Manila's business district goes up in smoke.

Manila's business district goes up in smoke. Dense clouds of black smoke (background) billow from the Rizal Avenue area, one of Manila's main business districts, as the Japanese raze and set fire to buildings in the Philippine capital in an effort to impede the Americans who entered the city on February 4, 1945. This picture was made from the roof of the Santo Tomas internment camp from which about 5.000 Allied prisoners of war and civilians were released by the liberation forces on February 5. The Japanese were stubbornly resisting mopping-up operations in the southern sector but had been defeated in the rest of the city by February 14. Ni 9259