The Manila Massacre, A.K.A. the Rape of Manila 1945 The Japanese military committed systematic atrocities against Manila civilians before retreating. Rape was not just the uncontrollable act of individual soldiers, but a systematic atrocity carried out simultaneously with mass murder and arson. Countless women were raped. It did not end there; Japanese soldiers used bayonets to mutilate victims, leaving them to succumb to their injuries under the scorching sun. Even pregnant women were targeted, and their unborn children were brutally destroyed. Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, the commander of the Manila Naval Defense Force who chiefly led these atrocities, committed suicide and therefore never faced trial. At his postwar military trial, General Tomoyuki Yamashita maintained that he had no knowledge of the atrocities being committed in Manila and had never ordered them.