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