Remembering the Battle of Manila: The cost of war

MANILA, Philippines - The Battle of Manila – which spanned Feb. 3 to March 3, 1945 – began with the American operation aimed at the liberation of internees held by the Japanese at the University of Santo Tomas and the reclamation of Malacañang Palace and the Legislative Building, where the Commonwealth government was hoped to be restored. It claimed the lives of more than 100,000 non-combatant civilians – burned and massacred, by guns or bayonets, by shells or shrapnels, and not without rape or torture – on top of more than a thousand American soldiers and approximately 16,000 Japanese militarymen.

Japanese forces withdrew to northern Luzon, with the objective of holding back American and Filipino troops. Those who remained in the city of Manila were ordered to evacuate and burn its bridges. However, some Japanese military officials opted to stay and fight to the last man, adhering to a principle they call gyokusai, which refers to glorious self-annihilation.

Bridges crossing the Pasig River were first destroyed to limit the mobility of the American forces. Rows of houses and buildings were then shut and set aflame, even as civilians were trapped inside. Those caught trying to flee or seek safety in foxholes were killed instantly.

Japanese children soldiers, aged 13 to 17, shot their guns at the slightest movement, treating war as if it was a game.

Japanese troopers faced the threat of defeat and death at the Post Office, the Legislative Building (now the National Museum), and the City Hall. They occupied concrete buildings to fortify their stronghold. The US and Allied forces struck by air and fired artillery to protect what was left of the city and its one million inhabitants.

However, 30 percent of the number of fatalities died not in the massacre but in the crossfire, Ambassador Juan Jose Rocha pointed out during the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Manila held in Intramuros last Feb. 14. He was only seven when the war took place.

Among the dead, the youngest was 18 months old, said Rocha, who is also president of the Memorare-Manila 1945 Foundation, Inc., an organization of the survivors and descendants of the victims of the Battle of Manila.

Safe haven?

Mary Farquhar was born and raised in Manila. Her family was Jewish and had managed to escape the Nazis’ concentration camps through the help of former President Manuel Quezon.

About 1,200 Jews fled to and sought solace in the Philippines, escaping the Holocaust before having to face another bloodbath under the Japanese military occupation in the country.

Farquhar told STARweek how grateful her family is to Filipinos. It was redemption for Jews like them, she said, having evaded sure death and finding a safe haven in a fledgling nation.

She said in some respects, her family and the other Jewish refugees were more fortunate than most because Japanese officials did not perceive any difference between Jews and non-Jews.

“They would ask for our documents. We would present our passports and they would find the swastika logo on it,” Farquhar recalled. “We were from Austria, which they identified with Germany and so they thought we were allies.”

For this reason, Jewish refugees were never incarcerated like other civilians in the University of Santo Tomas and other internment camps.

“Among the few encounters we had with the soldiers was when my mother was enjoying tea with family and friends. Then Japanese men came and took our china saucers, leaving only the cups that were filled with tea. That was it,” she told STARweek. “I think the Japanese only needed the saucers so they could eat their lunch.”

But, she pointed out, her father was detained for a few days when Japanese men found on him a piece of paper with a phone number and suspected that he had been coordinating with enemies.

“There was no name on the paper and he had forgotten who owned the phone number... But he was eventually let go. Perhaps the soldiers called the phone number and thought it was safe,” she said.

“There was no torture whatsoever, except for my mother who was very worried about my father at the time,” she said. “It was emotional torture on her part.”

Farquhar said it was a “miracle” that her family managed to escape the fire that razed Manila.

“The fire skipped our street,” she said, adding that for the next few days, her family hushed and shushed as they stayed in a foxhole in their home. They were cautious and conscious to not make any noise to avoid detection.

But, only two then, Farquhar said she could not help but, at the very least, make rustling sounds, but they got away with it.

Other families had to smother their infants with a pillow, lest they be discovered in their hideouts. Most survivors, if not all, had to live with the harrowing memory of seeing their loved ones being killed right in front of them.

The Battle of Manila was deemed the bloodiest urban conflict in the Second World War. Most of the survivors suffered in private, keeping their silence and taking their secrets to their graves.

Farquhar pointed out the irony amid the tragedy.

“How can some people who were being targeted as bad guys in one place be the good men in another country?” she asked, referring to the anti-Semitic death camps from where they came as opposed to the considerably proper treatment granted to them by the Japanese while in the country.

“I guess that only goes to show that war is stupid,” she continued.

‘Not an option’

Amid threats of an armed conflict in the Mindanao region following the Mamasapano incident, which led to the deaths of 44 police commandos, 18 Moro fighters and seven civilians, former President Fidel Ramos reiterated during this year’s commemoration of the Battle of Manila that war is not an option.

Rocha agreed with Ramos’ pronouncement, as he stressed that only those who do not know or have not experienced war would believe it is an option.

He added that tragedies, such as the Battle of Manila, are being remembered “not to rekindle hatred or fear or anger” but because “lessons of war have not been learned... and so that future generations would realize the cost of war.”

“Is it true that we repeat failures of the past? History does not repeat itself but it is human nature that does... In looking back at the past, we also look forward to the future so that these tragedies will never ever be repeated again,” Rocha concluded.