Operations south of the Pasig had forced the XIV Corps and the 37th Division to the reluctant decision that all pretense at saving Manila's buildings would have to be given up. Casualties were mounting at a much too alarming rate among the infantry units. The 148th Infantry was now nearly 600 men understrength, the 129th nearly 700. If the city were to be secured without the destruction of the 37th and the 1st Cavalry Divisions, no further effort could be made to save the buildings; everything holding up progress would be pounded, although artillery would not be directed against churches and hospitals that were known to contain civilians. Even this last restriction would not always be effective, for often it could not be learned until too late that a specific building held civilians. Restrictions on aerial bombardment, on the other hand, would remain in effect . (The Japanese mounted antiaircraft and other heavy weapons in the Philippine General Hospital, regardless of the civilian patients, and contested the assaulting 37th Division troops floor by floor and room by room.)

Jack Butler - History of the 82nd CMB.

(Photo Paul C. Whitman, Author's Collection)