People on the Escolta were cut off from their homes in the South — luckily perhaps. The group marooned in the Capitol Theater Building stuck it out for 48 hours. Then the fires began and the boys were in a mess. Unable to use the streets, desperate civilians fleeing the fire at Dasmariñas (behind the Escolta) entered the same building via a passage through the firewall. Between the Japanese, the explosions and fires, it must have been hell. Tired, sleepless, and hungry, they were waiting for the war to claim them when the Americans entered the area. The rest is unclear yet. Seems that one man took charge, and with ingenuity and boldness, succeeded in getting the Japanese to let them all get out.

. . . .

Fires in the Paco, Malate and Ermita areas are glowing fiercely in the clear night, and that means no rest and more suffering for the people there. The Tabacalera buildings in San Marcelino, Marqués de Comillas Street, completely went up in smoke.

Our entire house is rattling from the heavy shells fired by the American artillery unit behind us on Brixton. Shells are now coming from all directions, including a region across the river from which the Japanese have supposedly been cleared out! As I passed by the Bernard house this evening to get water from the Menzi well, I saw the four men living there — Gus, George, Pepe and Pradera — all stripped to the waist and digging an air raid shelter. No doubt most of Manga Avenue will sleep in their shelters tonight.

2100: The evening started out quiet except for sporadic American shells passing well over our heads. Manila was "taken" two days ago except for mopping up operations — but there are two sides to mopping up: we had our worst day in Manga Avenue today, and so did Santo Tomas. At 2130 the Japanese fired heavy artillery into Santo Tomas, and the Americans responded from España — a strange duel. One in five Japanese shells were tracers that flared near the end in order to conceal the battery's position, but you could see the flashes of their guns. The Japanese have supposedly been cleared from all but Intramuros, yet uncountable flashes emanating from Ermita tonight belied the claim. At night the aggressors are the Japanese; the Americans would rather wait for daylight and use spotter planes to fine tune their aim.

2200: Biggest bombardment of the Battle of Manila as heavy artillery shells rain down on Intramuros. The fire that glows within it flares up and down once every second, and the earth is in constant tremor as the noise of explosions and firing overlap. I went back to bed 10 to 15 minutes later, only to get up at 0050 when another terrific bombardment began. I sat it out in the porch for the 20-minute repeat performance then went to sleep.

...ooOoo...