US Army Documentation on the 1945 Japanese Massacre of Civilians in Sto. Tomas, Batangas
At the end of World War II in the western Pacific, it was estimated that anything from 18,000 to 25,000 people of Batangas were massacred by the Japanese in their insane killing orgies early in 1945. Why they resorted to such brutality is the topic for another discussion. Meanwhile, those who were apprehended were tried for war crimes by the United States Army after the war had ended.
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Notes and references:
1 “Massacre of One Hundred and Ninety-four Filipino Civilians at Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I., and the Unnecessary Burning of Part of the Town of Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I.,” Document 2839, a memorandum issued by the War Crimes Branch, US Army Judge Advocate’s Office, Western Pacific Theater, November 1945.
Accumulating evidences for these trials was the job of the United States Army’s Judge Advocates General’s (JAG) Office War Crimes Branch. In the original document source for the information contained in this page1, a memorandum sent by the JAG to its own Prosecution Section, a section entitled “Summary of Evidence” provided information on Japanese atrocities committed in the town of Santo Tomas, Batangas in 1945.
The text of the memorandum in its entirety is provided in italics below.
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| A survivor of the February 1945 massacre in Santo Tomas looks at the grave of his brother, who was killed by the Japanese. Image credit: United States National Archives. |
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DOCUMENT 2839
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES, PACIFIC
OFFICE OF THE THEATER JUDGE ADVOCATE
WAR CRIMES BRANCH
UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES, PACIFIC
OFFICE OF THE THEATER JUDGE ADVOCATE
WAR CRIMES BRANCH
APO 500
19 November 1945
19 November 1945
MEMORANDUM TO: Prosecution Section (Report No. 106)
THRU: Executive Officer, War Crimes Branch
SUBJECT: Massacre of One Hundred and Ninety-four Filipino Civilians at Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I., and the Unnecessary Burning of Part of the Town of Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I.
THRU: Executive Officer, War Crimes Branch
SUBJECT: Massacre of One Hundred and Ninety-four Filipino Civilians at Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I., and the Unnecessary Burning of Part of the Town of Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I.
II. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE:
In the early part of February 1945, the inhabitants of Santo Tomas learned that the Mayor and the Provincial Governor were no longer living in the town. Upon learning this, the townspeople became alarmed and began to evacuate their homes, some going to the mountains, and other gathered in groups in a few homes. At about 2000 hours on 9 February 1945, a truckload of Japanese soldiers arrived in town and set fire to the house of the governor’s brother-in-law. The next evening, the other Japanese soldiers came to the town ostensibly to learn where and why the inhabitants had fled. On 11 February 1945, other homes were burned.
At 0500 hours on 11 February 1945, Japanese came to Santo Tomas and proceeded from place to place where civilians had gathered, taking their jewelry, money, and other valuables, then killed many of the inhabitants, poured gasoline on the bodies of the wounded and dead and set them afire. Men, women, children, and babies were murdered. There is evidence that three of the victims were probably subjected to attempted or actual rape. Approximately one hundred and ninety-four residents of Santo Tomas were murdered on this date. Some of the victims were able to escape and tell the brutal and barbaric treatment received at the hands of the Japanese and the three Filipinos who were accompanying them.
At one home, between sixty-five and seventy men, women and children had congregated. About twenty-five were ordered out of the house and taken to a cemetery. Three men of this group were taken to a pit that had been used as a latrine by the Japanese soldiers, were bayoneted, and fell into the pit. One man who fell into the pit pretended to be dead and was able to escape. He does not know what happened to the others who had been left at the cemetery.
Another group of approximately fifty were taken from their place of hiding; all were bayoneted and stabbed, thrown into a pile, saturated with gasoline, and then set on fire. The only survivor of this group describes how she was bayoneted four times in the back and three times in the front; one of the thrusts killing her five months old son that she was holding.
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Another group of fifty was tied and led to a field where they saw the bodies of twenty men, women, and children who had been stabbed to death. This group was stabbed and other groups were led to the same spot and also stabbed. Afterwards, gasoline was poured on the bodies and set afire. One woman suffered three bayonet wounds on her back, one on the left chest, one on the right chest, two on her thigh, two on her left arm, and one on her breast.
The Japanese bayoneted the fifteen-year old daughter of one woman who, while holding her one-year old daughter, received six bayonet wounds herself. The Japanese were chattering and laughing as the pile of bodies on top of her were burning.
From one group, two Japanese soldiers with blood on their bayonets took three girls, the oldest of which was seventeen, into the bushes where the girls begged for mercy and pleaded not to be abused.
Another group was stabbed, thrown into a dug-out and covered with dirt.
1 “Massacre of One Hundred and Ninety-four Filipino Civilians at Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I., and the Unnecessary Burning of Part of the Town of Santo Tomas, Batangas, Luzon, P.I.,” Document 2839, a memorandum issued by the War Crimes Branch, US Army Judge Advocate’s Office, Western Pacific Theater, November 1945.