The Battle for Manila (3 February – 3 March, 1945)
is little known. It resulted in the almost complete destruction of the
city, known before the war as “The Pearl of the Orient”. Approximately 85%
of the city was reduced to smouldering ruins, the result of raging fires,
heavy artillery shelling and dynamite. Among Allied cities, Manila was
second only to Warsaw in the extent of its destruction. Approximately
1,500 American soldiers and 16,000 Japanese troops died battle. Among
civilians, some 70,000 were the victims of massacres and 30,000 were
killed during the heavy artillery bombardments.
The battle began on the 3rd of February, when an
armoured column of the First Cavalry Division made a headlong dash through
60 miles of enemy territory to rescue several thousand American, British
and Allied civilian prisoners interned on the campus of the University of
Santo Tomas. This resulted in the Japanese virtually abandoning the
commercial and slum areas of Manila north of the Pasig River, which
divides the city. South Manila, including Intramuros, the medieval Spanish
walled city, the new legislative and government buildings, the University
of the Philippines and the modern residential districts saw the brunt of
the fighting and destruction.
I was a 9 year old school boy, in the 4th grade at
the American School when Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December, 1941,
bringing the US and the Philippines into the war. Because of the time
change, this is was 8 December in Manila. Less than one month later, on
the night of 2 January, 1942, Japanese troops entered Manila, which had
been declared an Open City by the departing General MacArthur. . A few
days later, my father answered the call for all Allied civilians to report
to the local collection station for internment. The university campus
became the Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Because of the crowded conditions,
the Japanese allowed those born in the Philippines to remain at large. My
mother, brothers Ian, 7, Alaistair, 5, and sister Consuelo, 4, spent the
war living in my grandmother’s home.
Life settled down. I was too young to know that
things were not normal, except for the lack of cars and buses. Public
transport consisted of bicycles, calesas and caromatas, the local horse
drawn carriages. I attended St Paul’s Convent school for girls, which
accepted boys until the sixth grade, and was then tutored at home by a
professor of mathematics from the University of Vienna, a refugee from
Hitler. He and his wife had been given shelter by the Jesuits at Ateneo
University, two blocks away. Learning was a joy. Botany was taught in the
garden, looking at flowers and plants. Anatomy and biology lessons were
held in the garage the day we slaughtered a pig for food.
Although as children we unaware of any financial
hardships, it was difficult to make ends meet. We have a letter that my
mother wrote to my father in prison camp, which says in part…”I sold the
diamond brooch you bought me in Paris to buy a 2 lb. can of powdered milk
for the children.” My parents had their money on deposit in foreign banks,
closed during the war. Those working for British and American companies
could not be paid during the war, so many families had a difficult time
financially.
In the early days of the war, with Japanese
victories, civilian prisoners, including my father, were able to secure
passes from camp. Dad was able to visit and stay at home with us, for
periods of a week or two. He was required to report regularly to camp.
Other American and British children were allowed to stay outside camp for
extended periods with Spanish and Filipino friends of their parents.
My uncle Alfred was an officer in a Philippine
Army Reserve Infantry Division. He was captured at the surrender of Bataan
in April 1942, and was in the infamous Death March, which claimed so many
lives. He came home in 1943 after the signing of a peace treaty between
the Japanese and a puppet Philippine government, when all soldiers in the
Philippine army were released. He returned emaciated and suffering badly
from malaria. Every few months he had a relapse.