Battle of Manila (1945)

Battle of Manila
Part of the 1944–1945 Philippine Campaign and the Pacific Theater of World War II, "The Stalingrad Of Asia"
An aerial view of the destroyed walled city of Intramuros taken in May 1945
Date 3 February – 3 March 1945 Location Manila, Philippines 14°35′N 120°58′E / 14.583°N 120.967°E / 14.583; 120.967 Result Allied victory Manila massacre
Belligerents
United States Commonwealth of the Philippines	Japan  Republic of the Philippines (Second Republic)
Commanders and leaders
Douglas MacArthur Oscar Griswold Robert S. Beightler Joseph M. Swing Emmanuel De Ocampo Marcos V. Agustin	Tomoyuki Yamashita Akira Muto Shizuo Yokoyama Sanji Iwabuchi †
Strength
35,000 US troops 3,000 Filipino guerrillas	12,500 sailors and marines 4,500 soldiers[1]: 73
Casualties and losses
1,010 killed 5,565 wounded[1]: 195	16,000 killed (at least 12,500 from the Manila Naval Defense Force)[2]
Civilians: 100,000+ killed 250,000 total casualties[1]: 174

The Battle of Manila (Filipino: Labanan sa Maynila; Japanese: マニラの戦い, romanized: Manira no Tatakai; Spanish: Batalla de Manila; 3 February – 3 March 1945) was a major battle of the Philippine campaign of 1944–45, during the Second World War. It was fought by forces from both the United States and the Philippines against Japanese troops in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. The month-long battle, which resulted in the death of at least 100,000 civilians and the complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting fought by American forces in the Pacific theater. During the battle, Japanese forces committed mass murder against Filipino civilians, while American firepower killed many people. The resistance of the Japanese and American artillery also destroyed much of Manila's architectural and cultural heritage dating back to the city's founding. Often referred to as "the Stalingrad of Asia", the battle is widely considered to be one of the most intense and worst urban battles ever fought, with it being the single largest urban battle ever fought by American forces.^[3][4][5]

Manila became one of the most devastated capital cities during the entire war, alongside Berlin and Warsaw. The battle ended the almost three years of Japanese military occupation in the Philippines (1942–1945). The city's capture was marked as General Douglas MacArthur's key to victory in the campaign to liberate the islands. It is, to date, the last battle fought within Manila.