Fourteenth Army II.

This is coolbert:

Fourteenth Army - - continued.

Ramree Island crocodile massacre!

"That night [of the 19 February 1945] was the most horrible that any member of the M.L. [motor launch] crews ever experienced. The scattered rifle shots in the pitch black swamp punctured by the screams of 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 . . . Of about 1,000 Japanese soldiers that entered the swamps of Ramree, only about 20 were found alive."

Here with info, more informative - regarding the Ramree Island crocodile massacre.

An episode from the Burma campaign, 1,000 Japanese entering a mangrove forest - - during the period of only a single night - - ONLY TWENTY LEFT ALIVE - - the survivors found in a stupefied state, the remainder of the Japanese force dead as a result of a massive and overwhelming attack by salt-water crocodiles.

So it is alleged! It has also been suggested that the massacre did not even occur!

Figures, the deaths of so many Japanese soldiers, devoured by rapacious and very-hungry crocodiles - - DISPUTED!!

"The Battle of Ramree Island was fought for six weeks during January and February 1945, as part of the Indian XV Corps 1944/45 offensive on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign during World War II."

"On Ramree the Japanese garrison put up tenacious resistance . . . the nine hundred defenders [Japanese] within it abandoned the base and marched to join a larger battalion of Japanese soldiers across the island. The route forced the Japanese to cross 16 kilometres of mangrove swamps . . . Trapped in deep mud-filled land, tropical diseases soon started afflicting the soldiers, as well as scorpions, tropical mosquitoes, and saltwater crocodiles."

"In all, about 500 Japanese soldiers escaped from Ramree"

Approximately 1,000 or so Japanese soldiers did enter the mangrove swamp. About half completing the crossing of the island unscathed, the remainder killed, BUT NOT ALL FROM CROCODILE ATTACK! So it would seem.

Half of the Japanese soldiers perishing from various reasons, to include:

* Dehydration.
* Exhaustion.
* Scorpion bites.
* Crocodile attack.

A goodly number of Japanese indeed killed and eaten by crocs, but NOT the entire force of 1,000! This is a reasonable assumption and clarification?

As to: "the blurred worrying sound of spinning crocodiles"

[crocs alone or in a group working cooperatively are able to "disassemble" large prey into "swallow-able" chunks of meat by clamping their jaws tight on a carcass of a large animal and spinning their bodies, dismemberment instantaneously and grotesquely so!!]

Such is the wild kingdom!

coolbert.