of the American drive to Manila had not been opposed by the Japanese in force. Liberating the city was a very different matter. General MacArthur was optimistic and announced the imminent liberation of Manila (February 4). He ordered his staff which was well versed in public relations to prepare a victory parade. Unfoftunately for all involved, the battle for Manila was just beginning. The 1st Cavalry Division in the north and the 11th Airborne Division in the south were reporting stiffening Japanese resistance. One airborne company commander after encoutering the naval defense force, remarked "Tell Halsey to stop looking for the Jap Fleet; it's dying on Nichols Field." General MacArthur's parade had to be dropped.

Liberating Manila (February 1945)

As the Americans reached the Pasig River, fighting flared throughout the city. It would last a month. The bsattle for Msamilsa degeneraed into a series of bloody street engagements fought house-to-house. General MacArthur with his long history in the Philippines wanted save Manila from a destructive campaign. He restrictions U.S. artillery and air craft fire. Admiral Iwabachi placed no restrictions on his fighters. Most saw surrender as shameful. They decided to die for the Emperor and to take as many American soldiers and Filipino civilians with them as possible. They proceeded to kill Fiipinos indesvrinately. A month of fighting left Manila almost totally destroyed and a virtual wasteland.

Casualties

XIV Corps suffered 1,000 dead and 5,500 wounded. An estimated 16,000 Japanese were killed--mostly sailors.

Rape of Manila (February 1945)

The Rape of Manila (Paggahasa sa Maynila) is also called the Manila massacre (Pagpatay sa Maynila). It is the murderous Japanese assult on civilians during the Battle of Manila. There is no known reason for the bloody rmapage other than the Japanese sailors and civilians were going to fight to the detah and were determined tom take as many Filipinos with them as possible. Part of the gostility was that the Finipinos were so overjoyed with the arrival of the Americans. The Japanese actually justified the action. "The Americans who have penetrated into Manila have about 1000 troops, and there are several thousand Filipino soldiers under the Commonwealth Army and the organized guerrillas. Even women and children have become guerrillas. All people on the battlefield with the exception of Japanese military personnel, Japanese civilians, and special construction units [many Korean] will be put to death." [Perry, p. 320.] General Tomoyuki Yamashita was in overall command of the Japanese forces in the Philippines. Unlike many Jaoanese Army officers, he was a competent if brutal commander. He understood that he dod not have the forces needed to defend Filipino capital. He conducted a withdrawl of Jaoanese Arny forces before the arrival of the Americans (January 1945). Yamashita's order was, however, ignored by naval forces in Manila. Some 10,000 Japanese marines under Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi decided to remain in Manila and fight it out with the advancing Americans. An additional 4,000 Japanese Army personnel were unable to leave the city because of the raid advance of the American and Filipino forces. There is no exacct count of the victims, but historians believes that qbout 100,000 Pilipinos wre killed in the fight for Manila. Japanese barbarity in manilka is only rivaled by the Rape of Nanking, but for some reasdon less publicized. Some were killed in the fighting, but many were simply murdered by the Japanese sailors and solders in cold blood. [Rottman, p. 305.] The women were often raped before being murdered. .

Provisional Aassembly

As the fighting was ending, General MacArthur summoned a provisional meeting of prominent Filipinos to Malacanan Palace and in their presence declared the Commonwealth of the Philippines to be permanently reestablished. "My country kept the faith," he told the gathered Filipinos. "Your capital city, cruelly punished though it be, has regained its rightful place--citadel of democracy in the East." [U.S. Army, p. 17.]

Sources

Perry, Mark. The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur

Rottman, Gordon L. World War 2 Pacic Island Guide.

U.S. Army. "Luzon 1944-1945" The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II CMH Pub 72-28.

Created: 10:45 AM 2/1/2010
Last updated: 1:12 AM 8/30/2020