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.