The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-02-06

tered Japanese garrison nj Manila by smashing into the city from the south yestedray after an overnight dash of 30 miles.
 The 37th infantry division, pour ing into the capital from the north, and the first cavalry dyson. from the east, linked up in the heart of Manila and cleaed all of the city north of the Pasig river with the exception of scattered groups Of snipers.
 The Japanese blew up the Quezon and Ayala bridges across the broad Pas1g as they fell back into the southern half of Manila for a last stand. Two other bridges remained intact, however, and may have been captured by the Americans. 1 Japanese demolition squads con- tinued their destructive work in southern Manila, working feverishly against their own imminent destruc- ton. Numerous fires cast a heavy pail of smoke over the city and ex- plosions shook the ground at fre- quent intervals.
 With the 11th airborne division'c thrust into southern Manila, how ever, the enemy garrison could be considered "hopelessly trapped" MacArthur said.
 The 37th infantry division cap- tured Bilibid prison in the northern half Of Manila yesterday, releasing more than 300 war prisoners and about $50 additional civilian inter- nees, including women and children.
 That brought to more than $500 the number of Allied prisoners rescued in the past week, including
 those at the Santo Tomas Univer- sity concentration camp in Manila and the Cabanatuan prison camp in Central Luzon.
 Most were Americans, but the number also included a scattering of British, Australians, Dutch and other Allied nationals. Macarthur said the names of those rescued at Santo Tomas and Bilibid would be released as soon as they have been tabulated, probably a matter of several days.
 Every facility of the armed forces is being devoted to the care and attention of those who have been rescued" MacArthur's communique said.
 Mobile Hospitals Food trucks were revealed to have reached Santo Tomas only a few hours after First Cavalry Divis- ion spearheads freed the camp. Huge mobile hospitals rolled into Manila today to care for medical cases.
 Bataan Peninsula, where the Americans made a bloody stand in 1922 before retiring to Corregidor. was sealed of by a junction of the Eighth Army's II Corps and the Sixth Army's 14th Corps at Dinalu- pihan, 37 miles northwest of Manila. With American forces in control of all roads leading into Bataan, the way was blocked for any pro- 1onged Japanese stand on the peninsula.
 Continuing to prepare the way for an attack on Corregidor, the largest force yet of Liberators struck the island fort in two raids Saturday. Corregidor must be cap- tured before Manila Bay can be opened to American shipping. To the north, the First Corps seized most of San Jose, 30 miles above Manila and only 37 miles from the east coast of Luzon, in a drive that cut the main road to the Balete Pass and Cagayan val ley.
 Fierce fighting continued in . Munoz sector seven miles south west of San Jose, where 25 enemy ] tanks, many trucks, pillboxes and artillery pieces have been destroyed. ] Units north of San Jose engaged the Japanese in Lupao and ad- vanced five miles along the Villa Verde trail into the Caraballo mountains.
 On almost forgotten Leyte in the Central Philippines, American troops counted an additional 733 enemy dead or prisoners in the Ormoc Barrie and the northwest coastal hills.
 American patrol planes in the China sea sank two small freighters off Annoy on the China coast. bombed and strafed parked aircraft ct Swanton airdrome, started fires at Takoa, Formosa, and sank a fuel-laden vessel northwest of EuEmcsa.