Battle of Manila

This "e;extensively researched and well-illustrated"e; history recounts the bloody fight to liberate Manila from occupation during WWII (WWII History Magazine). For nearly four years during the Second World War, Japanese occupation had devastated the Philippines. Then, in 1944, General MacArthur led a massive army of American and Filipino forces determined to take back the island nation. Essential to the Philippine Campaign was recapturing the country's once-glittering capital city, Manila. In late January of 1945, the Allied forces embarked on the necessary and urgent mission. Trapped within the old University of Santo Tomas were thousands of ailing prisoners at risk of torture and death by their captors. As the desperate Japanese navy fought to keep the advancing Americans at bay, Japanese troops began killing civilians caught in the crossfire or using them as human shields. Thousands of Filipinos were trapped in what became the most bitter combat seen in the Pacific Theater.