The War in the Pacific: The Liberation of Manila 1945 – A Philippine Perspective

Abstract

By the beginning of 1945, Japan’s grip upon the empire she had so violently assembled began to fail. The strategic cities of south and south-east Asia surrendered to the advancing allies. Rangoon, Singapore, Batavia (Djakarta), Hong Kong and Saigon all experienced freedom without having been fought over. The specific exception to this process of liberation was Manila, capital of the Philippines, Pearl of the Orient, completely devastated in a largely unknown and decidedly unwanted battle. The battle lasted precisely one month, from 3 February to 3 March 1945. When the battle was over, 6500 Americans, 20 000 Japanese and 200 000 Manilenos had become casualties. Almost all the Japanese and half the Manilenos were killed in the only battle in the Second World War in which the Japanese and Americans fought each other within a city. The Battle for Manila was the war’s biggest ground engagement thus far, fought out by the forces of America and Japan on a scale equivalent to that seen in the 1944 destruction of Warsaw. The great irony of this tragic battle is that the war memorial erected on Corregidor Island at the war’s end omits to mention one of the major Philippine battles – that which liberated Manila.