The Battle of Manila (Tagalog: Laban ng Maynila ng 1945), also known as the Liberation of Manila, was a military conflict part of the 1945 Philippine campaign fought by the American and Filipino forces against the Empire of Japan in Manila from 3 February - 3 March 1945. The one-month battle, which culminated in a terrible bloodbath and complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific theater, and ended almost three years of Japanese military occupation in the Philippines (1942–1945). The city's capture was marked as General Douglas MacArthur's key to victory in the campaign of reconquest.