An American soldier rescuing a wounded Filipino girl in Manil

An American soldier rescuing a wounded Filipino girl in Manila, capital of the Philippines, February 1945. in 1945, U.S. troops led by Genearal Douglas MacArthur began to enter the fortified areas of Manila. From February 3 to March 3, 1945, Manila was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater and saw some of the war's worst atrocities.

Manila was occupied by Japanese forces on 2 January 1942. After several successful landings, first on Leyte and then on Luzon, American troops returned to retake the Philippines. By early 1945, they were closing on the capital of the Philippines, known as the "Pearl of the Orient." Described as the "Asian Stalingrad," the Battle of Manila was the fiercest urban fighting of the Pacific War. 

As American troops advanced into the city, Japanese soldiers and marines massacred tens of thousands of Filipino civilians and committed brutal acts of r*pe, pillage and destruction. The total number of civilians who were killed during the battle was at least 100,000.

"Countless women were r*ped and tort*red, their babies tossed in the air and bayoneted. Patients and doctors were stab*ed at hospitals, nuns and priests hanged at churches, children tossed into pits with grenades. Marauding Japanese troops burned people alive in convents, schools and prisons."

Manila became one of the most devastated capital cities in World War II. Allied losses were 1010 killed and 5565 wounded, while the Japanese lost 16,665 dead. General Yamashita, commander of all Japanese forces in the Philippines, was found guilty of war crimes and executed by hanging at Los Banos Prison Camp near Manila on 23 February 1946.