Mangrove crocodiles during the tsunami. Terrible massacre on

Operation Matador

In mid-January 1945, the Indian Corps was ordered to attack the Japanese positions on Ramri Island. English soldiers, after some time, attacked the enemy on another island - Chedub. And if the second managed to quickly occupy the territory, then the first were mired in a tense confrontation with the Japanese units.

The Indian Corps was the first to get involved in the battle for Ramri

Before the start of Operation Matador, intelligence reported that the main strategic targets - the port and airfield in the north of the island - were carefully guarded. The Japanese saturate the area with artillery. Therefore, several warships were sent to help the Indian Corps. They were required to carry out fire support for infantry from the water. And before the landing, the island was fired upon by guns from ships. And only after that the assault troops entered the battle. First, they entrenched themselves on the beaches of the island (January 21), and the next day they moved a little deeper into the territory.

When the British landed on neighboring island Cheduba, and this happened on January 26, the Japanese on Ramri still continued to resist the Indian Corps. Therefore, the command decided to transfer troops from the captured island to help the Indians.

When Japanese intelligence found out about the plans of the enemy, more than a thousand soldiers of the country rising sun belonging to the sabotage corps, left their positions. They went to another, more numerous battalion, located on the island.

The British arrived on the island to crush the resistance of the enemy.

Several days of travel were relatively calm. The British were in no hurry to get involved in the battle. However, the Japanese soon came across mangrove swamps that stretched for sixteen kilometers. You could, of course, try to get around them, but then you would have to make your way to your own, as they say, with a fight, since the British did not waste time in vain and managed to encircle this territory. And the Japanese command decided to go straight ahead.

The choice of this option was due not only to the shrinking ring of British soldiers. The fact is that the Japanese had special uniforms and weapons, which were necessary to overcome such difficult areas as mangrove swamps. The British, on the other hand, could not boast of such a reserve. And if so, it means that clashes with them could be postponed for some time.

An unexpected adversary

But the plan, which seemed promising, did not work. And although it was necessary to overcome a relatively small segment, the Japanese were bogged down. The British, of course, did not pursue them. But "for order" they allocated several reconnaissance detachments, which at a safe distance observed the actions of the enemy. Therefore, the British command was aware of all events. They knew that the Japanese had problems at first due to the lack of drinking water. It was impossible to use water from the swamps due to its unsuitability for consumption. However, this did not stop many Japanese soldiers suffering from thirst. Thus arose the second serious problem - infectious diseases and poisoning. The picture of torment was supplemented by frenzied insects and snakes. But, as it turned out, the worst was yet to come.

The Japanese command decided to go through the swamps

On the night of February 19, as exhausted soldiers continued to advance through the swamps, the British had an unexpected ally. The Japanese stumbled upon combed crocodiles. British naturalist Bruce Stanley Wright, who witnessed the clash between humans and predators, later wrote in Fauna Outline: “That night was the most terrible night that any of the fighters had ever experienced. Scattered in the black swampy slurry, bloody screaming Japanese, crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of spinning crocodiles made up a cacophony of hell. Such a spectacle, I think, few people could observe on earth. At dawn, the vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles had left behind... of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who entered the Ramri swamps, only about 20 were found alive."

Crossing through swamps.

On February 19, 1945, during the Burma Campaign of World War II, an incredible and terrible event took place. During the fighting on the small island of Ramri, located southwest of Burma, the Japanese unit was attacked by combed crocodiles that live in local swamps. This case went down in history as one of the worst episodes concerning the relationship between man 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 29th Indian Infantry Division landed on the island in order to capture the strategically important port in the northern part of the island and the airfield not far from it.

British landing on Rumry Island

The Japanese garrison of Ramri Island consisted of the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, part of the 54th Division, artillery and engineering units, serving as an independent force. Heavy fighting began. The British, who were supported by naval artillery and aircraft, pushed the Japanese deep into the island.

The Japanese during the battles for Burma

On January 21, the 71st Indian Infantry Brigade was additionally landed on the island. It was then that the battle for the island came to a turning point. On February 17, hostilities ceased, the Japanese left their positions in the north of the island and began to move south in order to join with the rest of the garrison. Their path ran through the local mangrove swamps.

The 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 wake 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 swampy area. In addition to problems with water that was undrinkable, the Japanese were plagued by snakes, scorpions and tropical mosquitoes. But the worst was yet to come. 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, almost 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 survived 22 soldiers and 3 officers were captured by the British.

Naturalist Bruce Stanley Wright, participating in the battle on the side of the English battalion, described what happened in the book "Essays on Fauna":

This night was the most horrendous that any of the fighters had ever experienced. Scattered in the black swamp slush, bloody, screaming Japanese, crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of spinning crocodiles, made up a kind of cacophony of hell.

Such a spectacle, I think, few people could observe on earth. At dawn, the 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 was subsequently included in the Guinness Book of Records and recognized as "the worst crocodile-related disaster in the world" and "the largest number of people killed by a crocodile attack."

Salted crocodile is still considered the most dangerous and most aggressive predator on the planet. 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 in a few seconds, and to bite an adult man in two.

Other related articles:

Ramri Island, located in the Bay of Bengal and belonging to Myanmar, has one distinctive feature. The main inhabitants of this island are giant crocodiles, whose length can reach seven meters. They became the protagonists of one incredible story that took place at the end of World War II on Japanese-occupied Ramri. This story is still shrouded in mystery.

Japanese occupation

The British colony of Burma (the former name of Myanmar) was strategically important for Japan, which entered the Second world war in December 1941. First, the so-called Burma Road brought important military supplies to China through the port of Rangoon. Secondly, this country was an important outpost on the outskirts of India.

The Japanese landed in Burma on the second day after their entry into the war - December 8, 1941. In March, the British were forced to leave Rangoon, and by May, Japan already controlled the entire central part of the country. Soon the British troops retreated to India.

In 1943, Japan granted Burma independence. However, the Chindits, partisan detachments operating in the occupied colony of Great Britain in 1943-1944, caused a lot of problems for the Japanese occupiers. under British General Ord Wingate.

But on Ramri Island, the guerrillas were not the main headache for the Japanese soldiers. As it turned out at the final stage of the war, much more trouble awaited them here.

Terrible massacre on about. Ramri

The event that made Ramri infamous occurred in early 1945 during the liberation of the British colonies from occupation. In January, British-Indian troops, with the aim of establishing an air base on Ramri, landed on the island, where at that moment there were about 1,000 Japanese soldiers, and launched an offensive. After a long resistance, the Japanese were surrounded, but refused to surrender. They were forced to retreat inland to certain death. Many of them died from the bites of poisonous insects and snakes, others from hunger and lack of fresh water.

But the largest number of soldiers died in battles with giant crocodiles that live in local swamps. At least, so claimed the Canadian naturalist Bruce Wright, who witnessed these events and described them in detail in 1962 in his book. Wright called the night of February 18–19, 1945, "the worst" night the Marines ever had to endure. According to him, the military liberated the island heard rifle shots coming from the mangrove swamps and “screams of wounded people who fell into the jaws of giant reptiles,” which, together with the sounds of “swarming” crocodiles, created “a cacophony of hell.” Wright noted that out of 1,000 Japanese soldiers, only 20 survived!

However, the veracity of this horrifying story is still in doubt, and researchers continue to look for facts that could shed light on what happened on Ramri.

Were there crocodiles?

Many details related to the battle on about. Ramri, disagreements among specialists cry out. In his book on the Burmese Campaign, historian Frank McLynn refutes the main arguments in support of the veracity of the massacre story, and in particular the way the naturalist Wright presented the story. According to McLynn, there is no documentary evidence that Wright was on the island at the time.

In addition, the historian points to the failure of the "myth" about the attack of crocodiles from a scientific point of view. According to McLynn, such a number of reptiles, which supposedly ate hundreds of Japanese soldiers, would not have survived in natural conditions Ramri - they simply would not have enough food! The scientist also draws attention to the fact that neither in the official reports of the British army, nor in the memoirs of the Japanese survivors of the battle on the island, there is a mass attack of crocodiles.

The veracity of the story was also called into question in a National Geographic documentary released in September 2016. Dr. Sam Willis visited the infamous famous island and studied the surviving military documents. The researcher concluded that the number of victims of local crocodiles was exaggerated.

In 2017, after the release of this documentary film about. Ramri is again listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, where it was first listed in 1968, as the site of the largest massacre of humans by crocodiles, with the results of a National Geographic investigation.

As editor-in-chief Craig Glenday explained, when assigning such a “title” to the battle on Ramri, the compilers of the annual guide relied on the memoirs of the naturalist Wright, the authenticity of which they had no reason to doubt. However, he stated that his editorial staff is ready to consider new documentary data related to this story, if any are found.

In military history, there is one incredible case, on February 19, 1945, during a fierce battle on the island of Ramri (Burma), the British amphibious assault lured the Japanese army into the mangrove swamps, in which thousands of combed crocodiles lived. As a result, the thousandth detachment was destroyed - eaten by hungry reptiles. The British did not waste a single cartridge or projectile. A report by Japanese army colonel Yasu Yunuko, declassified last year, testifies: “only 22 soldiers and 3 officers returned alive from the mangrove swamps of Ramri from that detachment.” A 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, is 24% human blood.

This story took place in February 1945, when Hitler's Japanese allies were still conducting a counteroffensive at all strategic positions, including the so-called. Southwestern Front. Its key territorial link was the long-range artillery base on the Yuhan Hills, 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 the Anglo-American military intelligence, its destruction was designated among the top five priorities for the 7th operational airborne squadron of the Royal Navy of Great Britain. To protect the base, the Japanese command sent the best special forces of the army to the island - the sabotage corps No. 1, which is considered unsurpassed in repelling mobile infantry attacks.

The commander of the English landing battalion, Andrew Wyert, turned out to be a very cunning and resourceful officer. He sent a reconnaissance group deep into the island, where there were impenetrable mangrove swamps, and after learning that they were simply teeming with huge combed crocodiles, he decided to lure the enemy detachment there at all costs. The major objected: “Our uniforms and weapons are not designed to go through swamps, unlike the Japanese, who are equipped with special suits and a decent arsenal of edged weapons. We will lose everything." To which the commander, in his trademark semi-joking style, replied: "Trust me and you will live ...".

The calculation was amazing in its tactical study. After the Japanese detachment was withdrawn into the very depths of the swamp through positional battles (which, by the way, the Japanese officers were only happy about, thinking that they would gain an advantage here), Wyert ordered a gradual retreat to the coastline, eventually leaving only a small detachment under cover of artillery.

A few minutes later, British officers watching through binoculars witnessed a strange performance: despite a temporary lull in the attacks, Japanese soldiers, one after another, began to fall into the muddy swamp slurry. Soon, the Japanese detachment ceased to resist its military opponents at all: the soldiers who were still on their feet ran up to the fallen and tried to pull them out from somewhere, then also falling and falling into the same epileptic convulsions. Andrew ordered the vanguard detachment to retreat, although he met with objections from fellow officers - they say, it is necessary to finish off the bastards. For the next two hours, the British, sitting on the hill, calmly watched how the powerful, well-armed Japanese army was rapidly melting. As a result, the best sabotage regiment, consisting of 1215 selected experienced soldiers, who repeatedly defeated vastly superior enemy forces, for which at one time was nicknamed "Smerch" by the enemies, was devoured alive by crocodiles. The remaining 20 soldiers, who managed to escape from the deadly jaw trap, were safely captured by the British.

This case went down in history as "the largest number of human deaths from animals." The article is also named in the Guinness Book of Records. “About a thousand Japanese soldiers tried to repel a British Royal Navy landing ten miles from the coast, in the mangrove swamps, where thousands of crocodiles live. Twenty soldiers were later captured alive, but most were eaten by crocodiles. The hellish situation of the retreating soldiers was aggravated by the huge number of scorpions and tropical mosquitoes that also attacked them, ”the Guinness book says. Naturalist Bruce Wright, who participated in the battle on the side of the English battalion, claimed that the crocodiles ate most of the soldiers of the Japanese detachment: “This night was the most terrible night that any of the fighters had ever experienced. Scattered in the black swampy slurry, bloody, screaming Japanese, crushed in the jaws of huge reptiles, and the strange disturbing sounds of spinning crocodiles made up a kind of cacophony of hell. Such a spectacle, I think, few people could observe on earth. At dawn, the vultures flew in to clean up what the crocodiles had left...of the 1,000 Japanese soldiers who entered the Rami swamps, only about 20 were found alive."

Salted 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 combed 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 species 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 Suffolian 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 in a few seconds.

Of the documented cases of mass human casualties from animal attacks, one should also note the World War II incident associated with the attack of great white sharks, which ate about 800 helpless people. This happened after ships carrying civilians were bombed and scuttled.