Battle for Manila (Allied Newsreel)

The Battle of Manila, 3 February 1945 to 3 March 1945, was the only struggle by the United States to capture a defended major city in the Pacific War. Manila was one of few major battles waged by the United States on urban terrain in World War II. Although declared an 'Open City' - a city to be spared and preserved from the destruction of war as ordered by Gen. MacArthur the Japanese nevertheless continued their rampage on the city as plans of defending Luzon was abandoned earlier in the war. Manila was also a hotbed for Japanese warcrimes and civilian massacres known as the "Sack of Manila".

The Battle for Manila is one of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific, the fighting was house to house, block by block and throughout the streets of the old city. It was by contrast the Pacific Stalingrad. The destruction also left the city in ruins, equivalent to that of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima . Manila, once touted as the "Pearl of the Orient" and famed as a living monument to the meeting of Asian and European cultures by its artistic European-style buildings and infrastructures were lost forever.

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Education

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• battle of manila
• open city
• philippines
• world war 2
• pacific theater
• commonwealth