The Battle for Manila

A detailed account of the liberation and destruction of Manila by the Americans from the Japanese.

Written by three of the UK's foremost military historians, the new paperback edition of this book is must for anyone who thinks that the atomic bombs on the Japanese mainland were the worst thing that happened in the Pacific during World War II.

Overall, the liberation left 6,500 Americans, 20,000 Japanese and 200,000 Manila citizens dead and levelled the thriving, once cosmopolitan city.

The campaign was unique in the Pacific theatre in that it was the only major city to be liberated by force.

Its capture cut Japan off from its crucial supplies of raw materials and led to the starvation of Japanese war industries, particularly steel making.

However the focus of this book is on the human aspect of the invasion - the direct impact on the local population and the dreadful privations of life in a devastated city.

After the defeat of the Japanese, there were tremendous shortages of food and fresh water, and black markets sprung up all over the city, supplying essential commodities to the highest bidder.