An army of 1000 Japanese soldiers was decimated by saltwater crocodiles during the Battle of Ramree Island of World War II. It had been vital to complete the occupation of Ramree Island quickly, as Operation Draculaagainst Rangoon needed to commence in the first week of May at the latest, to have a chance of finishing before the mon… In 1945, the Japanese controlled Ramree Island, measuring 80km x 50km, which was deemed by the Allies to be vital for invading mainland Burma. Details of a fatal attack on a human by a Moreletʼs crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) in Belize. After bouts of hospitalization from amoebic dysentery, ulcers and malaria, Duff survived to go to Ramree the following January.“The Japanese had developed a strong defensive position guarding the beaches…. 111–114. (2012). “They chose the latter alternative, and in so doing met with disaster.”The RAF bombs Japanese positions on Ramree Island in 1945. Interestingly, nature barely thinks about who gets to receive her wrath.World War II was no different. In 1945 the Allied Forces unlocked the Burma Mission with the purpose of pushing the Japs out of Burma. The thing that is still debated is that whether all 980 of the claimed fatalities came from the jaws of those crocodiles or did many of the soldiers succumb to other dangers of the swampland. The swampland was dense and was definitely not friendly. “When my gun went past I went very cold. Duff picked a losing hand and advanced into the jungle, thinking of his doom.“We were now completely cut off from our own troops, and I thought ‘that’s the last I’ll see of them, or home,’” he recalled. The Allied forces, after a heavy battle, managed to go around and flank the Japanese from all sides. Apparently, we humans love to commit atrocities against each other. 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 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. It resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Joint forces of 36 th Indian Infantry Brigade and units of British Royal Marine were dispatched … The two species with the most well-known and documented reputation for preying on humans are the Eight other species have been involved in fatal attacks on humans, but in far lower numbers than the Nile, saltwater and mugger crocodiles, and also with significantly lower fatality rates (a higher percentage of their attacks are non-fatal).An accurate count of annual crocodile attacks on humans is difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, some information does exist: for example, it was reported by CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwethat in the first ten months of the year in 2005 crocodiles were the number one cause of death in human… Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 33(2): 29-30.Rachmawan, D., and Brend, S. (2009). The soldiers were viciously and mercilessly attacked by the reptilian beasts, and survivors reported how swarms of the aggressive animals descended upon them as terrified soldiers fired blindly in all directions in a futile effort to drive off their ravenous aggressors. For several days the Japs continued despite being troubled by no drinking water or food. Wikimedia Commons British Marines landing on Ramree Island in January 1945 at the beginning of the six-week battle. Night time was the worst, on guard duty—two hours on, four hours off—trying to stay awake and thinking that any second you’d get a bayonet in the back,” Duff recalled in a 2006 BBC oral history.Once a sniper’s bullet missed Duff by a few inches during an unguarded moment, hitting his map case. Yet he beat the odds. British survivors of the battle estimated that about 1,000 Japanese were attacked by the giant reptiles—a claim which gave rise to sensational stories and has been disputed by historian Frank McLynn.Despite the numerical debates, the fact remains that Japanese combatants were killed by crocodiles while resisting British troops.
An army of 1000 Japanese soldiers was decimated by saltwater crocodiles during the Battle of Ramree Island of World War II. It had been vital to complete the occupation of Ramree Island quickly, as Operation Draculaagainst Rangoon needed to commence in the first week of May at the latest, to have a chance of finishing before the mon… In 1945, the Japanese controlled Ramree Island, measuring 80km x 50km, which was deemed by the Allies to be vital for invading mainland Burma. Details of a fatal attack on a human by a Moreletʼs crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) in Belize. After bouts of hospitalization from amoebic dysentery, ulcers and malaria, Duff survived to go to Ramree the following January.“The Japanese had developed a strong defensive position guarding the beaches…. 111–114. (2012). “They chose the latter alternative, and in so doing met with disaster.”The RAF bombs Japanese positions on Ramree Island in 1945. Interestingly, nature barely thinks about who gets to receive her wrath.World War II was no different. In 1945 the Allied Forces unlocked the Burma Mission with the purpose of pushing the Japs out of Burma. The thing that is still debated is that whether all 980 of the claimed fatalities came from the jaws of those crocodiles or did many of the soldiers succumb to other dangers of the swampland. The swampland was dense and was definitely not friendly. “When my gun went past I went very cold. Duff picked a losing hand and advanced into the jungle, thinking of his doom.“We were now completely cut off from our own troops, and I thought ‘that’s the last I’ll see of them, or home,’” he recalled. The Allied forces, after a heavy battle, managed to go around and flank the Japanese from all sides. Apparently, we humans love to commit atrocities against each other. 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 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. It resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Joint forces of 36 th Indian Infantry Brigade and units of British Royal Marine were dispatched … The two species with the most well-known and documented reputation for preying on humans are the Eight other species have been involved in fatal attacks on humans, but in far lower numbers than the Nile, saltwater and mugger crocodiles, and also with significantly lower fatality rates (a higher percentage of their attacks are non-fatal).An accurate count of annual crocodile attacks on humans is difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, some information does exist: for example, it was reported by CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwethat in the first ten months of the year in 2005 crocodiles were the number one cause of death in human… Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 33(2): 29-30.Rachmawan, D., and Brend, S. (2009). The soldiers were viciously and mercilessly attacked by the reptilian beasts, and survivors reported how swarms of the aggressive animals descended upon them as terrified soldiers fired blindly in all directions in a futile effort to drive off their ravenous aggressors. For several days the Japs continued despite being troubled by no drinking water or food. Wikimedia Commons British Marines landing on Ramree Island in January 1945 at the beginning of the six-week battle. Night time was the worst, on guard duty—two hours on, four hours off—trying to stay awake and thinking that any second you’d get a bayonet in the back,” Duff recalled in a 2006 BBC oral history.Once a sniper’s bullet missed Duff by a few inches during an unguarded moment, hitting his map case. Yet he beat the odds. British survivors of the battle estimated that about 1,000 Japanese were attacked by the giant reptiles—a claim which gave rise to sensational stories and has been disputed by historian Frank McLynn.Despite the numerical debates, the fact remains that Japanese combatants were killed by crocodiles while resisting British troops.