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| An authentic photograph of an American bomb falling to the city. This has got to be one of the most iconic and dramatic pictures of WW2 in Manila. TAKEN BY AN AMERICAN BOMBARDIER ON A B-29 BOMBER FOR RECORD/DOCUMENTARY PURPOSES |
Today, February 3, 2013, marks the 68th anniversary of the month-long Battle of Manila between the Japanese and the Americans. It was one of the fiercest urban fighting scenes in the Pacific (and possibly, the whole world) during the Second World War, leading to the ultimate destruction of the city and the death of thousands of innocent civilians and American/Japanese/Filipino soldiers.
Manila was one of the most progressive cities in the Far East and the war completely wiped out almost 400 years of development. Spanish churches and convents, American government buildings, schools and houses, gone to oblivion.
Note that Manila was the second most destroyed city next to Warsaw, Poland during WW2. This event is considered to be one of the darkest in our history. If you think about it, have we fully recovered? After 68 years, can we call Manila and the whole Philippines as the "Pearl of the Orient" again? Hmmm.
Browse through my blog and have your heart broken.
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| Colorized version of the picture above. ww2incolor |
The image of the bomb over the city of Manila is often used, but unfortunately tends to suffer from incorrect captioning. Altitude bombing of Manila was severely restricted, and later, permission to bomb was refused. The image of the bomb was of an aerial bomb aimed at the port facilities, where bombing was allowed, not of one being dropped into civilian areas. Also, the B-29 was not operated over Manila, or indeed the Philippines - (they were operated in the Central Pacific, and not under control of the SWPA. That being said, I greatly like your website.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard about, for example, Battle of Sevastopol 1941-1942 and Battle of Stalingrad 1942-1943?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard about unnecessary bombing of Dresden by americans in 1945?
Have you ever heard about death tall on European war theater that time?
Search.
Unfortunately Manila was not alone...
nice blog
ReplyDelete