This photograph captures the aftermath of urban warfare in Manila, Philippines, during World War II. The once-grand Neoclassical building, stripped to its stone skeleton and surrounded by mountains of rubble, reflects the intense destruction wrought during the Battle of Manila in February and March 1945, when Japanese and American forces fought street by street through the Philippine capital. The battle, combined with widespread fires and demolition, left much of the historic downtown in ruins, transforming what had been called the 'Pearl of the Orient' into one of the most devastated Allied-liberated cities of the Pacific War. Project: 218606