Saturday, 10 February
The Noose Closes
Author’s Note
The events covered today are particularly gruesome, and I found it impossible to ignore the details made available through the war crimes reports. It seems to me that omitting such information would do a disservice to the victims of a crime already almost forgotten, and therefore they are described in some detail. Be warned that these events can prove quite disturbing.
A battery of 105mm howitzers in action at the Chinese Cemetery
US National Archives - Original shadowed on left
At 0230 on February 10 another American force, this time consisting of 90 men, set out across the Estero de Tanque in assault boats to reinforce the men still trapped on Provisor Island. An inopportune break in the clouds bathed the area in moonlight just as the first boats were reaching the shore, and brought with it a barrage of Japanese rifle fire, sinking three boats and setting the fuel tank of another ablaze. The resulting fire served to illuminate them even better, and the Americans, now reinforced, remained trapped behind the coal dump where they had been since yesterday.
This finally changed when the fire went out after almost two and a half hours, and at 0500 they charged the boiler plant they had been ejected from the previous day. The battle inside was vicious, hand to hand combat in the pitch dark maze of hallways, pipes and turbines, with men in some cases having to crawl through tiny gaps to pass between the equipment of the plant, the enemy never more that a dozen or so feet away. Some Japanese called out to taunt the Americans with broken English, their voices reverberating through the cavernous main hall to disguise their positions. By dawn, the eastern half of the building was secure, opening a window for limited evacuation of casualties as well as reinforcement, and the island was subjected to fierce artillery bombardment, supported by direct fire from tank destroyers and tanks across the Pasig, in a move that would become quite familiar as the fight for Manila dragged on. Despite these efforts, as the day drew to a close the Japanese still were not eliminated from the island.
GIs use blocks of rubber as a makeshift barricade
US National Archives
As the fighting occurred today for Provisor Island, a few blocks south the 148th Regiment was finally able to reduce the Japanese resistance inside the Paco Rail Station. The 300 Japanese defending the building had all been killed, with the Americans loosing 19 dead and 216 wounded, making this the worst single engagement for the 37th Infantry Division during the Luzon Campaign.
In the south, the 1st Cavalry continued to advance westward toward Manila Bay, and today they reached the lines of the 37th Infantry Division along the Estero de Paco. This was a major step in the encirclement of the city, which was complete later in the day when the cavalry also met spearheads of the 11th Airborne north of Nichols Field.
The fighting on that base was still fierce, but the meeting of the paratroopers and the cavalry meant that the city was now surrounded, and out of fear of friendly fire incidents the 11th Airborne received orders to not advance north of their current line along Libertad Avenue. To further simplify matters, the Angels were transferred to Krueger’s 6th Army for the duration of the engagement.
An American 240mm howitzer fires a shell
US National Archives
“Those who survived Japanese hate did not survive American love.”
The Americans were faced with a moral dilemma as their casualties mounted. With the Japanese so well dug in and in such numbers as was becoming apparent, the need for heavy fire support had grown. MacArthur, fearful of causing extensive damage to the city, had expressly forbidden the use of the USAAF’s overwhelming air power, and as a result the only option available to his commanders in the field was to bring massive artillery to bear. The Americans today began a marked intensifying of their bombardment of the Japanese controlled area of the city, their shells adding to the terrors inflicted on the citizens of Manila by the Japanese, especially as the Japanese began taking civilians as human shields inside of their strongpoints, or even moving troops into areas housing large numbers of refugees, such as in the Philippine General Hospital.
The ruins of the Campos home
US National Archives
The massacres continued across the city today, with individuals and families killed on the streets throughout the Japanese controlled districts of the city, or slaughtered after MNDF troops broke into their homes. Squads patrolled the blazing streets, hunting civilians like animals, throwing grenades into bomb shelters and buildings at random, as American shells exploded all around.
At 0800 a Japanese unit called at the Campos home at 1462 Taft Avenue, shooting Conception and Pilar Campos as the women answered their knock on the front door. They then forced the occupants of the home, crowded as it was with over 100 refugees from the surrounding area, into the back yard, where they were murdered as the Japanese set fire to the building, using machine guns to kill any who tried to escape the blaze.* A similar scene took place at the home of wealthy transportation executive Walter Price, where another hundred people were trapped in the house and burned alive.
The bullet scarred ruin of the German Club in Ermita
US National Archives
One of the most horrifying incidents took place at the German Club in Ermita today. The club, owned and operated by citizen’s of Japan’s Axis partner, had been taking in refugees over the last few days, providing them with what protection the swastika could provide from the Japanese, but all that came to an end today. Almost 500 were sheltering in the building, which also offered sturdy concrete construction to protect it from the American bombardment, and at about 1000 this morning several trucks arrived at the building and began to disgorge Japanese soldiers who surrounded it and began to emplace machine guns. After forcing their way inside the Japanese began piling furniture in the center of the main room and pouring gasoline around it, even as they forced the refugees to remain in the basement. One German attempted to protest that they were allies of the Japanese, but he was beaten and left lying in the street, and a group of young mothers with infants who had followed him out were seized by the MNDF troops.
Their children were torn from their arms by the bayonets of the Japanese, who proceeded to rape their mothers on the sidewalk, while the others watched and laughed, all while the club itself caught fire behind them. They mutilated them as they did this, dismembering them with bayonets, and when the gang had finished, their hair was splashed with gasoline and ignited. The Japanese continued in this fashion, dragging out more women and girls from the basement, and playing with the severed limbs and body parts of other victims. In one case a man attempted to flee and was caught, bound to a pillar and castrated.
As the fire in the building spread, the refugees attempted to rush out, running into the Japanese machine guns, the women being grabbed and raped by the soldiers, with some even raping the corpses as they lay in the gutter. The building continued to burn, with several having decided that was a better fate than what would happen if the Japanese captured them.
The burnt ruin of the Red Cross on Isaac Peral and General Luna Street
US National Archives
A few blocks away from the German Club were the offices of the Philippine Red Cross, where large numbers of refugees had also sought shelter. Just after noon a Japanese unit arrived and intimidated the staff, apparently angered about a large Red Cross banner displayed outside, but they left without incident. The reprieve would be short lived. Six hours later a larger group of MNDF troops arrived, blasting open the doors and charging in with bayonets fixed, opening fire on the refugees and medical staff inside. Filipino actress Corazon Noble was holding her infant daughter when she was shot by a Japanese marine, falling to the floor and attempting to shield the baby with her body. The marine thrust his bayonet into her almost ten times, piercing from her back through her chest and into the baby beneath her, going through the infant three times and killing her.
The Japanese moved through the building, slaughtering refugees, medical staff and patients alike. A crying toddler was silenced with a bullet in her open mouth. At one point a marine was stopped when a nurse tried to explain the humanitarian nature of their work, but his commander ordered him to kill the nurse, continuing the carnage. Soldiers tipped beds with bayonets to expose the terrified people within, and searched inside the larger cabinets and under desks. A group of German Jews hiding in a restroom were also slaughtered, and the Japanese departed shortly afterward, leaving the Red Cross hospital a grisly mess of tangled bodies.
The charred bones of the German refugees mix with the rubble in the Red Cross bathroom
US National Archives
The Japanese were continuing their spree of rape and murder, and the Americans were escalating their own military efforts in order to end the battle as quickly as possible, unfortunately exposing civilians to their fire as well as that of the Japanese. The Americans had linked all three of their major forces today as well, forcing Admiral Iwabuchi to move his headquarters back to Fort Santiago before being cut off. His decision had been made; he and his men would fight to the death in Manila, and take as many innocent civilians with them as possible.
Manila: 10 February, 1945
The battle for Provisor Island continues, although the reinforced Americans are finally gaining the upper hand
Paco Rail Station falls to US forces after a bloody fight, resulting in all of the 300 Japanese defenders being killed
1st Cavalry forces link up with the 37th Infantry in Paco and the 11th Airborne near Nichols Field, surrounding the city
Major War Crimes
The location of the Campos and Price Residences, where over 200 civilians were killed
Red Cross - Here the Japanese slaughtered everyone inside, including refugees and medical staff before burning the building to the ground
German Club - In total almost 1,500 civilians were tortured, murdered and burned alive in and around the social club
* In Rampage, Scott states the massacre at the Campos home took place on February 13, but the author is instead electing to follow the timeline on the Philippine Government Website.