The Battle Of Rizal Ballpark

 For Veteran's Day . . .

On February 15-16, 1945 American and Japanese soldiers fought a pitched battle in and around the Rizal baseball field in Manila, capital of the Philippines.

The Rizal Memorial Field sports complex opened in 1934 in time to host the Far East Games, an Asian multi-sport competition and included track, football, baseball, tennis and swimming stadiums.  Baseball had been introduced by the Americans who occupied the Philippines after the Spanish-American War in 1898.  The complex was named after Jose Rizal, doctor, author, and a figure in the resistance to the Spanish occupation who was executed by a firing squad in 1896.

The first home runs hit in the baseball stadium were in an exhibition game on December 2, 1934 by Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth who were on a Far East tour to promote baseball (it was this tour that also sparked baseball interest in Japan).

The 1945 Battle of Rizal was part of the horrible month long Battle of Manila, the most intense urban warfare in the Pacific during WW2 and considered by many historians only second to Stalingrad in the extent of destruction.  The American reconquest of the Philippines began with landings on the island of Leyte in October 1945.  In early January, Americans under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, landed on Luzon, the largest island and began advancing on Manila.

MacArthur, who had lived in the Philippines for many years and been evacuated by order of President Roosevelt in March 1942 desperately wanted to retake the city intact.  When the Japanese attacked in December 1941, MacArthur declared Manila an open city and evacuated his forces, so the capital fell intact and undamaged.  He hoped the Japanese would take the same course now that the position was to be reversed.  It was not to be.

General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander in the Philippines, situated his headquarters in the mountains of northern Luzon (from where resistance continued until the surrender in August 1945).  Knowing Manila to be indefensible he ordered the local commanders to evacuate the city as the Americans approached.  However Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi ignored the orders and with the 17,000 naval personnel under his command began transforming Manila into a fortress.  Iwabuchi was under no illusions about the outcome of the battle; his address to his troops included this:

We are very glad and grateful for the opportunity of being able to serve our country in this epic battle. Now, with what strength remains, we will daringly engage the enemy. Banzai to the Emperor! We are determined to fight to the last man.

It is thought that Iwabuchi's actions were motivated by his surviving the sinking of his battleship Kirishima off of Guadalcanal in late 1942, a survival that stained his reputation in the Navy. 

Beginning on February 3, American soldiers had to fight there way step by step, building by building, block by block through Manila against fanatical resistance.  MacArthur, desperate to avoid destroying the city refused to allow aerial bombardment throughout the month, though increasingly field artillery was deployed to reduce enemy strongholds.

It was not only the complete destruction of Manila that made the battle so terrible.  The worst were the crimes committed by the Japanese, leading to the deaths of more than 100,000 Filipino men, women, and children.  The violence escalated as the battle raged.  On February 13, Admiral Iwabuchi ordered his soldiers to kill all remaining civilians, including priests and nuns, within the Japanese lines.  Civilians were shot individually and in mass executions though eventually, to save ammunition, the Japanese preferred setting people on fire, driving them into buildings which would then be blown up, bayonets, and beheadings.  In some instances, Japanese lashed civilians to the outside of strategic buildings hoping they would be a deterrent to American artillery.  Japanese soldiers also committed mass rapes.  I will spare you further details.

On February 15, the 5th and 12th U.S. Cavalry regiments approached Rizal Stadium, where four companies of Japanese soldiers were stationed.  Late in afternoon troopers of the 5th Cavalry broke into the ballpark but were driven out by mortar, machine gun and rifle fired.

The assault was renewed the next morning and by late afternoon the Americans controlled the field.  This is the most complete account of the action I've found:

The 5th Cavalry cleared the baseball grounds on 16 February after three tanks, having blasted and battered their way through a cement wall on the east side of the park, got into the playing field to support the cavalrymen inside. Resistance came from heavy bunkers constructed all over the diamond, most of them located in left field and in left center, and from sandbagged positions under the grandstand beyond the third base-left field foul line. Flame throwers and demolitions overcame the last resistance, and by 1630 the 5th Cavalry had finished the job. 

In addition, the Japanese were dug into the stands, dugouts and tunnels behind home plate and the first base line and firing slots had been cut into the walls in those areas.  Every Japanese in the ballpark was killed. 

You can watch footage of the battle here and go here for a longer video containing footage inside the baseball stadium.

On February 26, Admiral Iwabuchi committed suicide and several days later all Japanese resistance ceased.

In the concluding volume of his trilogy on the Pacific War, Twilight of the Gods, Ian Toll's writes of the battle's aftermath:

"For the Filipino people, the price of losing Manila was incalculable.  In the old, historic city center, it was not even a question of rebuilding - they would have to cart off the rubble and begin anew, with a blank slate.  Much of the nation's cultural patrimony had been obliterated: architecture, libraries, museums, archives, the history of several centuries . . . Manila, the elegant and functional city, "Pearl of the Orient" had been the single most valuable asset possessed by this emerging Asian democracy."

35,000 American troops assisted by 3,000 Filipino guerrillas fought in the battle.  1,010 Americans died and 5,595 were wounded.  We honor all of them.