Seventy-three years ago on March 3, 1945, the Battle for Manila ended with the city in ruin. By that time the battle started on February 3, majority of the bridges over Pasig River had been destroyed by the Japanese in anticipation of the Americans advancing into the city.

During the month-long battle between February 3 and March 3, 1945, Manila was completely destroyed. All that remained by the end were heaps of smouldering rubble. The charred bodies half-buried in the ruins bore terrible witness to a massacre beyond the nightmare of any Manileño. An estimated 100,000 Manileño had been killed. The Battle for Manila occupies a unique place in the history of the Pacific War. It was the only occasion on which American and Japanese forces fought each other in a city and it was the largest battle of its kind yet fought by either the American or the Japanese…