War Crimes - Manila 1945 [video]

Title

War Crimes - Manila 1945 [video]

Description

[From YouTube]: "The US. and Filipino forces worked together to take out the remaining Japanese forces that were under orders from Tokyo to systematically kill all remaining civilians, destroy and burn down buildings, and infrastructure before pulling out. Japan has apologized but it was a long time coming."

Source


YouTube

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Coverage

Transcript from YouTube [edited]:

[Caption: BGen. Carlos P. Romulo immediately after the war in 1945]
0:08
[the retaking of Manila]
0:09
was a great [allied] advance towards the
0:13
complete destruction of [Japanese]
0:15
imperialism but let us not forget
0:19
the cost of that [advance]
0:23
[the] savage premeditated
0:27
destruction of [the city of Manila]
0:31
[was direct orders from Tokyo]
0:35
we will inevitably bring to trial
0:39
[those] responsible for [these crimes]
0:43
[the leaders of] a nation
0:46
[devoid of] all human decency
0:49
[this film] will be
0:53
[part of the] evidence that will [convict]
0:57
[these] criminals. I have told
1:02
the story of the rape of [Manila] on the floor of Congress
1:07
of the United States. [Manila is the price]
1:12
of Filipino loyalty [to America]
1:16
I want you to see this picture
1:20
from the [eyes] of [the camera] of an eyewitness
1:24
[Captain] David Griffin [of the] US Marine [Corps]
****
1:32
the 37th division US Army
1:35
had urgent business [in Manila]. I was returning with them to my pre-war home
1:39
after three years
1:41
absence there it was the familiar [Bonifacio] monument marking the entrance to
1:46
the city
1:46
and just beyond [Rizal Avenue]
1:49
where the first crowd had gathered behind [our lines to welcome us]
1:59
[They] assured us that the liberation of the entire city was near
2:04
the Japanese were retreating from the northern part of the city
2:09
and the four thousand American prisoners [in Santo] Tomas
2:13
[had] been freed only the day before they had been kept alive for three years by
2:18
courageous Filipino friends
2:20
let smuggled food and medicine over the walls
2:23
[Gen.] Romulo and all of us will never forget the welcome they [gave us]
2:28
they were reading their first [mail] from home
2:37
waiting in line for their first American food there were Neil Crawford
2:42
and [Doctor B---?] I hardly recognize them
2:47
freedom [brought] reflection and as evening fell some of us went up into the tower
2:52
[of Santo Tomas] to look out over this city we loved still
2:55
[intact]. We were grateful that the enemy was about to evacuate Manila
3:00
they were putting up only a token resistance
3:03
[they] said he was going to be spared so we thought
3:07
as we stood their vivid memories came back to us
3:13
memories of [Manila] Bay filled with ships from all over the world
3:16
[of] the beauty of the city with its colorful parks
3:20
broad avenues and modern [buildings]: the National Assembly Building
3:25
[the Manila Hotel, and] the University of the Philippines
3:30
with its 8,000 students
3:36
[Manila] was [a] city of happy people… [Free] people [who worshipped] as they please
3:42
[whose] children [went to] free schools
3:45
carefree people [who] dance [and]
3:48
love life [and get it, who loves fashion shows]
3:52
and [pageants] and [parades] and
3:57
Coca-cola
3:59
I remembered Christmas shopping at [Heacock’s Department Store]
4:03
the finest in the [area]
4:07
I [remembered] Francisco Delgado's wedding in the cathedral and how lovely his
4:12
bride
4:13
[was]. I recall the Christmas Eve I spent with my friends, the [Reyes] family
4:46
it was bedtime and I remember so well
4:49
how the [sound: explosions]
5:00
great explosions cut short our memories [the Japs were] destroying the city
5:04
[we knew]
5:05
[that Yamashita] had requested instructions from Tokyo. This
5:09
was Tokyo’s [answer]. Here was Japan’s revenge for Filipino loyalty to America
5:14
we should have remembered that Japanese War history [was written]
5:19
[in] the ashes of [gutted buildings]
5:31
at dawn came after a night of terror, [the] entire business district was gone
5:37
[the] fire still raged in other sections of the city
5:43
combat had begun
5:59
as if loss and destruction were not [criminal enough]
6:01
[the Japs] began to shell [Santo Tomas] the unprovoked shellfire had killed 21
6:07
[Americans]
6:08
40 more were wounded. 21 civilians [murdered]
6:16
21 Americans had waited three long years for freedom
6:20
and now they would never leave [Santo Tomas]
6:30
one of them was my close friend
6:33
[Mr. C---?]
6:41
President [Osmeña] had come to [Manila] to accept a liberated City
6:45
he found this instead
6:52
and he recalled that in 1942 to save the city
6:55
and its people [General MacArthur] had declared [Manila] an open city
6:59
now with the tables reversed the Japanese were pulling the city down in
7:04
firing [ruins]
7:06
with tears in his eyes the President pledged the undying support
7:10
and resistance [of] the suffering people to Japan’s
7:14
final defeat
7:18
even as the President spoke our tanks and heavy guns
7:21
were loading up to do the job they had to do
7:35
refugees streamed out from the Japanese hell sections of the city
7:46
for them [Manila] had become a chamber of horrors
7:59
homeless and sick at heart they were surviving witnesses to the sack
8:04
[of the] greatest [Christian] City in the [area]. Jose [Buencamino and] his wife saw a squad
8:11
of Japs enter the Red Cross building
8:12
and bayonet and shoot everyone there: doctors
8:16
[patients]
8:17
nurses and refugees
8:20
[two of] their own children were among them
8:25
50 burned alive in the Spanish consulate
8:27
59 [bayoneted in Tabacalera]
8:31
[the excuse, there was] no excuse as the refugees poured out from the [Ermita in] increasing
8:37
numbers
8:37
it was evident that the [Japs] were going to make a suicide stand
8:41
[entrenched] in foxholes, pillboxes
8:45
barricades and [gutted buildings the Jap made us [come in] and get him
8:49
[he burned the insides of the buildings] then returned [and fought in there]
8:54
this was [Turawa,] New Britain, [Peleliu]
8:57
all over again in the heart of the great city we have to rule him out
9:01
house by house floor by floor
9:05
[room by room] Jap by Jap
9:16
[fanatical] stubbornness [of] the enemy forced us to throw in [---? the] city hall
9:22
[the] Finance building, [the] Agriculture building
9:25
[and] the National Assembly Building became Japanese [fortresses]
10:11
the end [of a bomb site charred]
10:54
Japanese made a better stand in the heavily fortified post office
11:08
[as] the battle for the post office raged
11:14
other units [of] the 37th division across the Pasig River
11:18
[destroyed?] the historic wall [city] the last enemy stronghold [in Manila]
11:27
[through] deadly sniper fire
11:31
they forced their way over the wall a [lone nun] was the first to escape [then]
11:40
there [were] more
12:05
[the] dangerous business of killing Japs [went on]
12:27
none of them could be trusted even [in death]
12:32
none of them [escaped even] in religious
12:35
[disguise]
12:39
then the shocking discovery [our Jap]
12:42
[dead] was found documented proof [of orders] from the Japanese Supreme
12:47
[Command] for the systematic massacre
12:50
[of Manila] citizens and the complete destruction [of the] city
12:54
among the victims of Tokyo's orders were [nuns]
12:58
of Saint [Augustine’s. Out]
13:05
[of] the dungeons [of Fort] Santiago refugees brought with them the stench
13:09
[of death] they had lived with [death]
13:13
[Sister Martha ravaged] only their [faith]
13:17
sustained [them]
13:31
we were soon to see for ourselves the horrors they [described]
13:40
a baby girl shot
13:45
[bayoneted]
13:53
Mother Superior
14:01
[raped]
14:17
the battle was over we gathered
14:19
our [dead]
14:44
these are the [men who took] the wall city they were the same man who had
14:49
fought west from [Leyte]
14:50
and South from [Lingayen]
15:01
but [theirs] was a [bitter] victory [they had won]
15:04
only devastation here was Coventry,
15:08
Rotterdam, Warsaw, [Lidice]
15:11
here was [Manila]
15:19
those who were left tried to find their [homes]
15:27
eighty percent of [Manila’s] buildings [ruined:] the business section
15:33
the city hall
15:39
the National Assembly Building, the Manila Hotel
15:43
[Heacock’s], no more Christmas shopping here
15:47
the University of the Philippines
15:50
where [are] its 8,000 [students?]
16:01
where is the home [of my friends, the Reyes]
16:04
family
16:08
buildings can be rebuilt but can a murdered live again?
16:12
[bayoneted,] could this be Francisco Delgado and his wife?
16:17
[what] kind of warfare is the shooting [of] children at prayer?
16:30
[what kind of warfare] is the burning alive
16:35
[of] men and women? what kind of warfare is the cold blooded [murder of]
16:40
[civilians] with their hands tied behind them
17:00
in the warfare [the bayoneted] mother and child
17:04
at the feet [of] the Virgin Mary...


Notes

Uploaded to YouTube by deluge24. Accessed February 20, 2014.

Files

War Crimes - Manila 1945.jpg

Collection

Citation

“War Crimes - Manila 1945 [video],” FHL-Roderick Hall, accessed December 2, 2024, https://fhl.omeka.net/items/show/1006.