**Did You Know ? . . . . . February 1945: The Ra*pe of Manila.**

**Did You Know ?  . . . . . February 1945: The Ra*pe of Manila.**

The devastation of Manila was one of the great tragedies of World War II.  Seventy percent of the utilities, 72 percent of the factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district, and 100 percent of the business district were razed…Hospitals were set afire after their patients had been strapped to their beds.  

The corpses of males were mutilated, females of all ages were raped before they were slain, and babies’ eyeballs gouged out and smeared on walls like jelly.”

A Chronology of bloody events as they unfolded helps to remind us that war is hell, through which Manila agonized.

Feb. 1, 1945: “Roll out the barrel, Santa Clause is coming,” is the note wrapped in goggles dropped by a plane to starving Allied countries’ civilians interned at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Feb. 3: American troops arriving from Lingayen liberate the 3,700 interns at UST. Japanese troops commence burning buildings and homes north of Pasig River.

Feb. 4: Japanese marines commanded by Rear Adm. Sanji Iwabuchi retreated to Intramuros, blowing up all the bridges across the Pasig.

Feb. 9: Ermita and Malate are put to the torch. Nicanor Reyes’ living room is piled high with furniture and drapes; gasoline is poured over them. 

The founder of Far Eastern University and some members of the family burn there after being bayoneted, but young daughter Lourdes who has hidden in a closet, and her wounded mother and aunt, flee to Leveriza to join her grandmother. 

Against a wall, the four set up a makeshift shelter with burned GI sheets. In the shelling, Lourdes’ mother who is shielding her, and her aunt, and grandmother, are killed.

Sen. Elpidio Quirino’s wife and two daughters, fleeing to his mother-in-law’s home, are felled by Japanese machine guns.

Feb. 10: Massacre of scores at the Philippine National Red Cross in Ermita.  At the German Club, five Germans and 400 refugees including the family of former Ambassador to Spain Juan Rocha, the Beech y Rochas numbering 11.

Feb. 11: Under artillery fire by Americans, the German sisters at Saint Scholastica’s College, seeing a spotter-Piper Cub in the air, lie on the ground to form the letters SOS and are saved.

Feb. 12: Hundreds are slaughtered at Saint Paul’s College. Doctor Rafael Moreta’s residence, other homes in Paco, the Mandaluyong Mental Hospital, and in Binondo and New Manila, suffer the same fate.

Feb. 13: Refugees at the Remedios Hospital numbering over 400, as well as doctor Tony Lahorra and Father John Lalor, are all killed by friendly fire.

Feb. 17: PGH is liberated, but many women have by then been raped and others bayoneted.  At San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Jose Maria Zabaleta Sr. reports that “my father was killed by the Japanese, together with over a hundred Spaniards.

In the end, seeing the futility of their cause, Rear Adm. Iwabuchi and his men killed themselves on Feb. 26.  But not before the Manileños had been brought to near-despair and abject grief.

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