60th Anniversary of "Manila Holocaust"

[Mulboyne]

INQ7.net: The most vicious crime in RP history
FEBRUARY 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the most vicious crime in Philippine history, the sacking of Manila in February 1945 by Japanese military forces. No other single event in our history even remotely approximates the extent of material destruction, the number of casualties, the manner of dealing death, and the loss of cultural heritage. A hundred thousand noncombatant men, women and children died. The overwhelming number of casualties were Filipinos, but the dead also included neutral or friendly nationalities like the Swiss, Irish, Russians, Spanish, Germans and others. Among Asian nationals, Chinese and Indians suffered considerably...more...

Review of "WARSAW OF ASIA: THE RAPE OF MANILA" (2001)

[blackcat]

What that? come on you must be a japan basher...these are all lies, fabrications...just like nanjing, bataan death march, unit 731, hong kong, singapore etc...NEVER happened...anyway "we japanese" suffered sooooo much after WW2....poor us. we were the REAL VICTIMS just ask any politcian.

and the terrible camps in the US for the poor japanese americans...what a crime..WE WILL NEVER FORGET THAT.

poor us.

[dimwit]

I was going to post this story before the crash... oh well!

What is most interesting about the 'Rape of Manila' is the modern Japanese reaction to it. Unlike the Nanking Massacre, they can't deny it, as there was far too much documented evidence from the Americans who liberated the city, so they try to ignore it.

One of the most bitter ironies of the massacre is the resulting war crime trials was that the brilliant general Tomoyuki Yamashita was hang despite the fact that the massacre was carried out as a direct contravention of his orders. (He ordered a rear guard action to destroy strategic sites, such as the port, and retreat south of the city). The real culpit Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi died in the American assault on the city and was posthumously promoted Vice Admiral for his monsterous war crimes. I assume he is among the blessed in Yasukuni Shrine and having neither been convicted of any war crime, would be free to move a national cementary if the Japanese choose to abandon Yasukuni.

[cstaylor]

One of the most bitter ironies of the massacre is the resulting war crime trials was that the brilliant general Tomoyuki Yamashita was hang despite the fact that the massacre was carried out as a direct contravention of his orders.

A commanding officer is responible for his charges. If his men destroyed the city against his orders, he's still responsible.

The reality is, someone had to hang for what happened in Manilla, and MacArthur's history in the Phillipines meant that it had to be foreigner.

An interesting bit of history is how Manilla's elite, when faced with Japanese aggression and American ambivalence in protecting its colony, collaborated with the Japanese up until MacArthur's return.

[dimwit]

A commanding officer is responible for his charges. If his men destroyed the city against his orders, he's still responsible.

They were following orders from the high command in Tokyo who overruled Yamashita decision to abandon Manila.

The reality is, someone had to hang for what happened in Manilla, and MacArthur's history in the Phillipines meant that it had to be foreigner.

It's true. However, calling Yamashita a war criminal and in essence tarring him with the same brush as Tojo is an injustice. There were war criminals aplenty who deserved to swing, but I don't think Yamashita is one of them.

An interesting bit of history is how Manilla's elite, when faced with Japanese aggression and American ambivalence in protecting its colony, collaborated with the Japanese up until MacArthur's return.

That is an interesting story and if you know some good references I would be really interested in reading about it.

[AssKissinger]

Speaking of guys who swang but didn't deserve it do any of you know the story of this guy?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koki_Hirota

Late in 1937, Japanese forces marched into Nanjing, and set off a chain of events now known as the Nanjing Massacre. While Hirota was not in charge of the army units that invaded Nanjing, he was party to information about the massacre, and informed the Japanese embassy in Washington of the extensive carnage in the city (the telegram has often been misquoted as the admission by a high ranking Japanese official of the "three hundred thousand Chinese civilians slaughtered" but in fact is a mistaken attribution of a telegram from Timperley of Manchester Guardian in China which Japanese censors seized.)

The military caught wind of Hirota's dislike for the Chinese campaign, and forced him to retire in 1938. In 1945, however, Hirota came back onto the diplomatic scene by leading Japanese peace negotiations with the Soviet Union. At the time, Japan and the USSR were still under a non-aggression pact, even though the other Allied Powers had all declared war on Japan. Hirota attempted to persuade Josef Stalin's government to stay out of the war, but he ultimately failed: the Soviets entered the war less than one week before the bombing of Hiroshima.

Following Japan's surrender, Hirota was named a Class A war criminal and was brought before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. He offered no defense. He was found guilty, sentenced to hang, and executed at Sugamo Prison.

I enjoyed this book about Hirota
Amazon Link

I'd make it available in the book club but I don't think I have it anymore.

[cstaylor]

An interesting bit of history is how Manilla's elite, when faced with Japanese aggression and American ambivalence in protecting its colony, collaborated with the Japanese up until MacArthur's return.

That is an interesting story and if you know some good references I would be really interested in reading about it.

American Caesar - Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 by William Manchester. Excellent book, as are Manchester's unfinished series on Winston Churchill.

[dimwit]

American Caesar - Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 by William Manchester. Excellent book, as are Manchester's unfinished series on Winston Churchill.

I have heard of the book and maybe I should be on the lookout for it. Thanks CS. It is an interesting study to see how the various allied countries treated collaborators after the war.