Sanji Iwabuchi

岩淵 三次
Rear Admiral - Imperial Japanese Navy

Perhaps the man more responsible than any other for the horror that unfolded in Manila in early 1945 is also one of the more mysterious figures of the event. Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, born in 1895, was an officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, having graduated the Naval Officer’s Academy in 1915. Trained as a gunnery officer, he served in that capacity with various ships and shore batteries before being promoted to Captain in 1937, taking command of the seaplane tender IJN Kamoi.

Shortly after the commencement of hostilities with the United States Iwabuchi took command of the battleship IJN Kirishima, participating in a limited capacity during the Battle of Midway before redeploying to Truk to support Japanese operations on Guadalcanal.

IJN Kirishima, Iwabuchi’s command

During the ensuing naval combat around Guadalcanal, the Kirishmima would be sunk on November 15, 1942 by the USS Washington, being the only Japanese battleship to be sunk by another battleship during the Second World War. Despite the loss of his ship, Captain Iwabuchi survived, and many speculate that the disgrace of his loss and survival led to his attitudes in Manila two years later. In response to the loss of his ship Iwabuchi was promoted to Rear Admiral and assigned to a shore command, effectively shunted behind a desk to finish off his career in ignominy.

Despite the dead-end nature of his new posting, as the war situation for Japan deteriorated Iwabuchi’s experience could not be discarded, and he was named commander of the 31st Naval Special Base Force, tasked with the defense of Imperial Navy assets in Manila. A small force of Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF, commonly referred to as Japanese Marines), and a motley collection of sailors from damaged or sunken vessels in Manila Harbor comprised Iwabuchi’s new command.

As the Americans closed in on the capitol in January of 1945 Iwabuchi was ordered by his nominal superior General Yamashita to prepare to evacuate the city, but the Admiral refused to obey the orders of an Army officer, instead informing his superiors at the Naval Command in Tokyo that he intended to stand and fight to the death in the city with the men under his command. This force of about 16,000 were formed into the Manila Naval Defense Force (MNDF), and set about fortifying the city for a final, suicidal stand under Iwabuchi, who saw a fight to the death the only path to redemption for his failures in commanding a warship. His other, darker intention was to exact a terrible revenge upon the citizens of the city for their support of the Americans, and to deny the Americans the prize they had surrendered to Japan three years prior.