Despite the righteous outrage some Americans felt over the Japanese attacks on civilian areas of an open city, the moral and legal high ground they attempted to hold was shaky indeed. The Americans themselves were lax in obeying the open city declaration. Some soldiers who worked in Manila went though the farce of taking off their pistols, but they continued to perform their duties. No U.S. military or civilian authorities seriously tried to enforce the proclamation on friendly personnel.

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The U.S. Army’s official history of the campaign, researched and drafted when MacArthur was still on active duty and a force to be reckoned with, was as specific as it could be when it stated that, because Manila was used as a base of supply, because a U.S. Army headquarters operated from the city and because troops used the roads, Manila could hardly be considered an open city.

The entire open city concept of the laws of war lacked detail. The Hague Convention of 1907 prohibited the attack or bombardment of undefended towns, villages, dwellings or buildings. There were, however, no details set out on what constituted an undefended city or how an undefended city should conduct itself.

The 1923 draft of Rules of Air Warfare, which was never adopted, stated that attacks on lines of communications and transportation used for military purposes were legal. The 1938 Draft Convention for the Protection of Civilian Populations Against New Engines of War, likewise never adopted, required that all combatant troops, factories, airports, airplane workshops, ships of war, naval dockyards and forts or fortifications used for defensive or offensive purposes be excluded from an open city.

Although specifics were lacking, there were certain conventions about open cities, including the understanding that a defender could not use the city or its infrastructure. Yet the American military continued to use Manila after it became an open city, especially for logistics. The dock area, which the Japanese attacked, was in constant use. Ships had begun carrying supplies from Manila to Bataan and Corregidor on Christmas Day and continued as long as the situation permitted. Truck convoys loaded with food from Manila’s depots drove to Bataan.

The day after the open city proclamation and the first day the Japanese bombed the city, December 27, the Americans had dismantled and crated the interisland radio equipment of the Philippine Commonwealth Telephone Company and sent it off to Corregidor. Communications personnel destroyed the Manila Radio broadcast station on December 28, and radio-intercept personnel evacuated three large radio transmitters on a barge and SS Hyde. Signal personnel destroyed the McKay Radio broadcast station on the 29th, the Globe Radio Company on the 30th and the RCA station on the 31st, then packed salvaged radio equipment and drove off to Bataan.

When MacArthur’s rear headquarters would be evacuated from Manila and the efforts to transfer supplies would end was governed by how long the South Luzon Force could delay the approach of the Japanese. The Army Transport Service directed the force operations from the Customs House opposite Pier 5 until the night of December 31. The freighter Don Esteban made nightly trips to Manila’s docks, picking up military personnel and supplies, then sailing for Bataan or Corregidor.

Troops and trucks hauled military supplies and food out of the city day and night. The Navy vied with demolition troops to salvage fuel oil for the submarine fleet. As one Navy lieutenant roamed Manila destroying fuel, another officer spent three days trying to save the same fuel before it went up in flames. Ultimately, 300,000 gallons left Manila in barges for use by U.S. submarines, all while the city was “open.”

American and Filipino military forces used the roads through the city, talked on the city’s communication’s network and occupied military barracks until the Japanese arrived. Artillerymen bought new tires for their trucks from Manila’s stores. Numerous official and private accounts recorded the pride Americans felt as they moved equipment out of the city just before the Japanese arrived on January 2.

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