The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2019

94 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL For the Americans, Manila was a new kind of war. Suddenly, veterans of jungle battles were confronted with the alien environment of close combat in a major city. The population was crushed between the Japanese, who went on a murderous rampage while also fighting to the death, and American forces that had no choice but to employ heavy artillery to end the slaughter. Scott makes clear how devastating the results were for the inhabitants, both Filipi- nos and the rest of the city’s cosmopolitan population. Probably 100,000 died in that month, and 613 blocks containing about 11,000 buildings were flattened. One has to look back to Japan’s war in China to see a similar level of atrocities. In parts of China, the Japanese had pursued a policy known as “Three Alls: Kill All, Burn All, Loot All.” In 1945 they brought that homicidal mindset to the streets of Manila. The combat photos in the book highlight the destructive power of the fighting and amplify the author’s descriptions. Japanese rage at Filipinos was intense, not only because of the numerous guerrilla groups that had plagued them all across the country, but also because ordinary Filipinos continued to put their faith in an eventual U.S. liberation to give them their promised independence. That infuriated the Japanese, who expected all Asians to buy their “Asia for the Asians” propaganda. In 1946 Yamashita was hanged for the war crimes his forces committed in Manila. That controversial verdict— over how much blame should have been apportioned to a commander who was well north of Manila during the bloodbath and who did not order those atrocities—went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, as Scott points out, had the United States not executed Yamashita, the British or Australians would have condemned him for his forces’ war crimes in Malaya. Although there is an over- viewmap of the city on page 59, the book would have benefited from additional maps focused on individual districts like the Spanish walled city of Intramuros, the scene of some of the bitterest combat and worst atrocities. There is a Foreign Service connection to this history. Embassy Manila’s present chancery opened in 1940 as the office and residence of the newly installed U.S. High Commissioner to the Philippine Islands when the president of the new Philippine Commonwealthmoved into the Mala- canang Palace. In September 1945, Yamashita surren- dered at what was the high commissioner’s summer residence in Baguio, later the summer residence of the U.S. ambassador. In 1945 and 1946, his war crimes trial took place in the ballroomof the chancery. The building is close to the scenes of some of the worst combat, and its flagpole still bears scars from the fighting. I amhappy to recommend Rampage to Foreign Service readers, especially those who have served or will serve inManila or, indeed, anywhere in Asia. It recounts a pivotal moment in the U.S. relationship with our oldest Asian ally on the verge of its independence, and is a vivid account of a relatively lesser known battle of World War II. n Retired FSO Aloysius O’Neill served from 1976 to 2000. In addition to assignments in Seoul, Tokyo, Rangoon and Okinawa, he was politi- cal counselor inManila from 1997 to 2000.