On February 19, 1945, during the Burmese campaign of World War II, one incredible and terrible incident occurred. During the fighting on the small island of Ramri, located southwest of Burma, the Japanese unit was attacked by cresty crocodiles that live in local swamps. This case went down in history as one of the worst episodes concerning the relationship between humans and these reptiles.
The Battle of Ramri Island, which went down in history as Operation Matador, began on January 14, 1945. On that day, the Indian 29th Infantry Division landed on the island in order to capture a strategically important port in the northern part of the island and an airfield nearby.
Landing of the British on Ramree Island
The Japanese garrison on Ramri Island consisted of the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 54th Division, artillery and engineering units acting as an independent force. Heavy fighting began. The British, supported by naval artillery and aircraft, pushed the Japanese inland.
Japanese during the fighting for Burma
On January 21, the 71st Indian Infantry Brigade was additionally landed on the island. It was then that a turning point came in the battle for the island. On February 17, hostilities ceased, the Japanese left their positions in the north of the island and began to move south in order to connect with the rest of the garrison. Their path ran through the local mangrove swamps.
British units did not pursue the Japanese, the soldiers did not have uniforms for operations in the swampy terrain. The command limited itself to sending small reconnaissance groups in the footsteps of the retreating enemy. Although there is an opinion that the British specifically allowed the Japanese to go into the swamps.
The Japanese unit entered the marshland. In addition to problems with water that was undrinkable, the Japanese were plagued by snakes, scorpions and tropical mosquitoes. But the worst was ahead. On the night of February 19, while on the move, the Japanese were attacked by local combed crocodiles, which lived in large numbers in the swamps.
As a result, nearly a thousand Japanese soldiers who entered the mangrove swamps of Ramri Island were eaten alive by crocodiles. Those who managed to get out of the deadly trap and the remaining 22 soldiers and 3 officers were captured by the British.
Naturalist Bruce Stanley Wright, who fought on the side of the British battalion, described what happened in Essays on Fauna:
This night was the most horrible night that any of the fighters had ever experienced. The bloody screaming Japanese scattered in the black swamp slurry, crushed in the mouths of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of crocodiles spinning made a kind of cacophony of hell.
Such a sight, I think, very few people could observe on earth. At dawn, vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles had left ... of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who entered the Ramri swamps, only about 20 were found alive.
This case subsequently entered the Guinness Book of Records and is recognized as "the worst disaster associated with crocodiles in the world" and "the largest number of people killed by a crocodile attack."
The combed crocodile is still considered the most dangerous and most aggressive predator on the planet. The strength of his jaws is such that in a few seconds he is able to crush the skull of a buffalo or the shell of a sea turtle with them, and to bite an adult in two.
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That night was the most terrible ever experienced by the soldiers: the rare shots of shots in the black swamp, the shrill cries of the wounded, crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the vague disturbing sound of scurrying crocodiles - turned into a cacophony of hell. At dawn, vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles had left ... About a thousand Japanese soldiers, retreating, entered the Ramri swamps. Only about twenty people were found survivors.
These terrible events took place on the night of February 19, 1945. They were described in the 1962 book Essays wildlife, near and far, ”eyewitness Bruce Stanley Wright, who was one of the British Army soldiers who fought on Ramree Island during the days of World War II.
In early 1945, the allied forces began to push the Japanese into the British colony of Burma. An important goal of the Burma campaign was the capture of Ramri Island and Cheduba Island, which would allow the Allies to gain a foothold in the region. Ramree Island, located off the coast of Burma, was at the time a large swampy island occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.
In January 1945, ships of the British Royal Marines and their Indian allies arrived on the island in an attempt to reclaim the island and expel the Japanese. The navy blocked any possible escape route by sea. The Army and Royal Air Force drove about a thousand Japanese soldiers into the treacherous mangrove swamps.
Royal Navy Captain Eric Bush describes in his report the dangers of mangroves. From a report to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on May 2, 1945:
Parts of the Japanese found themselves in the indescribably terrible mangrove swamps. Dark by day and night, acres of dense, impenetrable forest; miles of sticky black mud, mosquitoes, scorpions, flies and billions of strange insects. But the worst of it all were the crocodiles. Without food and drinking water, it is hardly possible to hold out for a long time. And it became impossible to leave the island. The Japanese fully realized the horror of the situation in which they found themselves. After a few days, their exposure ended. The prisoners who were taken out of the mangroves under the hour of operations were in very poor physical condition.
Of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who survived on the island, only about twenty people remained. They were taken prisoner. The rest were either killed in battle, or drowned in the mangrove swamps, or were eaten by crocodiles. Some sources believe that about 500 soldiers may have left the island.
Crocodile attacks are well documented: the actual number of deaths associated with reptile attacks is impossible to determine with certainty and is a matter of debate. The figure "400" is often quoted, but many historians dismiss this figure as incredible.
Despite the imprecision, the alleged statistics have earned themselves a place in the Guinness Book of Records as "the world's worst crocodile disaster" and "most deaths from a crocodile attack."
"Single shots in the swamp were interspersed with the wild cries of the wounded, trapped in the jaws of huge reptiles. (...) We found only twenty out of a thousand Japanese soldiers," wrote Bruce Stanley Wright about the fate of the retreating. What happened in the jungle of Burma in February 1945 and how did the Japanese garrison die? Let's tell you now.
The Burmese campaign dragged on from the beginning of 1942 to almost the very end of the war. On the territory of Burma (present-day Myanmar), then a British colony, Japanese troops planned to extract oil, which the empire needed so much.
At first, the hostilities were relatively successful for them. At the height of the Japanese offensive, even certain regions of India fell under the occupation.
However, poor security, lack of decent roads and harsh weather conditions could paralyze the troops at any moment. Without the constant participation of sappers and air supply, there was no question of active action. Hunger and riots reigned in the rear on both sides. In principle, nothing good could happen in such an environment.
Doomed garrison
Skepticism
A sudden onslaught of bloodthirsty hordes looks good in palp horror films, but hardly stands up to a collision with reality.
With the territorial instinct of combed crocodiles, in principle, it is not clear where so many of them could come from in one place. Any male is a much greater enemy for them. He claims to be females and prey, and therefore must be immediately expelled.
Even more interesting is the question: what did the countless hordes of crocodiles eat under normal conditions? Such a pile of muscles and teeth (let's not forget about tons of bad temper) requires an appropriate amount of prey to feed. That is, a herd of crocodiles cannot form in one swamp, at least for this reason.
But if everything is so complicated, where did the Japanese garrison go?
Open secret
The P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber carries eight heavy machine guns. The weight of their salvo can be safely measured in kilograms of lead per second. Powerful engine and overhead tanks ensured long-distance delivery of not only traditional fragmentation bombs, but also overhead containers of napalm.
In Europe, such aircraft, during an attack, often stacked their cargo exactly on the roof of a separate German tank. You can't leave without losses!
30th Royal Squadron armed forces back in January 1945, she broke the remnants of the resistance of the Japanese aviation and organized a real conveyor of death over Burma.
It is impossible to hide from bombs, napalm and bullets in liquid mud up to the chest. Lonely wounded and shell-shocked without the help of their comrades will simply drown in it.
By nightfall, no more than half of the Japanese fugitives remained. V documentary, filmed by the pilots of the 30th squadron, the losses of the enemy are estimated at up to four hundred killed and wounded. Well, and the fact that thrifty crocodiles stole everyone they could is quite natural.
This is a Japanese soldier in Burma - an occupier. He's breakfast for the crocodile.
So no hundreds eaten alive. A usual episode of a big war: infantry in a disorderly retreat without air defense systems and the total superiority of the allied assault aviation.
It is impossible to establish exactly how many victims were the predators, and how many machine guns, over the years it is impossible. But the incident at Ramree is still one of the most famous episodes of the mass death of people in war at the hands of Mother Nature. In full accordance with the natural, natural course of things, crocodiles rid the jungle of the wounded, sick and helpless.
On February 19, 1945, crocodiles ate up to a thousand Japanese soldiers trying to escape the British in the swamps.
In military history, there is one incredible case, on February 19, 1945, during a fierce battle on the island of Ramri (Burma), the British naval assault lured the Japanese army into the mangrove swamps, in which thousands of cresty crocodiles lived. As a result, the thousandth detachment was destroyed - eaten by hungry reptiles. The British did not spend a single bullet or shell. A report from Japanese Army Colonel Yasu Yunuko, declassified last year, testifies: "Only 22 soldiers and 3 officers returned from the Ramri mangrove swamps from that unit alive." The check by the special commission of the military tribunal, which conducted an investigation 2 months later, showed that the water in the swamp area, with an area of 3 square kilometers, consists of 24% of human blood.
This story took place in February 1945, when Hitler's Japanese allies were still conducting a counteroffensive in all strategic positions, including the so-called. Southwestern Front. Its key territorial link was a long-range artillery base on the Johan Upland, located on the Burmese island of Ramri. It was from there that the most successful attacks on British landing craft were made. When the object was discovered by Anglo-American military intelligence, its destruction was identified among the five highest priority tasks for the 7th Airborne Squadron of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. To defend the base, the Japanese command sent to the island the best special unit of the army - commando corps # 1, which is considered unsurpassed for repelling attacks by mobile infantry.
The commander of the British Airborne Battalion, Andrew Wyert, was a very cunning and resourceful officer. He sent a reconnaissance group deep into the island, where there were impenetrable mangrove swamps, and learning that they were simply teeming with huge ridged crocodiles, he decided to lure the enemy detachment there by all means. The major objected: "Our uniforms and weapons are not designed for the passage of swamps, unlike the Japanese, who are equipped with special suits and a decent arsenal of knives. We will lose everything." To which the commander, in his trademark half-joking style, replied: "Trust me and you will live ...".
The calculation was amazing in its tactical elaboration. After, through positional battles, the Japanese detachment was withdrawn into the very depths of the swamp (which, by the way, the Japanese officers were only delighted with, thinking that they would get an advantage here), Wyert ordered a gradual retreat to coastline, ultimately leaving only a small detachment under the cover of artillery on the front line.
A few minutes later, watching through binoculars, the British officers witnessed a strange performance: despite the temporary lull in the attacks, the Japanese soldiers, one after another, began to fall into the muddy swampy mud. Soon, the Japanese detachment completely ceased to resist its military opponents: the fighters still standing on their feet ran up to the fallen and tried to pull them out from somewhere, then, too, falling and falling into the same epileptic convulsions. Andrew ordered the vanguard detachment to retreat, although he met objections from fellow officers - they say, you need to finish off the bastards. For the next two hours, the British, being on the hill, calmly watched as the powerful, well-armed Japanese army was rapidly melting away. As a result, the best sabotage regiment, consisting of 1215 selected experienced soldiers, who repeatedly defeated significantly superior enemy forces, for which the enemies were nicknamed "Tornado" at one time, was devoured alive by crocodiles. The remaining 20 soldiers, who managed to escape from the deadly trap of the jaws, were safely captured by the British.
This case went down in history as "the largest number of human deaths from animals." The article in the Guinness Book of Records is also named. “About a thousand Japanese soldiers tried to repel a Royal Navy assault ten miles offshore, in a mangrove swamp where thousands of crocodiles live. Twenty soldiers were later captured alive, but most were eaten by crocodiles. scorpions and tropical mosquitoes, which also attacked them, "- said in the Guinness book. Naturalist Bruce Wright, who fought on the side of the British battalion, claimed that the crocodiles ate most of the soldiers of the Japanese squad: “This night was the most terrible one that any of the fighters has ever experienced. crushed in the mouths of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of crocodiles spinning made a kind of cacophony of hell. Such a sight, I think, few people could observe on earth. At dawn, vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles left ... out of 1000 Japanese soldiers, who entered the Rami swamps, only about 20 were found alive. "
The combed crocodile is still considered the most dangerous and most aggressive predator on planet Earth. Off the coast of Australia, it is from the attacks of the salted crocodiles that more people die than from the attack of the great white shark, which is mistakenly considered the most dangerous animal by the people. This type of reptile has the strongest bite in the animal kingdom: large individuals can bite with a force of over 2500 kg. In one case, recorded in Indonesia, a Suffol stallion, weighing a ton and capable of pulling over 2,000 kg, was killed by a large male saltwater crocodile, which dragged the victim into the water and twisted the horse's neck. The strength of his jaws is such that he is able to crush the skull of a buffalo or the shell of a sea turtle with them in a few seconds.
Among the documented cases of mass human casualties from animal attacks, one should also note an incident during the Second World War associated with an attack by great white sharks, which ate about 800 helpless people. This happened after the ships carrying the civilian population were bombed and sunk.
- Sergei Tikhonov
Source - http://expert.ru
