March to Manila

Some sixty miles south of Manila is Nasugbu, Batangas where the Central Azucarera de Don Pedro is to be found. Don Emiliano Gonzalez worked at the sugar central and his grand-daughters from Manila would spend their summer vacations with him. I met one of these girls on board an army truck going north from Manila to Pangasinan; in due course, , I took her home as my wife. But that’s long after the war, and that’s another story.

Going back to 1945, it was at Pangasinan where the Americans established a 20-mile beachhead on January 9, from Lingayen and Dagupan to the west, and to San Fabian in to the east. And it was at Nasugbu on January 31 where the 11th Airborne made an amphibious landing.

From the north, the 1st Cavalry was committed to march to Manila, reinforced with armor and motorized artillery and support units. With the Cavalry at the left the 37th Division mopped up operations at the right. The Japanese destroyed many of the bridges to impede the progress of the invaders. The 556th Heavy Ponton Division built a treadway bridge to carry heavy equipment while the 530th Light Ponton Company installed seven bridges for the 37th Division.

The 1st Cavalry reached the outer edges of Manila on February 3 while the Japanese moved south of the Pasig River to defend the government buildings and the walls of Intramuros.

From the south, the 11th Airborne Division landed unopposed at Nasugbu, seized a nearby bridge before the surprised Japanese had a chance to demolish it, and turned toward Manila. The division's third regiment, the 511th Parachute, dropped in by air at Tagaytay to join the advance. The convoy sped north along the paved highway to Manila with civilians cheering them along the way.

The 511th met some resistance at Imus, five miles south of Manila. By dawn on February 4 the paratroopers ran into increasingly heavy and harassing fire from Japanese riflemen and machine gunners. At the Paranaque River, just south of the Manila city limits, the battalion halted at a badly damaged bridge only to be battered by Japanese artillery fire from Nichols Field. The 11th Airborne Division had reached the main Japanese defenses south of Manila and could go no further.