Photo By Erin Thompson | Destruction caused during the retaking of Manila, early 1945... read more read more
by John DellaGiustina, MI Corps Association "Vanguard"
BATTALION S-2 KILLED DURING BATTLE FOR MANILA
On 15 February 1945, 1st Lt. Jimmy Falls, S-2 of the 3rd Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division, was killed during the brutal fighting to retake Manila from its Japanese defenders. He was one of 1,010 American casualties of the month-long battle.
From 3 February to 3 March 1945, the U.S. Army battled to reclaim the Philippines capital from the 20,000 Japanese naval and marine forces entrenched in defensive positions across the city. Although directed by his superiors to withdraw, Japanese Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi mandated his men hold the city at all costs. His units erected strongpoint defenses, tying in anti-tank/anti-personnel mines with other obstacles and pillboxes. Scout-snipers perched high in multi-story buildings reinforced the approaches to the defensive positions. Additionally, Iwabuchi ordered the destruction of key facilities that might aid the Americans after the battle, including the all-important port. Residential areas were also torched and ravaged.
General Douglas MacArthur, the Southwest Pacific Area commander, designated three divisions to assault Manila: Sixth Army’s 37th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions from the north and east, and Eighth Army’s 11th Airborne Division from the south. On 3 February, lead elements of the 1st Cavalry Division entered Manila, liberating 3,700 American internees held at Santo Tomas University. The next day, units from the 37th Division seized Bilibid Prison, freeing 800 civilians and soldiers who had been captured on Bataan and Corregidor in the spring of 1942. Resistance was rapidly reduced north of the Pasig River, but the main battle area to the south was heavily fortified. MacArthur ruled out aerial bombing to preserve civilian lives but authorized ground artillery to support the maneuver forces advancing into the city.
On 8 February, the 3rd Battalion, 148th Infantry, established a foothold on the south side of the Pasig River despite significant resistance. Maj. Chuck Henne, the battalion S-3, and Lieutenant Falls, the battalion S-2, worked in tandem to track enemy resistance and move the line companies across the river. Over the next week, the battalion was the division’s lead element as it pushed deeper into the heart of fiercely defended Manila.
After a week of block-to-block fighting, the 37th Division reached its southern limit of advance and pivoted west to clear the territory to Manila Bay. Late in the afternoon of 15 February, the 3rd Battalion, 148th Infantry, began to smell the salty sea air as they closed in on the bay. At 1730 hours, frontline troops reached the bay, isolating pockets of Japanese resistance to the north and in the walled old-city fortress of Intramuros.
Near their tactical command post, Lieutenant Falls yearned to catch a glimpse of Manila Bay, the objective the unit had fought to reach for the past two weeks. With his eyes on the horizon, he failed to notice a pressure-detonated anti-personnel mine in his path. When he stepped on it, he was killed immediately. Major Henne later recalled that the sudden death of the popular officer shocked those close to him.
In addition to the 1,010 Americans killed, another 5,500 were wounded in the fighting in Manila. The utter devastation of the city and its populace was more staggering. During the month-long siege, Japanese troops slaughtered an estimated 100,000 non-combatant men, women, children, and infants of all ages. Most of the city’s utilities, factories, the southern residential district, and the entire business district were destroyed. More than 4,000 city blocks had to be completely razed after the war. As the Pacific Theater’s only example of sustained urban warfare during World War II, the Battle of Manila was a harbinger of what an actual assault on the Japanese home islands would have looked like and the monumental casualties it would have incurred.
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| Date Taken: | 02.09.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.09.2024 14:53 |
| Story ID: | 463611 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 353 |
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