Fort McKinley

Fort McKinley in 1923 - US War Department, scanned by John Tewell on Flickr, colorized with Deoldify

Fort William McKinley had been the headquarters of the United States Army Forces in the Far East up until the fall of Manila to the Japanese in early 1942. Located along the Pasig in the south of the city, the base was one of the largest US bases in the archipelago, boasting its own shopping center, swimming pool, and even a YMCA.

When the Japanese invaded in 1941 and proved impossible to repel, General MacArthur declared Manila an open city, and ordered the withdrawal of the United States Army Forces in the Far East from the capital to make a stand on the Bataan peninsula. Japanese forces entered the city on January 2, 1942, taking over the abandoned military posts, including Fort McKinley.

So it would remain until 1945, when the Americans were advancing on Manila. They had landed at Lingayen Gulf, just as the Japanese themselves had in 1942, but unlike the Americans, the Japanese had no intention of abandoning the city. Despite the orders of General Yamashita, the Naval Commander of Manila, Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, intended to hold the city, although he thought the main drive would come from the south, from the US forces landing at Nasugbu.

Accordingly, the admiral moved to concentrate his fortification of the city in the south, creating a string of strong defenses known as the Genko Line, with the citadel of this line located in a bunker under Fort McKinley. The defense was tasked to IJN Captain Takesue Furuse, commanding Southern Force of the Manila Naval Defense Force. Army General Shizuo Yokoyama, nominally superior to Iwabuchi, had also ordered the Admiral to move his own headquarters to the fort, an order which the Admiral accepted, although he did not do so before the battle for the city began.