Massacre at Ramree Island - The Japanese regiment was wiped out

In early 1945, Ramree Island in the Bay of Bengal, near the coast of Myanmar, witnessed a brutal conflict between the Japanese fascist army and the Allies, as reported by MysteriousUniverse.

The Battle of Ramree was a crucial event in the Allied Myanmar Campaign in World War II, which sought to remove Japanese imperial forces from the island they seized in 1942.

British Royal Marines (BRM) teamed up with India's 36th Infantry Brigade on January 26, 1945, to carry out a major assault on the island with the objective of setting up an air base. The operation faced strong opposition from Japanese forces, resulting in intense fighting.

Following a prolonged and fierce battle, the Allies seized control by outflanking a Japanese infantry regiment's base, compelling approximately 1,000 Japanese soldiers to retreat. With British forces launching attacks from multiple directions, Japanese soldiers opted to traverse a 16 km flooded swamp at the heart of the island to regroup on the opposite side, disregarding all British army surrender demands. This ill-advised choice marked the onset of a devastating tragedy that led to the total annihilation of the entire regiment.

The Japanese soldiers' pace decreased as they struggled to advance through the thick mud of the swamp. Mosquitoes, poisonous spiders, snakes, and scorpions lurking in the bushes began to take a toll on many of them. Throughout the multiple-day trek across the swamp, hunger and thirst posed significant threats, alongside occasional artillery fire from British troops stationed around the swamp.

This marks the start of the frightening ordeal ahead for the Japanese fascist army. One night, a squad of British soldiers on patrol in the marsh heard cries and gunfire echoing in the night.

They quickly noticed it was coming from the dark swamp, like the Japanese were being slaughtered by a beast. Hearing those miserable screams, the British soldiers cowered in fear, even though those horrifying screams were coming from their enemies.

The Japanese fascist regiment was unlucky, because the swamps on Ramree Island were home to countless super-sized saltwater crocodiles. When mature, these crocodiles are 6.09 m long and weigh more than a ton. The tired soldiers with bloody wounds in the middle of the swamp were no different from delicious prey waiting for them.

The survivors vividly described the brutal attack by large reptilian creatures. They shared how the fierce swamp animals suddenly struck, leaving the soldiers to frantically shoot in every direction.

Survivors have recounted instances of crocodiles unexpectedly appearing from the swamp, seizing vocal soldiers, and pulling them into the mud. This event was detailed by naturalist Bruce Stanley Wright, a British soldier present during the battle, in his publication "Sketches of Wildlife Near and Far" from 1962.

“That night [of February 19, 1945] was the most horrible that any member of the M.L. [motor launch] crews ever experienced. The crocodiles, alerted by the din of warfare and smell of blood, gathered among the mangroves, lying with their eyes above the water, watchfully alert for their next meal. With the ebb of the tide, the crocodiles moved in on the dead, wounded, and uninjured men who had become mired in the mud…

The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of the wounded men crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the blurred worrying sound of spinning crocodiles made a cacophony of hell that has rarely been duplicated on Earth. At dawn the vultures arrived to clean up what the crocodiles had left.” Wright described

The gunfire diminished as night fell, and the cries were soon drowned out by the frightful noise of the massive reptile's crunching jaws. At daybreak, vultures fill the sky to scavenge the remains left by the crocodiles. Out of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who ventured into the swamp on Ramree Island, just around 20 made it out alive.

Wright's account is the sole surviving historical record of the incident on Ramree Island. While some experts have doubted this narrative, they have been unable to gather evidence to disprove it. Consequently, the conflict on Ramree Island is still acknowledged as the deadliest crocodile attack in recorded history

Ramree Island's eerie tale from World War II has transformed into a legendary narrative. Despite now being a tranquil location, the lingering presence of crocodiles serves as a stark reminder of the brutalities of war and the unforgiving aspects of nature.