HEADQUARTERS XIV
CORPS
Office of the Inspector General APO #453
9 April
1945.
IG
333.5
-Japanese
Atrocities.
SUBJECT:
Report of Investigation of Alleged
Atrocities by Members of the Japanese Imperial
Forces in Manila and other parts of
Luzon,
Philippine Islands.
TO :
Commanding General, XIV Corps,
APO 453.
I.
AUTHORITY.
1.
This investigation was made at the direction of
the Commanding General, XIV Corps, by Colonel
Emil Krause,
IGD, and Lieutenant Colonel R. Graham Bosworth,
IGD, during the period 25 February 1945, to 9
April
1945,
at
Luzon, Philippine Islands.
II.
MATTERS
INVESTIGATED.
2. This investigation
was made pursuant
to numerous alleged atrocities by members of the
Japanese Imperial Forces as reported to the
Commanding General, XIV Corps, from various
sources.
Witnesses were interviewed at many of the
hospitals in Manila,
as
well as at refugee camps and private homes.
In all cases where possible, the
injuries and wounds of all victims were
examined and verified by the Inspector General
conducting the investigation and photographs
taken of some in the presence and with the
assistance of nurses and/or doctors.
Statements were obtained from members of
the military establishment and from civilians
who gave accounts of atrocities
and names
of reliable
witnesses.
Some of these were not contacted as it is
believed their testimony would be repetition of
other testimony already taken, and it is
considered that sufficient testimony has been
taken to reach accurate
conclusions in this investigation.
3. The procuring of evidence
of alleged
cases of rape was difficult to
obtain, because most women or girls did not
desire to testify to attacks made upon them,
but testimony
was
taken from two
witnesses on cases of
rape.
4. This investigation was commenced by Colonel
Emil Krause, former Corps Inspector General,
and most of the testimony taken personally by
him.
Upon Colonel Krause’s being admitted to the
hospital and evacuated from the Philippine
Islands through medical channels, the
investigation
was
completed by Lieutenant Colonel R. Graham
Bosworth, Assistant Corps Inspector General.
III.
FACTS
The testimony or exhibit which
establishes
each of the following facts is indicated
in parentheses after each fact.
5. On 23 February 1945, Mrs. Agido
Upson was brought by an American ambulance
to the Psychopathic Hospital, Welfareville
Manila.
She had been bayoneted in the breasts by
soldiers of the Japanese Army after having been
tied and carried away by seven Japanese
including an officer, to an open field where
they wanted to assault or rape her.
They had previously attempted to assault
her.
Upon her husband's refusal to 1et them, they
were both bayoneted.
They were
also separated from her two sisters-in-law.
The
Japanese also wanted to rape, the other girls.
They took
rice and other food which the women possessed
and took other things that they wanted from the
house.
The Japanese took their harvest of 900
kilos of rice and two bancas. (See Exhibits
"B-l" and "C-111”.)
6. On 23 February 1945, at about 4:00 PM,
Miss Genoveva Poson, age 21, while in the
yard of one of her neighbors, was asked
by Japanese soldiers to go with them to the
house of her friend whose name was
Juliana Miguel where they asked her friend for
civilian clothes.
When they refused to give the clothes or
to go with them, the Japanese loaded a gun.
She told them not to shoot.
While she
was going to get the civilian clothes to give to
them, they shot her.
Many Japanese were trying to take
Filipino women along with them, because the
Americans were coming at that time.
She was
freed and rescued by an American ambulance and
taken to the Psychopathic Hospital,
Welfareville, Manila. (See Exhibits "B-2" and
“C-2".)
7. On or about 18 February 1945, five
Filipinos were standing together when Japanese
soldiers came along and began shooting at them.
The Filipinos were told to move on, and
when they did not do so, the Japanese shot four
of them and bayoneted all five.
Miss Felisa Remo was the only
survivor because she was bayoneted only in the
leg and then lay still as if dead.
The Japanese wanted the girls to go with
them, and when they
refused, the girls were bayoneted.
The Japanese also wanted their food and
when they refused to give it to them, they were
bayoneted.
Miss Remo was rescued by Americans who
took her to St. Joseph and from there to another
hospital (name not determined) and then taken to
the Psychopathic Hospital. (See Exhibit "B-3".)
8. On or about 17 February 1945, five
Filipinos, including Miss Aurora Garcia,
were told to leave their houses as the Japanese
said they intended to burn the houses before the
Americans came.
Upon
the
group (number not determined) leaving the
University
at
the Philippines, the Japanese told them to turn
back.
When the group reached the next corner
they asked permission of the sentry to go to the
Philippine General Hospital, which permission
was granted. After
going about six yards, the sentry shot Miss
Garcia in the breast and in one arm.
Her brother then took her to the
hospital. On
the way to the hospital Japanese soldiers again
tried to shoot them.
She
stayed in the Philippine General Hospital for
eight days, and from there was taken to San
Lazaro Hospital which, being overcrowded,
resulted in her being taken to two, other
hospitals and then to the Psychopathic Hospital.
She saw the Japanese tie up some of the
Filipino men and machine gun them when they did
not leave their houses as they were told to do.
All
houses in the neighborhood were burned by the
Japanese.(See Exhibit “B-4".)
9. On or about 20 February 1945, at 4:00
PM, three officers and four or five soldiers,
came to the home of Mrs. Alice Stahl, a
former German opera singer born in Germany, age
50, married to an American.
She is now awaiting her American
citizenship papers.
The Japanese asked fro some newspapers of
which she had none.
They then took away all of her jewelry
and contents of a handbag.
They did the same to her brother and
sister-in-law and then said, “Come outside.”
They went outside and stood in the court
where other people had already assembled.
There were small children from eight to
nine years old, a Filipino woman, a German
family, a Dr. Lurse who had a child eight years
old.
The Japanese tied their hands and took their
small belongings and small handbags and put all
of them in one room of one of the houses in the
vicinity of 176 Balagtas Court, Pasay, Rizal.
The Japanese, armed with grenades and
guns, then brought in buckets of fuel and put it
on the furniture.
Mrs. Stahl’s sister-in-law was killed
immediately as was her friend, Mrs. Lurse and
her child.
The Japanese burned the house, and many
people were burned and three shot.
Mrs. Stahl was able to go upstairs, but
when she got up there, the flames kept her from
going back so she had to jump, following her
brother and doctor.
Her brother cut her, and the others,
loose and they went to an air raid shelter and
stayed until the next morning at seven o’clock.
They endeavored to get food and water,
but were able to find water.
They found a garden where several people
were starving, thirsty, and still waiting for
rescue.
Everything was lost in the fire.
The following persons were killed, or
shot dead:
Mrs. Frankel, Mrs. Stahl’s sister-in-law,
and Mrs. Lurse and her child, and a Filipino
family by the name of Villareal.
The names of the other persons were
unknown to Mrs. Stahl.
(See Exhibits “B-5” and “C-3”.)
10. On or about 17 February 1945, the
Japanese kept throwing rockets for about two or
three days where Mrs. M. Elena Maldonado,
age 22, was living.
When her house was hit and was burning
she and the other occupants left.
Other people in the same block left with
them to go to the next block, and while so
leaving were fired upon by the Japanese
sentinels.
They went to Dr. Moreta’s house, where
there were about fifty-four people, which was
still standing, and found shelter and food
stuffs there, remaining a few days.
On the following day in the morning, a
Japanese came and said he wanted a woman.
Then, after leaving and returning in a
few minutes, he put the men in the bathroom and
the women in the kitchen.
One of the Jap soldiers tried to take a
woman, but she struggled and he shot her twice,
killing her and hitting Mrs. Maldonado in the
neck.
While she was bending over, they took her
in the hall and bayoneted her in the chest and
twice in the back.
The same was done to other ladies who
were behind Mrs. Maldonado.
The Japanese also shot three girls, one
of whom was the sister of Mrs. Maldonado,
because they struggled when the Japanese tried
to rape them.
About eighteen Japanese soldiers and one
officer were engaged in these acts.
While the men were in the bathroom of Dr.
Moreta’s house, a grenade was thrown into it by
the Japanese.
Mr. Joseph Maldonado kicked the grenade
away just as it exploded, blowing part of his
foot away.
The Japanese threw eight hand grenades
into the bathroom.
Mr. Maldonado was completely deaf from
the shock of the explosion.
That night the Japanese again threw two
hand grenades into the house and burned it.
There were about forty people burned in
the house.
The names of some of the people burned or
killed are:
Tirso Lizarraga, father of Mrs.
Maldonado, Rosa Lizarraga. Carlos Garcia and
wife, Mrs. Qabaljaunepe and daughter, Mrs.
Prudencio Chicote and daughter, a Mrs. York and
six Chinese, Vicente and Pilar Julian.
(See Exhibits “B-6”, “B-7”, and C-4”.)
11. On Friday, February 9th,
1945, the Japanese burned the house belonging to
Mrs. Mary Barrientos, an American
Mestiza, age 36.
She is a high school graduate, whose
father was an American and a mother a Filipino.
Mrs. Barrientos married a Filipino.
The people in the house moved to another
place for safety as did many people, running
from house to house until they were cornered.
Everybody took cover the best they could,
some hiding under trucks in a garage.
There were about seventy-five people in
the garage.
The Japanese began shooting at them with
machine guns.
About twenty-five men and women were
killed.
Mrs. Barrientos was shot in the left
thigh.
In the group were Indians and Chinese.
The Indians wanted to surrender, but were
convinced that they should remain in the shelter
and told them they were safe.
On the following day they were brought to
San Lazaro Hospital, Manila.
The following persons were killed: Dra.
Paz Mendoza Guanzon; a member of German family
by the name of Kummerfeld; Justice Alejandro
Albert.
Others not know.
In the neighborhood of this woman’s home
about three hundred people were killed by the
dynamiting and burning of their homes.
(See Exhibit “B-8”.)
12. On or about 9 February 1945, Mr.
Vicente Barrientos, Paco, Manila was machine
gunned by Japanese soldiers in both thighs while
his house was burning and after taking shelter
in an open garage.
There were about three hundred Filipinos
in the garage who were tied up and many shot by
four Japanese soldiers and an officer.
The Japanese called for the men for
forced labor.
About fifty of this group survived.
Mr. Barrientos, a survivor, was a former
city detective.
(See Exhibit “B-9”.)
13. Dr. Gregorio D. Dizon is a
Filipino citizen who took post graduate work in
public health at the University of the
Philippines and who made a tour of inspection of
public health centers in the United States and
Europe, as well as a visit to the Imperial
University of Tokyo in 1939.
In Ward #4 of San Lazaro Hospital there
were about three hundred patients, three or four
of whom had been stabbed or wounded with a
bayonet.
He was unable to locate these patients
due to transfers and confusion.
In Ward #15 there were about one hundred
sixty patients, about six or seven of whom were
starved or bayoneted by the Japanese.
(See Exhibit “B-10”.)
14. Early in the morning of 10 February
l945, a Japanese sentry came to the house of
Dr. Jose Guidote, 1568 General Luna, Manila,
a physician of epidemiology, Bureau of Health,
and told the inhabitants to leave the house.
The members of his family, consisting of
his wife, son, two maids, Dr. Manuel Navarro and
his wife, father and nephew, who were all living
with him at the time, left the house.
They intended to go to the Philippine
General Hospital, but the streets around his
house were blocked with land mines, thus
preventing going to that destination.
After searching around, they were able to find a
place for safety, several blocks
away.
In that place were approximately eight people; men,
women, and children, all Filipinos.
Several people were injured by shelling,
one of whom was the father of Dr. Navarro who
lived for only about half an hour after being
struck by shrapnel on the side of the head.
While he was attending wounded relatives
and other people, Dr. Guidote was wounded in the
left wrist by a bullet which went all the way
through.
During the shelling, three Japanese
soldiers, one a sergeant, with pistols, bayonets
and band grenades, came to the place and asked
all of the men to go from that place.
At that time there were about twenty-five
men.
The Japs tied their hands, including those of.
Dr. Guidote, and they were about to be shot when
two Japanese officers suddenly came and spoke to
the soldiers.
The people were then untied and sent back
to their hiding place.
After they were inside, the Japanese
threw hand grenades at the building, shooting
men, women, and children indiscriminately.
About twenty people were killed during
that time, including two of Dr. Guidote's
relatives.
One, whose name was Milagros Alvarez de
Navarro, was pregnant and hit in the abdomen.
The other was Benedicto Navarro who was
hit in the head and killed immediately.
After this last shooting the Japanese
soldiers disappeared from the place.
They left because the American soldiers
were about to liberate them as they (the
Americans) were just on the other side of the
street.
Dr. Guidote stated that he thought the
Japanese untied them so that the Americans could
not see that they had been tied.
All were liberated on the following day,
12 February, at about 2:00 PM by American
soldiers (See exhibit “B-11”.)
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