Manila massacre
Manila massacre | |
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Part of EDT) | |
Attack type | Mass murder, massacre |
Deaths | 100,000–500,000[1][2] |
Perpetrators | Tomoyuki Yamashita, Akira Mutō, Sanji Iwabuchi Imperial Japanese Army |
Part of a series on |
Statism in Shōwa Japan |
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The Manila massacre (
The Manila
Description
Massacre
The Americans who have penetrated into Manila have about 1000 troops, and there are several thousand Filipino soldiers under the Commonwealth Army and the organized guerrillas. Even women and children have become guerrillas. All people on the battlefield with the exception of Japanese military personnel, Japanese civilians, and special construction units will be put to death.
— Japanese order justifying the Manila massacre[4]
Before the battle, deciding that he would be unable to defend Manila with the forces available to him, and to preserve as large a force as possible in the rural, more defensible
In the Battle of Manila from February to March 1945, the United States Army advanced into the city of Manila in order to drive the Japanese out. During lulls in the battle for control of the city, Japanese troops took their anger and frustration out on the civilians in the city. Violent mutilations, rapes, and massacres occurred in schools, hospitals and convents, including San Juan de Dios Hospital, Santa Rosa College, Santo Domingo Church, Manila Cathedral, Paco Church, St. Paul's Convent, and St. Vincent de Paul Church.[1]: 113
Dr Antonio Gisbert told of the murder of his father and brother at the Palacio del Gobernador, saying, "I am one of those few survivors, not more than 50 in all out of more than 3000 men herded into Fort Santiago and, two days later, massacred.[1]: 110
The Japanese forced Filipino women and children to be used as
Mop-up operations
The Japanese conducted mop-up operations to clear north Manila of guerrillas, executing more than 54,000 Filipinos, including children, as they passed through towns.[5]: 92
Pregnant Filipino women were killed by having their bellies ripped open while Filipino civilians trying to flee were executed.[5]: 93
Mass rapes
The Bayview Hotel was used as a designated "rape center".[6] According to testimony at the Yamashita war crimes trial, 400 women and girls were rounded up from Manila's wealthy Ermita district, and submitted to a selection board that picked out the 25 women who were considered most beautiful. These women and girls, many of them 12 to 14 years old, were then taken to the hotel, where Japanese enlisted men and officers took turns raping them.[7]
Despite many allied Germans holding refuge in a German club, Japanese soldiers entered in and bayoneted infants and children of mothers pleading for mercy and raped women seeking refuge. At least 20 Japanese soldiers raped a young girl before slicing her breasts off after which a Japanese soldier placed her mutilated breasts on his chest to mimic a woman while the other Japanese soldiers laughed. The Japanese then doused the young girl and two other women who were raped to death in gasoline and set them all on fire.[8]
The Japanese went on setting the entire club on fire killing many of its inhabitants. Women who were escaping out the building from the fire were caught and raped by the Japanese. 28-year-old Julia Lopez had her breasts sliced off, was raped by Japanese soldiers and had her hair set on fire. Another woman was partially decapitated after attempting to defend herself and raped by a Japanese soldier.[9]
Death toll
The combined death toll of civilians for the Battle of Manila was about 100,000, most of which was attributed to massacres by Japanese forces.[10][11][2] Some historians, citing a higher civilian casualty rate for the entire battle, suggest that 100,000 to 500,000 died as a result of the Manila massacre on its own, exclusive of other causes.[1][12][13][14][15][excessive citations]
Extensive as were the Japanese atrocities during the battle, American artillery and firepower were most responsible for the destruction of Manila's architectural and cultural heritage,[16] and, according to a Japanese estimate, caused 40 percent of the total Filipino deaths during the battle.[17]
General Yamashita's role in the massacre
General Yamashita was convicted as a war criminal for the Manila massacre, although Admiral Iwabuchi's marines had committed the atrocities and Yamashita had earlier ordered him to evacuate Manila. Iwabuchi himself committed suicide in the face of imminent defeat near the end of the Battle of Manila. Former war-crimes prosecutor and author Allan Ryan argues that there was no evidence that Yamashita committed crimes there, ordered others to do so, was in a position to prevent them, or even suspected they were about to happen.[citation needed]
However, the problem with this argument was that Yamashita's lawyers resorted to using a chain of command technicality defense related to how the Japanese Navy were solely responsible for the massacre in Manila as a way to excuse Yamashita of committing all war crimes in the Philippines, of which there were many outside of Manila, according to the Chief of the Government Section for the
General MacArthur, five other generals, and the Supreme Court of the United States ultimately held Yamashita responsible for war crimes since he was in command of all Japanese troops in the Philippines at the time. President
See also
- Battle of Manila (1945)
- Bataan Death March
- De La Salle Brothers Philippine District
- Nanjing Massacre
- Philippine War Crimes Commission
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0891415785
- ^ ISBN 9781480804203. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ "Gen. Akira Mutō". The International Military Tribunal For The Far East: Digital Collection. University of Virginia School of Law. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ ISBN 9780465080670.
- ^ a b Werner Gruhl, 2017, Imperial Japan's World War Two: 1931–1945
- ^ "February 1945: The Rape of Manila | INQUIRER.net". Globalnation.inquirer.net. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ Manila Girls Relate Horror of Mass Rape, The Milwaukee Journal, 1 November 1945
- ISBN 9780393246957.
- ISBN 9780393246957.
- ISBN 978-0-932438-70-6. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Battle of Manila". Battle of Manila. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ White, Matthew. "Death Tolls for the Man-made Megadeaths of the 20th Century". Users.erols.com. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
- ]
- ^ At least 4 of the 5 cited sources do not mention a figure > 100,000.
- ^ Brines, Russell, "Sixty Priests, Women, Children Massacred by Japs in College," Evening Star, Washington DC, 19 February 1945, Page A-6 [1]
- ^ "Manila 1945, the Destruction of the Pearl of the Orient: A Review of Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila". The National WWII Museum. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ Nakato, Satoshi. "The Death of Manila in World War II and Postwar Commemoration". Research Gate. Senior Council of Japan. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
- ^ https://battleofmanila.org/Whitney/cw_01.htm . Retrieved 10 February 2023
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7006-1881-1.
- ^ Last Words of the Tiger of Malaya, General Yamashita Tomoyuki, The Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus
References
- Taylor, Lawrence. A Trial of Generals. Icarus Press, South Bend IN, 1981
- Quezon, Taylor (7 February 2007). "The Warsaw of Asia: How Manila Was Flattened in WWII". Arab News. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
Further reading
- Orendain, Joan (16 February 2014). "February 1945: The Rape of Manila". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2023.