Battle of Manila (1945)

50

The Pittsburgh Press (February 15, 1945)

Japs in Manila make last stand

Yanks closing on old Walled City

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops today threw an armored cordon across the burning Manila waterfront.

The Yanks swung in from the south and east to storm the last big center of Jap resistance in the old Walled City.

The bulk of the Jap defenders were being herded slowly back behind the massive walls of the Spanish city – the Intramuros – under savage attack by tanks and infantrymen of the U.S. 1st Cavalry and 37th Infantry Divisions.

Face Jap Marines

Most of the Jap artillery in the area had already been silenced, and the main opposition came from machine-gun nests, snipers and hundreds of mines sowed through the streets.

The storming of the Intramuros, however, was expected to be a quick and bloody affair. Many of the enemy in the waterfront trap were known to be Imperial Marines, the toughest and most fanatical of all Jap troops. It was likely that their last stand would be a no-quarter fight to the death.

A smaller pocket of enemy resistance, centered around Fort McKinley on the southeastern outskirts of Manila, was also being reduced slowly by U.S. artillery and dive-bombers.

Gain on Bataan

Isolated Jap strongpoints also extended clear across the city from Fort McKinley almost to the waterfront. None of these strongpoints was held very strongly, however, and they were being mopped up by U.S. tank and infantry forces.

On Bataan, meanwhile, other U.S. troops cleaned out a number of troublesome Jap pockets along the Olongapo-Dinalupihan road traversing the top of the peninsula. The Yanks drove 11 miles down the east coast to capture Abucay. Abucay was the eastern anchor of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s first defense line on Bataan in 1942.

Farther to the north, units of the 40th Infantry Division struck out into the hills west of Fort Stotsenburg. The troops routed strong Jap forces entrenched in a network of caves there and seized large quantities of food, clothing and ammunition.

51

The Pittsburgh Press (February 16, 1945)

Main Jap line on Bataan cut

Yanks in Manila continue mop-up

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops broke through the main Jap defense line on Bataan today. The Yanks advanced swiftly into the southern half of the peninsula to avenge the U.S. Army’s defeat there in 1942 – the bitterest of the war.

The breakthrough on Bataan came as other Yanks shot and bayoneted their way through the smoke-shrouded streets of Manila in a no-quarter battle against thousands of fanatical Japs holed up in the southern half of the city.

Vanguards of the U.S. 11th Army Corps all but sealed the conquest of Bataan yesterday with the capture of the Balanga-Pilar area in a five-mile advance down the east coast of the peninsula from Abucay.

Belanga and Pilar formed the eastern anchor of the defense line on which Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright’s heroic troops made their last stand on Bataan in the dark days of 1942.

The fall of the two towns put Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces astride the only remaining lateral highway on Bataan, running from Pilar to the west coast town of Bagac. With that line cut, the remaining Japs on the peninsula-appeared to have little chance of waging organized resistance for any length of time.

South of Pilar, the Americans were pushing into rugged, mountainous terrain only 16 miles from the southern tip of the peninsula and about 18 miles from Corregidor.

Blast Corregidor

Corregidor, guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, was rocking continuously to the blast of American bombs in a non-stop bombardment that clearly pointed to an imminent amphibious attack on the island.

A force of B-24 Liberators heaped another 112 tons of bombs on the rock fortress Wednesday without drawing an answering shot from the island’s gun batteries. Headquarters observers warned, however, that “the Rock” is not likely to be an “easy murk” for an American landing, since the Japs are well entrenched there and probably have plenty of big guns emplaced deep in the island caves, out of reach of bombs.

Swarms of U.S. attack planes were supporting the drive down Bataan.

Gain slowly in Manila

Inside Manila, however, the advance was going ahead more solely, with the heaviest fighting centered around Fort McKinley, on the southeastern outskirts of the city, and on the eastern and southern approaches to the old Walled City on the Manila waterfront.

The Japs in both pockets were being whittled down steadily, but they were fighting hard and ruthlessly, burning everything in the wake of their retreat and slaughtering Filipino civilians inside their lines.

One strong enemy group barricaded themselves inside the Philippine General Hospital while the Yanks closed in from three sides, firing cautiously to avoid injury to a number of Americans believed to be in the building.

Japs tricked

Captured Jap documents revealed that the enemy had been tricked completely by the American landing at Lingayen Gulf, 110 miles north of Manila, apparently having expected the main attack to come in the Batangas area to the south.

As a result, the Japs were unable to put up a really strong defense north of Manila and the conquest of the northern half of the city was relatively easy.

South of the Pasig River, however, the enemy concentrated perhaps 20,000 crack troops in and around the city, and covered the streets with mines, artillery and machine guns in the mistaken belief that they could turn the capital into a death trap for Gen. MacArthur’s troops.

52

Liberated prisoners give $708 to Red Cross

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – The liberated Baguio internment camp has contributed 1,405 pesos, 56 centavos (about $708) in genuine Philippines currency and coin to the Red Cross, it was disclosed today.

The money, saved for more than two and a half years, represented a commissary surplus at the time the internees were transferred to Baguio from the former Army post, Camp John Hay, where they had to buy their own food.

53

The Pittsburgh Press (February 17, 1945)

Yanks recapture Bataan after seaborne invasion

All important objectives on peninsula quickly seized by MacArthur’s troops

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops have deemed historic Bataan with a bold seaborne landing on the southern shores of the peninsula under the guns of Jap-held Corregidor.

“We have captured Bataan,” Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced in a triumphant communiqué.

Less than 48 hours after the landing, all the peninsula’s militarily-important objectives were in American hands. Gen. MacArthur’s troops were pursuing the disorganized enemy over the same dark around where on April 11, 1942, some 30,000 Americans and Filipinos laid down their arms and began their tragic death march to Camp O’Donnell.

Japs flee into hills

Covered by the big guns of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the bombs and bullets of hundreds of American warplanes, a big invasion convoy swept into the mouth of Manila Bay at dawn Thursday to spill tanks, troops and guns ashore at Mariveles.

The startled Jap coastal defenders fought back briefly, then broke and fled into the hills under a storm of rockets and gunfire.

Corregidor’s giant batteries, partially neutralized by days of continuous aerial and naval bombardment, fired a few bursts at the convoy but they were silenced quickly by salvoes from American cruisers and destroyers.

Captured by first wave

Mariveles, where the remnants of the American-Filipino army embarked for Corregidor after the fall of Bataan three years ago, was captured by the first wave of attacking infantrymen, who found the town reduced to rubble by the preliminary air and sea barrage. All of the native population had fled before the attack began.

Doughboys of 38th Infantry Division who made the surprise landing fanned out to the east and west of Mariveles. They quickly established contact with spearheads of the 6th Infantry Division advancing down the east coast of Bataan.

Limay and Lamao were captured by the 6th Infantry Division’s 1st Regiment in an 11-mile advance south of Pilar and the juncture was made at an undisclosed spot on the 15-mile coastal strip between Lamao and Mariveles.

The linkup sealed off several thousand Japs in the mountainous and militarily-useless southwestern corner of Bataan. The survivors were badly scattered and disorganized, however, and it was indicated the fight had become a large-scale mopping-up operation.

A third American force was rapidly sealing off the west coast of Bataan in an advance south from Moron toward the highway terminal at Bagac, 13 miles northwest of Mariveles.

Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué paid high tribute to the covering support of the Seventh Fleet, particularly the daring minesweepers that combed the approaches to Mariveles Bay for two days under direct fire from Corregidor.

Speed Manila mop-up

The triumph on Bataan momentarily overshadowed the savage battle still raging in the streets of southern Manila. Units of the U.S. 37th Infantry Division, the 11th Airborne and the 1st Cavalry were slowly chopping down the enemy’s major pocket of resistance on the Manila waterfront in and directly south of the old Walled City.

The mopping-up was proceeding more swiftly, although the remaining Japs were still fighting for every barricaded house and street corner in the city.

Marikina and Santo Nino village, 5½ miles east of Manila, were captured, and American units on the southeastern outskirts of the capital seized two airfields at Mandaluyong and fought their way to the west gate of Fort McKinley.

54

Völkischer Beobachter (February 18, 1945)

Guerillakämpfe in Manila

Tokio, 17. Februar – Die erbitterten Straßenkämpfe in dem brennenden, von amerikanischen Bomben und Geschossen in Trümmer sinkenden Manila gehen weiter.

Durch den im Nordteil der Stadt seit einigen Tagen tobenden Guerillakrieg sind die Hauptstraßen mit ihren Warenhäusern, Lichtspieltheatern und Geschäften ein Flammenmeer geworden. Die amerikanischen Truppen haben ihre Frontstellungen nördlich des Paligflusses, welcher die Stadt in zwei Teile teilt, seit dem 8. Februar weiter verstärkt und richten ihre Angriffe jetzt gegen den Stadtbezirk Pandakon und San Juan.

Im östlichen Teil von Manila, in der Nähe der Pajustation, konnten die japanischen Verteidiger ihre Stellungen trotz heftigem Artilleriefeuer halten. Das gleiche gilt für das Westufer des Paligflusses, und zwar für den Teil von der Alalaybrücke aus, einer der größten Brücken in Manila, bis zum andern Fluss-Ufer im Süden. Einen bemerkenswerten Erfolg konnten zwei japanische Marinesoldaten verbuchen, die sich am 2. Februar nachts in einem Paddelboot einer von den Amerikanern errichteten Notbrücke bei Macate, südöstlich von Manila, näherten und diese in die Luft sprengten. Die in der Subicbucht gelandeten amerikanischen Truppen kommen kaum voran. Sie sind in dem Landekopf zusammengedrängt und starken japanischen Angriffen aus der Batanhalbinsel heraus ausgesetzt. Entlang der ganzen von Lingayen bis Manila von Norden nach Süden verlaufenden Front sind Kämpfe im Gange. Japanische Berichte lassen durchblicken, dass man kurz vor der Offensive Yamashitas stehe.

Die Kämpfe, die die Amerikaner bisher rund 19.000 Mann auf Luzon gekostet haben, entwickeln sich nach den japanischen Erwartungen: der zahlenmäßig überlegene Gegner befindet sich den drei japanischen Stellungen gegenüber, die die Luzonebene von drei Richtungen aus beherrschen. Mit zahlreichen Ausfällen beabsichtigen die japanischen Verteidiger die allmähliche Verblutung der sich zurzeit auf Luzon befindlichen zwölf amerikanischen Divisionen.

55

The Pittsburgh Press (February 18, 1945)

Ultimatum to surrender given to Japs in Manila

Saturday, February 17, 1945

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Maj. Gen. Oscar W. Griswold, commander of U.S. forces in Manila, today called on Jap troops holding the Intramuros District of South Manila to surrender.

The general asked the enemy to capitulate or permit the evacuation of civilians “in the true spirit of the Bushido and the code of the Samurai.”

Bushido is the name given the unwritten law supposedly governing the conduct of Jap nobles. The Samurai are Jap warriors.

‘Defeat inevitable’

The ultimatum was first sent by public address system and by radio at 3 p.m. Friday and was sent again Saturday morning. The Japs are believed to have received it. But there was some confusion in establishing radio contact with the enemy and the result was doubtful.

The message said:

Your situation is hopeless and your defeat is inevitable.

I offer you honorable surrender. If you decide to accept, raise a large Filipino flag over the Red Cross flag now flying, and send an unarmed emissary with a white flag to our lines. This must be done within four hours, or I am coming it.

In event you do not accept my offer, I exhort you that in the true spirit of the Bushido and the code of the Samurai, you permit all civilians to evacuate the Intramuros by the Victoria Gate without delay, in order that no innocent blood be shed.

The Jap radio replied, but finding a common code proved difficult and the enemy reply was not intelligible.

This morning, the Japs ran up a Red Cross flag, but it was uncertain what this meant.

Ready to blast Japs

U.S. artillerymen, meanwhile, are preparing to blast out the Japs, and are awaiting a final enemy reply before they open fire.

Jap demolitions and American shellfire have wrecked large areas within the Intramuros. West of the city, Manila’s Pier Seven, which was able to care simultaneously for five ocean liners in peacetime, has been damaged severely.

56

The Pittsburgh Press (February 19, 1945)

Yanks rout Japs from Corregidor

Both sides of island in Manila Bay seized

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. paratroopers and infantrymen joined today in the arduous job of cleaning out hundreds of diehard Japs from the tunnels and crevices of Corregidor Fortress.

Both sides of the rocky fortress, guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, were secured by the two American contingents which invaded Corregidor from the air and sea. Their sole task was to dig out the Japs – probably man by man – from the recesses where the enemy was expected to make a last-ditch stand.

A Jap Domei News Agency dispatch said the Japs had launched a “large-scale counteroffensive” north of Manila and “trapped” the Americans fighting inside the capital. There was no confirmation of the enemy report.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur hailed the invasion of Corregidor with a tribute to those men of his command who staged the historic defense of Bataan three years ago.

The long struggle on Bataan in 1942 enabled the United Nations to gather strength to resist the Japs in the Pacific and “prevented the fall of Australia,” Gen. MacArthur said.

No garrison in history has surpassed that on Bataan in more thoroughly accomplishing its mission, the General asserted. adding: “Let no man henceforth speak of it as other than a magnificent victory.”

While units of the 503rd Parachute Regiment and the 34th Infantry Regiment joined in securing the upper and lower parts of Corregidor, observers said the battle for the fortress was just beginning.

Lodged in tunnels

The Japs were lodged strongly in the American-dug tunnels and were harassing the American troops continuously with cannon and machine-gun fire.

A front dispatch disclosed that the Japs, who weathered the terrific pre-invasion bombardment, were climbing out of their secret tunnels to renew the contest on open terrain.

More than 250 Japs were killed by the paratroopers and infantrymen in the first two days of fighting. which brought the capture of Malinta Hill together with the barracks hospital and other buildings atop Corregidor.

Blocked by landslides

The east entrance to the famed Malinta tunnel was blocked by a landslide caused by the naval bombardment. But there were still three other entrances open to Americans for an assault on the Japs in the inner recesses.

A front dispatch disclosed that units of the American fleet entered Manila Harbor for the first time in three years. The mission was carried out by four PT boats two nights before the invasion of Corregidor. They swept within three miles of the breakwater off Manila’s pliers to knock out three small enemy craft.

The mopping up of Manila continued slowly, with the 37th Division steadily closing a steel ring on the Jap garrison in the Walled City and Ermita Districts.

Shell gates

The drive against the trapped enemy remnants was augmented by big American guns which relentlessly shelled the gates of the thick walls and Jap strongpoints inside the area.

In pushing to edge of the Walled City, the 37th Division captured the Philippines General Hospital and liberated 7,000 persons, including 100 Americans.

East of Manila, U.S. forces destroyed a Jap convoy of 21 troop-laden trucks Saturday. The encounter indicated the Japs were attempting to send small demolition patrols through the American lines leading to Manila.

U.S. bombers and naval patrols carried out widespread attacks from the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea to the China coast. Nineteen Jap vessels were destroyed in the raids.

57

Jap bayonets slay civilians

Priest feigns death to survive in Manila
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer

MANILA, Philippines – A thrice-bayonetted priest, who feigned death to escape, told from a hospital cot today how Jap soldiers slaughtered civilians at La Salle University February 12.

The story of Father Francis Cosgrave, superior of the Redemptorist Order in Manila, was one of many reported instances of mass slayings of civilians caught in Manila no-man’s-land in the last 10 days.

Father Cosgrave, several members of his order and a number of prominent Spanish residents of Manila had sought refuge at the university when they suddenly were visited by a Jap officer and 20 soldiers.

Survives three wounds

He said the soldiers wantonly began bayonetting the group. He survived despite three wounds, including one in which a bayonet was plunged into the left side of his chest and came out his back.

More than 170 persons in the room, including several Christian Fathers, met a worse fate, he said.

Father Cosgrave said:

The Japanese soldiers returned later in the afternoon. They laughed at the sight of bodies in a heap and kicked them. They tried to violate the wounded women – even young girls.

Father Cosgrave pretended death until the Japs finally went away.

Goes to chapel

Shortly before midnight, the priest decided that if he was going to die, he would die on his feet. He crawled and dragged himself upstairs to a chapel and there, one by one, about 10 other survivors joined him.

They watched fearfully as the Japs attempted to set fire to the building. Eventually American machine-guns and tanks forced the Japs to withdraw.

The next morning, the survivors heard the welcome voices of Americans and within a few hours they all were under treatment and recovering from their ordeal.

58

The Pittsburgh Press (February 20, 1945)

Manila wall battered by U.S. artillery

Final assault opens on Jap pocket

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – American big guns were pulverizing Manila’s 400-year-old wall today for a final assault on a one-square-mile pocket of stubborn Jap defenders south of the Pasig River.

With the heavy artillery blasting a path through the thick wall around the original Spanish city, the end of the 17-day-old battle of Manila was in sight.

Units of the 37th Infantry Division were firmly entrenched around the dwindling Jap pocket and 11th Airborne troops rapidly were cleaning up Fort McKinley on the southeast outskirts of the city.

Mop up on Corregidor

The final phase of the Manila campaign came as paratroops and infantry slowly dug out fanatical Jap holdouts from the caves and tunnels of newly-invaded Corregidor, Other U.S. forces also were cleaning up enemy remnants on Bataan Peninsula.

Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, Jap commander in the Philippines, announced blandly that his defense of Luzon was “progressing without a hitch” and that the fighting so far was “a mere preliminary operation.”

Yamashita’s statement claimed the American invaders already had suffered 60,000 casualties in the Philippines.

Japs fight bitterly

Despite the impact of the heavy artillery fire, the Japs were fighting back bitterly from their last positions inside Manila. The pocket, now shrunk to one-fourteenth of the Charter City area, comprised Northern Ermita, the walled city of Intramuros and the port district.

Heaviest fighting was reported from the bay front, where the 37th Infantrymen pushed three blocks west from the Philippines General Hospital and began attacking enemy positions on the university grounds.

Blast pillboxes

Jap pillboxes at the university were being destroyed systematically by artillery and mortars. But the Americans were meeting considerable fire from Jap guns around the high commissioner’s home, which was already in ruins.

The assault on the 16th century wall was concentrated on the east side of Intramuros. Front reports said the big guns were tearing a hole in the masonry and no signs of life appeared within the walled city.

Most of the buildings were believed to have been destroyed or badly damaged by the barrage. Observers described the Japs inside Intramuros as in desperate flight.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur again went to the front lines and visited the sector where infantrymen were pushing northward against the Jap pocket.

A front dispatch quoted a 37th Infantry Division colonel as saying that the Japs had used a screen of Filipinos around them when they attempted to push a large gun onto Wallace Field just south of Intramuros.

A survey of the recaptured section of Manila in the meantime revealed that the entire business and commercial area was destroyed by Jap demolitions, fires and street fighting. The section comprised approximately one-fifth of Manila proper – an area comparable in size to Manhattan.

PT boats blast Japs

Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué disclosed that U.S. troops seized the towns of Hagonoy and Tagig on the northwest shore of Laguna de Bay, approximately four miles southeast of Fort McKinley.

U.S. planes and PT boats continued steady attacks on Jap shipping throughout the Philippines and in the China Sea. PT boats sank four barges in Manila Bay and destroyed a small cruiser off Cebu. Heavy bombers again raided Formosa, dropping 175 tons of explosives on Takao, where an aluminum plant and railyards were damaged. Three small freighters were damaged off shore. A 3,000-ton freighter was bombed off the China coast.

59

The Pittsburgh Press (February 21, 1945)

Jap losses near 100,000 on Luzon

‘Bitterest fighting’ rages in Manila

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Jap forces fought back savagely from a shrinking pocket in Southern Manila today against U.S. flamethrowers and heavy artillery.

Jap casualties in the Luzon campaign neared the 100,000 mark.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur said the “bitterest fighting” had developed as the American infantrymen slowly compressed the enemy lines. Big guns maintained a steady bombardment of the ancient wall around the Intramuros sector.

The last-stand death battles waged by the Japs was taking a heavy toll of the enemy forces. A communiqué reported that Jap casualties in the first six weeks of the Luzon campaign exceeded 92,000. In that same period, the American casualties totaled 2,676 dead, 10,008 wounded and 245 missing – a ratio of seven-to-one over the enemy.

Japs loot city

As the trapped Japs faced almost certain death in their holdout positions below the Pasig River, they let loose an orgy of sadism and destruction on Filipino civilians and property.

The communiqué officially disclosed that the Japs were “acting with the greatest savagery in the treatment of non-combatants and private property.”

A survey showed that almost all private possessions of Filipinos were looted thoroughly during the enemy occupation and apparently taken to Japan.

Mop up on Corregidor

In the battle around Intramuros, the Japs were reported increasing automatic and heavy weapon fire in a desperate attempt to halt the Americans who lopped off another block from the southern side of the pocket.

On Corregidor, bombers and fighters joined with infantrymen and paratroopers in cleaning out the Japs from the island’s rocky recesses.

Seek ventilating holes

Demolition squads and flamethrower units were searching the top of Malinta Hill for ventilating holes leading to the famed Malinta tunnel, where the Japs were believed making their major stand.

Explosive charges and fiery bursts from the flamethrowers down the ventilating shafts could end Jap resistance inside the tunnel quickly.

Strong forces of heavy and medium bombers again hit Formosa, plastering Takao airdrome and setting fire to factory buildings and oil storage tanks.

60

The Pittsburgh Press (February 22, 1945)

Last-stand Japs battle with spears

Yanks gain in Manila – Bataan mop-up ends

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – The last stage of the Battle of Manila degenerated into medieval warfare today with the Japs taking up spears in a desperate attempt to stave off certain annihilation.

U.S. troops encountered the frenzied tactics of the trapped enemy naval and marine personnel as they reduced the Jap pocket south of the Pasig River to less than one-tenth of a square mile.

The Americans were entrenched in a siege line along the playground and golf links, which once were the bed of the medieval moat around Manila’s ancient walled city.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced, meanwhile, that Bataan Peninsula was cleared completely and that the Jap forces on Corregidor were practically destroyed.

Bury 1,700 Japs

“So far as can be found, no living Japanese soldier is now on the peninsula,” Gen. MacArthur said, in disclosing the vindication of the famous American stand on Bataan three years ago.

More than 1,700 Japs were already buried on Corregidor, he said, and the count was only partially complete. Only isolated enemy stragglers holed up in caves remained to be mopped up on the island fortress guarding Manila Bay.

Reports from the front lines in Manila said the Japs apparently were running short of arms and were using spears in a bitter defense of their tiny pocket.

One group of 21 Japs was armed with only spears and grenades, while an enemy platoon fighting near the Army-Navy Club had only four rifles. The rest fought with spears attached to poles.

The Americans were withholding heavy shellfire from the area to avert as many civilian casualties as possible and the battle continued on savage hand-to-hand fighting.

Indicative of the situation was a report by Maj. Gen. O. W. Griswold, commander of XIV Army Corps which was attacking the holdout Japs.

“We will just go in fighting and kill every last Jap,” he said.

Blast Formosa

Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué revealed that Allied heavy bombers continued the steady attacks on Formosa, dropping 50 tons of explosives on installations near Heito and the barracks at Takao. Two more enemy freighters were sunk, one off the east coast of Formosa near Hong Kong.

61

Völkischer Beobachter (February 23, 1945)

Bombenhagel auf Corregidor

Bern, 22. Februar – Während die philippinische Hauptstadt Manila in wochenlangem Kampf immer mehr zerstört wird, versuchen die Amerikaner sich von Westen her die Einfahrt in die Bai von Manila zu erzwingen.

Die enge Durchfahrtsstraße wird aber von der stärksten befestigten Felseninsel Corregidor gesperrt, auf der sich auch die Amerikaner nach ihrer Vertreibung von der Bataan-Halbinsel noch längere Zeit halten konnten. Zur Niederringung Corregidors setzen die Amerikaner die ganze geballte Übermacht ihrer Flotten- und Luftstreitkräfte ein.

Nachdem die Flottenbasis Cavite von der Landseite herangegangen worden war, wird sie noch immer solange unbenutzbar bleiben, als Corregidor die Einfahrt sperrt. Ein Versuch der Amerikaner, mit schnellen Kampfeinheiten an der Insel vorbeizustoßen, wurde von der japanischen Festungsartillerie vereitelt. Daraufhin mussten sich auch die zur Landung angesetzten Truppentransporter wieder zurückziehen.

62

The Pittsburgh Press (February 23, 1945)

Yanks take stand south of Luzon

Move opens strait to U.S. shipping

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. forces strengthened their hold in the Philippines today, gaining control of strategic San Bernardino Strait with the seizure of Capul Island off Southeastern Luzon.

Occupation of the tiny but important island, lying midway between Luzon and Samar, opened the direct shipping lane from the United States to the great harbor in Manila Bay.

Veteran jungle fighters of the Americal Division, which fought on Guadalcanal and Bougainville, swarmed over Capul Island Wednesday against light opposition, a communiqué said.

Still battle in Manila

The island is at the western end of San Bernardino Strait, where the Jap Fleet units were routed by U.S. warships supporting the landings on Leyte last October.

U.S. forces engaged the Japs in Southern Manila in vicious battles that raged from building to building around the besieged Intramuros section.

At the same time, units of the 11th Airborne Division swept southward along the west coast of Laguna de Bay Lake, southeast of the capital, and surprised a Jap garrison of 500 men at Mabato Point.

Blast Jap barges

The enemy forces attempted to flee across the bay in barges but were caught off shore by a murderous crossfire of American artillery. A number of barges were sunk and the shattered remnants of the garrison returned to land farther south along the coast.

The swift advance carried the Americans seven miles along the coast of the lake, through the road junction of Alabang to Nuntinglupa.

In Manila, the heaviest fighting centered around the City Hall, the General Post Office, the Manila Hotel and university buildings.

Breaks into hotel

Elements of the 1st Cavalry Division, which now is attached to the 37th Infantry Division, broke into Manila Hotel Wednesday and seized the first floor of the building. Jap naval and marine personnel held the rest of the hotel.

Japs carrying demolitions, shotguns and spears attempted to infiltrate U.S. positions at the Army-Navy Club, but were routed with the loss of 137 men.

Heavy American guns continued pounding the ancient wall around the Intramuros sector. One shell set off a Jap ammunition dump at the northeast corner of the wall, causing a terrific blast which ripped a 30-foot hole in the masonry.

Blast Japs in mountains

Nearly 100 Liberator bombers joined the 40th Infantry Division troops in an assault on the Jap forces holding out in the Zambales Mountains behind Fort Stotsenburg and the Clark Field area.

Heavy bombers, fighters and patrol planes carried out extensive attacks on Formosa. Fighters destroyed 13 grounded enemy planes. Ten coastal vessels were destroyed or damaged.

63

The Pittsburgh Press (February 24, 1945)

Battle for Manila virtually ended

Only three buildings still held by Japs

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – The battle for Manila virtually ended today as U.S. troops captured all but three of the enemy-held buildings in the devastated ancient wall city.

U.S. troops were attacking the last Jap positions in a church and small sections on the west and south sides of the Intramuros area.

The final assault on the Japs in Manila followed a combined land and amphibious attack by the 37th Infantry Division which breached the ancient wall around Intramuros.

Cross Pasig River

Following in the wake of a thunderous artillery barrage, which virtually flattened the old Intramuros section, the American troops stormed through and over the medieval wall from the east and across the wide Pasig River on the north.

The double attack, which was joined inside the walled city, was expected to end organized Jap resistance in Manila quickly, although it may be several days before the last fanatical enemy is mopped up.

Seize another island

Gen. Douglas MacArthur also announced that U.S. forces had seized Biri Island at the eastern end of San Bernardino Strait to complete U.S. domination of the water passageway at the southeastern end of Luzon. The Americans first opened up the strait with the occupation of Capul Island at the western end of the waterway.

Reports of Jap brutality in Manila reached a new mark with the disclosure that more than 3,000 American civilian internees at Santo Tomas were subjected to several days of heavy artillery fire.

The enemy deliberately shelled the face of the main building at Santo Tomas and the front entrance.

Casualties light

Although the number of dead and wounded among the civilians was not announced, the communiqué said the casualties “fortunately were very light.” The shelling occurred several days after Santo Tomas was occupied by the 1st Cavalry Division.

Units of the 1st Cavalry and 6th Infantry Divisions further secured the eastern side of the capital with the capture of San Mateo and Taytay in the foothills of the Marikina watershed.

Entrance of the 6th Infantry Division into the Manila campaign brought to a total of five divisions now operating under Maj. Gen. O. W. Griswold’s XIV Corps.

Visits front lines

Gen. MacArthur visited the front lines again today and entered newly-captured Manila Hotel while the 1st Cavalry Division raised the Stars and Stripes over the high commissioner’s building.

Mopping-up of Corregidor continued steadily and it was announced the entire western part of the fortress had been cleared.

The Japs set off an ammunition dump inside big Malinta tunnel inside the rocky fort, blowing themselves to bits rather than fight it out with the Americans.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 25, 1945)

Manila Japs wiped out in walled city

Annihilation complete, MacArthur says

LUZON, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops have completed annihilation of the trapped Jap garrison in South Manila and more than 12,000 enemy bodies have been counted so far, Gen. Douglas MacArthur announced today.

Gen. MacArthur announced, 22 days after his troops first entered Manila, that Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler’s 37th Infantry Division and Maj. Gen. Verne D. Mudge’s 1st Cavalry Division had overwhelmed the final enemy positions in the Intramuros, the ancient walled section of the city.

3,000 civilians freed

They released 3,000 civilians whom “the incorrigible enemy” had caught and penned in Intramuros and who had suffered “unbelievable indignities and dangers,” Gen. MacArthur said.

His communiqué added:

This operation and the tremendous and disproportionate losses in men and material sustained during the progress of our advance through Luzon, following the catastrophic defeat in Leyte, dooms Gen. Yamashita’s Philippine campaign and presages the early clearance of the entire archipelago.

Heavy toll on Corregidor

U.S. troops are also levying a mounting toll of the trapped and desperate Jap garrison of Corregidor.

Known enemy dead there total 2,309, Gen. MacArthur’s communiqué said. It is believed several thousand others have been destroyed in Corregidor’s labyrinth of rocky corridors by the blasting and closing of some 132 tunnels.

East and north of Manila, U.S. infantry have scored gains of up to 10 miles against Jap troops drawing into the mountains.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 26, 1945)

Trapped Japs inside Manila spurn surrender ultimatum

Yanks launch annihilation drive against enemy remnants in 3 government buildings

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Trapped Jap bodies in Manila ignored a surrender ultimatum today.

U.S. troops immediately began an annihilation drive against the enemy remnants holding out in three government buildings.

The final assault on the last enemy pocket in the capital came as other U.S. forces pushed into the foothills of the Sierra Madres Mountains east of Manila in an attack on the 25-mile-long Kobayashi Line.

An estimated 1,000 fanatical Japs, believed commanded by Rear Adm. Iwabuchi, were lodged in the three buildings and faced certain doom.

Yanks guns open up

They had been given three choices in the ultimatum – suicide, a fight to death, or honorable surrender. Their only reply was sniper fire while the edict was being read over a loudspeaker.

When the deadline passed at daybreak, American guns opened fire and the troops prepared for an assault on the buildings to clean out the last resistance in Manila.

With the city virtually clear, other U.S. troops resumed their drive toward Luzon’s eastern coast with an offensive against the Kobayashi Line.

Near Los Banos

Units of the 1st Cavalry and 6th Infantry Divisions were attacking the Jap line from Taytay, two miles north of Laguna de Bay lakes to Norzagaray, 19 miles northeast of Manila.

At the same time, the 11th Airborne Division continued its rapid drive southward along the west coast of Laguna de Bay lakes and crossed the Juan River,15 miles below Muntinlupa. The thrust brought the airborne units within five miles of Los Banos, where another sensational liberation of Allied internees was carried out Friday.

A communiqué disclosed that the 33rd Infantry Division had joined the Luzon forces and was fighting in the hills north of Rosario, nine miles above San Fabian on the Lingayen Gulf.

Scattered Jap remnants continued to fight back on Corregidor as the Americans pushed down the tail of the salamander-shaped island.

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66

Address by Gen. MacArthur on Reestablishment of Philippine Government
February 27, 1945

More than three years have elapsed – years of bitterness, struggle, and sacrifice – since I withdrew our forces and installations from this beautiful city that over and under fire, its churches, monuments, and cultural centers might, in accordance with the rules of warfare, be spared the violence of military ravage. The enemy would not have it so. And much that I sought to preserve has been unnecessarily destroyed by his desperate action at bay. By these actions he has wantonly fixed the future pattern of his own doom. Then we were but a small force struggling to stem the advance of overwhelming hordes treacherously hurled against us behind the masks of professed friendship and international good will. That struggle was not in vain. God has indeed blessed our arms.

The girded and unleashed power of America supported by our Allies turned the tide of battle in the Pacific and resulted in an unbroken series of crushing defeats upon the enemy, culminating in the redemption of your soil and the liberation of your people.

My country has kept the faith. Its soldiers come here as an army of free men dedicated with your people to the cause of human liberty, and committed to the task of destroying those evil forces that have fought to suppress it by brutality of the sword.

An army of free men has brought your people once again under democracy’s banner to rededicate their churches, long desecrated, to the glory of God and public worship; to reopen their schools to liberal education; to till the soil and reap its harvest without fear of confiscation; to reestablish their industries that they may again enjoy the profit from their sweat and enjoy their homes unafraid of violent intrusion.

Thus, to millions of your now-liberated people comes the opportunity to pledge themselves, their hearts, their minds, and their hands to the task of building a new and stronger nation, a nation consecrated in the blood nobly shed that this might be a nation dedicated to making imperishable those sacred liberties for which we have fought and for which many have died.

On behalf of my government, I now solemnly declare, Mr. President, the full powers and responsibilities under the Constitution restored to the Commonwealth, whose seat is here reestablished as provided by law. Your country is once again at liberty to pursue its destiny to an honored position in the family of free nations. Your capital city, severely punished though it be, has regained its rightful place as a symbol of democracy.

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Address by Philippines President Osmena on Reestablishment of Philippine Government
February 27, 1945

This is an historic event in an historic city. From the time our Malay ancestors founded it more than eight centuries ago, colonial powers have fought for its conquest and domination. The Spaniards, the Dutch, the English, a Chinese pirate, our revolutionary fathers, have all vied with each other and shed blood for its possession; because its conquest has always meant the ultimate control of the entire archipelago. But today’s event is different from any of the previous conquests and victories. The present victory of American arms is not a victory for power, control or domination, but a victory for freedom, democracy and independence.

In sharing with you today the exultation over the triumph of American arms, let us bow our heads in reverent memory of our sacred dead and the dead of our Allies, whose lives are the forfeit that these, our liberties, might be restored. We mourn the destruction of our once-beautiful capital city of Manila and the murder of thousands of innocent people by the Japanese vandals, but this latest dastardly act of a savage enemy which has aroused the conscience of an outraged world should steel us to the firm resolve to continue the fight with every ounce of our strength until he shall have been completely vanquished.

To President Roosevelt who, in our grim days in Corregidor and Bataan, solemnly pledged to us in the name of the American people, the men and resources of the United States for our liberation, this day must be also a day of happiness over a pledge fulfilled. We shall be forever grateful to him and to the American people.

To Gen. MacArthur, this campaign has been a crusade. Friend and defender of our race, he never lost faith in the spiritual strength of our people. In this crusade, he is finishing the noble work begun by his illustrious father, Gen. Arthur MacArthur who, on August 13, 1898, successfully led another American Army to free Manila from a European power. Gen. Douglas MacArthur will go down in history not only for his signal military successes but also for consistently following truly democratic methods in dealing with Philippine civil affairs in areas retaken from the enemy. Instead of taking advantage of military operations to maintain military government over territories already recaptured, he has been faithful in his role as liberator in the truest American tradition. Thus, forty-eight hours after the occupation of Tacloban by the American forces, he turned over the functions of government to our Commonwealth. And now, in this City of Manila, he is following the same procedure.

To all the gallant members of the United States Forces, I bespeak the immeasurable indebtedness, the highest admiration, and the eternal gratitude of our people for their victorious accomplishments. They have come as brothers-in-arms enlisted in and dedicated to the sacred cause of restoring our liberties.

The time has come when the world should know that when our forces surrender in Bataan and Corregidor, resistance to the enemy was taken up by the people itself – resistance which was inarticulate and disorganized at its inception but which grew from day to day and from island to island, until it broke out into an open warfare against the enemy.

The fight against the enemy was truly a people’s war because it counted with the wholehearted support of the masses. From the humble peasant to the barrio school teacher, from the volunteer guard to the women’s auxiliary service units, from the loyal local official to the barrio folk – each and every one of these contributed his share in the great crusade for liberation.

The guerrillas knew that without the support of the civilian population, they could not survive. Whole towns and villages dared enemy reprisal to oppose the hated invader openly or give assistance to the underground movement. It is thus that the Filipino people drew the ire of the Japanese who has never followed the rules of civilized warfare. And now his conduct towards the civilian population has become more cruel and brutal, embittered as he is by his failure to enlist the support of the people. For this reason, it is imperative that the war against him be prosecuted all over the country relentlessly and with dispatch in order that the people’s agony may not be prolonged and precious human life may be salvaged.

As I take over the civil functions of the Commonwealth government in our country, I cannot but pause in all humility, for guidance and inspiration before the figures of Jose Rizal for his patriotism, Andres Bonifacio for his indomitable courage, Apolinario Mabini for his farsighted statesmanship, and Manuel L. Quezon for his devotion to the cause of independence.

That no time may be lost in the complete restoration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the executive and judicial branches will be reestablished with utmost vigor and dispatch and I now call upon all the duly elected members of our Congress who have remained steadfast in their allegiance to our government during the period of enemy occupation, to be in readiness to meet in Manila as soon as conditions permit for the reestablishment of the Legislative branch.

I am fully cognizant that problems of great national significance must be faced immediately. The reestablishment of law and order in areas already liberated, the reopening of schools, the reorganization of the government, both national and local, are among the complicated problems that have arisen as a consequence of enemy occupation. Foremost among these problems is that of relief and rehabilitation, the urgency of which cannot be overemphasized.

This war has not only caused untold misery and suffering to the individual; it has also brought about wanton destruction, economic dislocation and financial bankruptcy to the nation at large. Farms and industries have to be rehabilitated; banks and credit institutions have to be reopened; roads and bridges have to be repaired; schools and hospitals have to be rebuilt; destroyed and damaged properties, both public and private, have either to be rehabilitated or indemnified. The legitimate claim of the common laborer and of the small farmer who has lost his only work animal and nipa hut must be given preferential attention.

So that these manifold problems may be faced with promptness and energy, I shall enlist the assistance of all those possessing not only proven ability and loyalty but also the confidence and trust of the people. In Leyte, as a recognition of the guerrillas who so valiantly fought the Japanese, I appointed Col. Ruperto Kangleon as the Acting Governor of that province. Today I have the pleasure to announce that, as a tribute to the civilian elements of our country who resisted the enemy with courage and fortitude, I have chosen Gov. Tomas Confesor as the ranking member of my Cabinet, appointing him Secretary of the Interior, and in charge of the reorganization of the City of Manila.

Our independence is a settled question. Our five decades of consistent struggles, in peace and war, have come to a definite, successful end. Our government, when in exile, was considered as possessing the attributes of an independent nation. It is a member of the United Nations. We have President Roosevelt’s word that when normal conditions have returned, law and order reestablished, and democratic processes restored, our request for the advancement of the date of independence will be granted. I hope this can be accomplished on August 13, 1945, the 47th anniversary of the landing of the American forces in Manila. Thus, Occupation Day will become Philippine Independence Day.

The gravity of our new problems demands the collective effort of all the people. The government cannot undertake to solve them alone. It needs the support of the people a united people. More than ever before, now that the rapid advance of our forces is widening its field of action, the government needs a united popular support to enable it to undertake successfully its tremendous tasks. Not by dissension and bickerings, not by resort to violence and lawlessness can we serve the national interest. It would be tragic indeed if at this last state of our crucial struggle for nationhood, we should fall apart and be divided against ourselves. We have had enough misfortunes and sufferings in this war; we cannot bear any more. To plunge ourselves into the abyss of disunion would be suicidal.

As the head of your duly constituted government, I therefore appeal to you, my people, to remain united. I urge you to forget petty political differences, to bury the hatreds and animosities engendered by the struggle, to obey the rule of law, justice and reason, and to remember that we all belong to one common country, our beloved Philippines. United we will continue assisting effectively in the successful prosecution of the war and in the rehabilitation of our country. United we can speedily achieve the full restoration of the constitutional processes of our government, disrupted by the enemy. United and in close cooperation with the United States, we can win for ourselves and our children all the blessings of democracy, freedom and security for which we have sacrificed so much in this titanic struggle against the brutal forces of tyranny and oppression.

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The Pittsburgh Press (February 27, 1945)

MacArthur returns control to Philippines government

President Osmena appeals to legislators to reestablish Congress in Manila

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Gen. Douglas MacArthur restored civil administration of the Philippines to the Commonwealth government today.

He solemnly proclaimed, “My country has kept the faith.”

He thus fulfilled a pledge given to the Filipinos when he withdrew his troops from Manila three years ago.

Standing among the ruins of burned and sacked Manila, Gen. MacArthur reviewed those three years of “bitterness, struggle and sacrifice,” and vowed that “by these ashes” the enemy “has wantonly fixed the pattern of his own doom.”

Gen. MacArthur’s historic action, broadcast throughout the world over the voice of Freedom Radio, was hailed by a cheering throng of civil and military officials gathered in the liberated capital.

Praises MacArthur

President Sergio Osmena, in accepting restoration of the civil government, appealed to all duly-elected members of the Congress who “have remained steadfast to their allegiance” to return to Manila and reestablish the legislative branch.

“I ask all my people to help reestablish law and order for a formal return so that in 1945 our request for independence will be granted,” President Osmena said.

The Philippines President warmly praised the American general for fulfilling his vow “to return” and drew a loud burst of applause when he predicted that “Gen. Douglas MacArthur will go down in history.”

Gen. MacArthur had told the Filipinos that the long struggle through the three dark years of Jap occupation was “not in vain.”

He said:

God has indeed blessed our arms. The great unleashed power of America, supported by our Allies, turned the tide of battle in the Pacific and resulted in an unbroken string of crushing defeats upon the enemy – culminating in the redemption of your soil and the liberation of your people.

My country has kept the faith.

Army of free men

He said the American soldiers came here as an army of free men that brought “your people once again under democracy’s banner… to rededicate your churches, long desecrated, to the glory of God and public worship… to reopen their schools… to till the soils and reap its harvests… to reestablish their industries… and to restore the sanctity and happiness of their homes, unafraid of violent intrusion.”

Gen. MacArthur continued:

On behalf of my government, I now solemnly declare: Mr. President, the full powers and responsibilities under the Constitution are restored to the Commonwealth, whose seat is here, reestablished according to law.

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Völkischer Beobachter (February 28, 1945)

Corregidor ein Vulkan

Tokio, 27. Februar – Die Felseninsel Corregidor, die der gewaltigen US-Landeflotte immer noch den Zugang zum Hafen von Manila verwehrt, ist nach wie vor die Szene heftigster Kämpfe.

In einem japanischen Frontbericht wird die kleine Insel von 5 Kilometer Umfang mit einem in Rauch und Flammen gehüllten feuerspeienden Berg verglichen. Obwohl die unterirdischen Verteidigungsanlagen von dem tagelangen ununterbrochenen Bombardement schwerer amerikanischer Schiffsgeschütze teilweise erheblich mitgenommen sind, ist es den Nordamerikanern bisher nicht gelungen, durch die schmale Wasserstraße in die Bucht von Manila einzudringen und von dort aus ihr Übergewicht an Menschen und Material in die Schlacht zu werfen. Die Kämpfe um Corregidor dauern an.

Die strategischen Stellungen der Japaner innerhalb der Stadt Manila, die von der Altstadt bis zu den südlichen Vorstädten Manilas reichen, sind in den letzten 24 Stunden erneut schwerem nordamerikanischem Artilleriebeschuss und heftigen Bombenangriffen ausgesetzt gewesen. Die japanischen Stellungen blieben jedoch intakt und die Japaner waren in der Lage, die anstürmenden Nordamerikaner aufzufangen und zurückzuwerfen. Sämtliche Gebäude der Universität von Manila sind einem Artillerieüberfall feindlicher Batterien zum Opfer gefallen.