The Battle of Manila- A City's Liberation at a Heartbreaking Cost

by Jude Morgan

Before the outbreak of World War II, the United States Armed Forces had limited experience in large-scale urban combat. The last significant urban engagements for American infantry were small-scale operations during World War I and the U.S. Civil War battles of Richmond and Atlanta, both of which resulted in significant destruction to those cities. [1] When the U.S. 6th Army and 11th Airborne Division advanced toward Manila on February 3, 1945, to fulfill General Douglas MacArthur’s promise to return to the Philippines, they faced a grueling month of brutal street-to-street fighting without adequate tools or doctrine for effective urban warfare. Conversely, the Japanese Manila Defense Force (MDF), commanded by Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, was under-equipped and consisted primarily of sailors with limited infantry training or combat experience, operating under a fragmented command structure. The ensuing conflict led to the near-total destruction of Manila, including countless historic landmarks, and the massacre of approximately 100,000 civilians, known as the Manila Massacre.

As the capital and largest urban center of the Philippines, Manila held immense strategic, cultural, and administrative importance, making its recapture critical for the Pacific Campaign. The first major obstacle was the University of Santo Tomas, established in 1611 during Spanish colonial rule. Under Japanese occupation after Manila’s fall in 1942, it was converted into an internment camp housing primarily American and other Allied civilian expatriates.
Dorothy Davis, a nurse at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, treated civilian internees under challenging conditions due to limited supplies. She recalled, “The equipment was practically all improvised, in both the hospital and the clinic. The men would find material for the most amazing improvisations, for example, a large religious mural served as a clinic partition. For diet tickets, we tore a sheet into ribbons and dipped some of these in gentian violet, some in Mercurochrome, and some in picric acid.” [2] On February 3, 1945, as American forces, including tanks from the 1st Cavalry Division, entered the university compound, fighting broke out but ended swiftly with the surrender of most Japanese guards in the main building. A brief hostage crisis ensued, lasting until February 5, as approximately 200 Japanese defenders attempted to hold the Education Building. Rick Lawrence, a soldier in the 1st Cavalry, described the scene post-surrender: “Children were soon swarming over the tanks, as the soldiers gave them chocolate bars and candy.” [3] Santo Tomas was spared the worst of the destruction, unlike much of Manila.

Destruction at the Walled City (Intramuros district) of old Manila in May 1945 — after the Battle of Manila. Source: Illustration 341 in Medical Dept., U.S. Army: Surgery in World War II: Activities of Surgical Consultants, Vol. II, Office of the Surgeon general, Dept. of the Army, Washington, D.C., 1964.

Shortly after the U.S. liberation of Santo Tomas, Japanese troops throughout Manila committed mass atrocities against the civilian population, known today as the Manila Massacre. To justify the horror, the Japanese high command would issue statements declaring that Filipino citizens were aiding U.S. forces in the area, likening them to guerrilla fighters, spies, and collaborators. Every Filipino would become an immediate target, including women and children. 
Following the liberation of Santo Tomas, Japanese forces committed widespread atrocities against civilians, known as the Manila Massacre. The Japanese high command falsely claimed Filipino citizens were aiding U.S. forces as guerrillas, spies, or collaborators, justifying the targeting of civilians, including women and children. At Saint Paul’s College, over 1,000 civilians were lured into a room with promises of protection, only to be killed by hand grenades and machine-gun fire as they attempted to flee. Those who survived were hunted down by soldiers and bayoneted to death. Dr. Valerde, who lived next to the college, witnessed from his window a Japanese squad hunting down a 15-year-old girl who had escaped into his garden. Upon finding her, an officer dragged her out of hiding and decapitated her. [4] 
St. Paul’s College would become the site of further massacres, as well as other notable facilities such as the German Club. In Fort Santiago, located within Intramuros, Japanese troops rounded up approximately 2,000 civilians and stripped them of their belongings. There, the Japanese sorted them between Europeans and Filipinos before massacring them. The next day, after being unsure of what to do with the rest of the prisoners, the MDF set their cells on fire and burned the remaining people alive. Even more horrific incidents of sexual assault, rape, murder, humiliation, mutilation, and further atrocities occurred throughout the battle, with estimates ranging from 54,000 to 100,000 civilians perishing in the massacres alone.

Citizens of Manila run for safety from suburbs burned by Japanese soldiers, 10 February 1945 Source: Unknown author - Robert Ross Smit: Triumph in the Philippines, in: United States Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific, Washington D.C, 1991, LCCN 62-60000

Despite General Douglas MacArthur’s declaration on February 6 of Manila’s liberation, the battle for Manila had only started, and the worst was yet to come. On the opposite side of the city, elements of the American 11th Airborne Division advanced north through Parañaque City, towards Manila. Here, they continued to battle a well-entrenched enemy determined to fight for every inch of Manila—no matter the cost. To balance out their numerical disadvantage, elements of the MDF stripped heavy weaponry from surrounding ships in Manila Bay and aircraft to bolster the defense of the city. Using the urban environment to their advantage, the MDF had created a dispersed fortress of pillboxes, machine-gun nests, earthworks, gun emplacements, and outposts in sturdy buildings throughout the streets. The 511th Airborne Infantry soon found that they lacked the weaponry to deal with fortified gun emplacements, as the mortars they were provided had little to no impact on Japanese concrete or reinforced fortifications. [5] Instead, they were forced to rely on superior small arms fire to make advances. 

U.S. troops fighting in the Walled City, Manila Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps (SC 203048) - Robert Ross Smit: Triumph in the Philippines, in: United States Army in World War II, The War in the Pacific, Washington D.C, 1991, LCCN 62-60000

The city’s destruction intensified due to artillery from both sides and deliberate arson by the MDF. The intensity of the blaze spread and engulfed a large part of the city. Frank Ephraim was a Jewish German expat who had escaped to the Philippines with his family during the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. Still living in Manila during the battle, he witnessed the scene of destruction of the Malate Catholic School and Remedios Hospital, located near the historic Intramuros. He recalls that “Remedios Hospital was just across the street, but despite the red crosses on the roof and the doors, American artillery fell on the hospital grounds, where the dead were piling up and the wounded were being treated by one overworked doctor and one medical student.” [6] Following a night of intense shelling, he awoke seeing that “The dying embers now revealed a devastated landscape. A few houses, including ours, still stood, lone sentinels among the desolation. We did not dare return to the house as the Japanese were firing at anyone who stood up.” [7]

By February 12, Japanese artillery had been neutralized, leaving American artillery as the primary source of infrastructural damage. MacArthur initially restricted heavy weapons and artillery to minimize destruction, allowing only direct fire (where crews could see their targets). This exposed artillery crews to significant risks in the urban environment, increasing U.S. casualties. Due to pressure from his staff and the need to dislodge entrenched Japanese forces, MacArthur eventually lifted restrictions on indirect fire, which escalated civilian suffering and destruction. Tanks and tank destroyers leveled key structures, including the University of the Philippines, Philippine General Hospital, Agricultural Building, and New Police Building. A single M-18 tank destroyer platoon fired over 600 rounds into the Legislative Building on February 26, nearly demolishing it. [8] By March 3, Manila was officially liberated, with Intramuros under Allied control.
The Battle of Manila left profound societal trauma, requiring the near-total reconstruction of the capital. Yet, it is largely overlooked in Filipino collective memory. The National Day of Valor on April 9 commemorates the fall of Bataan in 1942, overshadowing Manila’s liberation. The Memorare Manila 1945 monument, funded by survivor groups in 1995, remains a modest tribute compared to other WWII memorials in the Philippines.[9] Despite being the second-most destroyed capital city in WWII, Manila has been rebuilt, with many landmarks restored. However, fading public memory underscores the importance of remembering how the events of February 3 to March 3, 1945, shaped modern Manila and the Philippines.


Footnotes

[1] Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, The Battle of Manila (Oxford University Press, 2025).
[2] Dorothy Davis, “I Nursed at Santo Tomas, Manila,” The American Journal of Nursing 44, no. 1 (1944): 30.
[3] Sarantekes, The Battle of Manila.
[4] “800 Massacred in College,” The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), November 1, 1945, 3. Accessed July 10, 2025. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248033378.

[5] Sarantekes, The Battle of Manila.
[6] Frank Ephraim, Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror (University of Illinois Press, 2003).
[7] Ephraim, Escape to Manila.
[8] Peter J. Schifferle, Bringing Order to Chaos: Historical Case Studies of Combined Arms Maneuver in Large-Scale Combat Operations (Army University Press, 2018).
[9] John Lee Candelaria, “Forgetting the Battle of Manila,” New Mandala, March 3, 2024, https://www.newmandala.org/forgetting-the-battle-of-manila/.



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Works Cited

Davis, Dorothy. “I Nursed at Santo Tomas, Manila.” The American Journal of Nursing 44, no. 1 (1944): 29–30.

“800 Massacred in College.” The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). November 1, 1945, 3. Accessed July 10, 2025. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248033378.

Ephraim, Frank. Escape to Manila: From Nazi Tyranny to Japanese Terror. University of Illinois Press, 2003.

Lee Candelaria, John. “Forgetting the Battle of Manila.” New Mandala. March 3, 2024. https://www.newmandala.org/forgetting-the-battle-of-manila/.



Phocas, Benjamin. “Fighting for the Pearl of the Orient: Lessons from the Battle of Manila.” Modern War Institute. August 1, 2023. 


Quezon III, Manuel L. 2013. “The Battle of Manila, February 3-March 3, 1945.” The Philippine Diary Project. February 16, 2013. https://philippinediaryproject.com/2013/02/16/the-battle-of-manila-feb-3-march-3-1945/.

Sarantakes, Nicholas Evan. The Battle of Manila. Oxford University Press, 2025.

Schifferle, Peter J. Bringing Order to Chaos: Historical Case Studies of Combined Arms Maneuver in Large-Scale Combat Operations. Army University Press, 2018.

United States Army.. An Aerial View of Manila, Philippines, Photographed after the Battle of Manila. 35mm Film, 1945

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