Sunday, 18 February
Fighting in the University of the Philippines
A Sherman tank fires on Japanese positions on the University of the Philippines campus
US National Archives
Despite being replaced with fresh troops, the US assault on the northern portion of Ermita continued to be fruitless, with efforts to bypass the Police Station frustrated by more hardpoints inside the City Hall and the Central Post Office. The bombardment of Intramuros continued, but the Americans were not yet ready for their amphibious attack, meaning the deadlock would continue throughout today.
American soldiers fire on Japanese from the roof of the Elana Apartments
US National Archives
On the southern edge of Ermita, the 37th had finally taken the Philippine General Hospital yesterday, but was still engaged in fierce fighting over the University of the Philippines directly to the north. As they tried to push onto the campus, the Japanese engaged them from within the strong concrete buildings, requiring again the use of tanks and assault guns, but even then progress was agonizingly slow. Also difficult was the Assumption College directly west of the Hospital, where still more Japanese had determined to make a final stand.
A GI takes cover behind a makeshift barricade made of destroyed civilian cars
US National Archives
In the fighting over Rizal Stadium the Americans had annihilated the Japanese 2nd Naval Battalion, killing 750 men and leaving only a few stragglers to retreat northwards into the government district. Now the 1st Cavalry began to move northward in earnest, driving up both Dewey Boulevard and Taft Avenue toward the 37th Division lines, crushing the Japanese still between them as they did so.
Outside the city further Shimbu Group counterattacks were again defeated by the cavalry, who held onto the area around Novaliches Dam, and the 11th Airborne was in the process of eliminating the last holdout of the troops from the Genko Line at Mabato Point in Laguna de Bay. The area around the city would soon be secure, and any hope of extracting the MNDF from Manila was now only an illusion in the minds of Yamashita’s staff at Baguio.
GIs clear Japanese pillboxes on Corregidor
US National Archives
On Corregidor the Americans continued their push to reduce the Japanese defenders, pushing toward the old batteries on the western end of the island, and a furious fight arose after dark. As the Americans approached, a group of 500 Japanese SNLF troops emerged from one of the batteries, charging the paratroopers and engaging them in hand to hand combat in the darkness. After a three hour engagement, only occasionally lit by flares fired from US destroyers in the bay, half of the Japanese force was killed on what the paratroopers came to call Banzai Point.
It was here that Private Lloyd McCarter, who had already distinguished himself in the fighting since dropping on two days prior, earned his Congressional Medal of Honor. As the men around him fell he kept firing, even when he was the only man still standing. He crawled back to US lines several times under fire to get more ammunition, and eventually had to discard his submachine gun for an M1918 BAR, and when that failed he switched to an M1 rifle. His fight would continue through the night.
The devastation inside the Philippine General Hospital
US National Archives
The suffering of the civilians remained intense, but the Japanese were in turn running out of places to make their stand. Once the University of the Philippines in the south or the City Hall in the north was passed the Americans would be able to push into Luneta and Intramuros, the final stronghold of the Japanese, who were fully intent on dying along with Manila.
Manila: 18 February, 1945
US forces continue to fight over the Post Office and City Hall
The Police Headquarters remains under Japanese control
US forces are now attacking the University of the Philippines from both south and west
Japanese forces remain in control of the blocks between the General Hospital and the Bay