Manila was also the site of the bloodiest battle in the Pacific theater during the Second World War . After falling to the Empire of Japan on January 2 , 1942 , it was recaptured by joint American and Filipino troops from February 3 to March 3 , 1945 . Some 100 @,@ 000 civilians were killed in Manila in February 1945 . It was the second most devastated city in the world after Warsaw during the Second World War . At the end of World War II , almost all of the structures in the city , particularly Intramuros , were destroyed but after the war , reconstruction took place .