Crocodiles and japanese soldiers

"1945-900 Japanese soldiers reportedly killed by crocodiles in 2 days"

This is mentioned in several sources but nothing more. Is it just a hoax or did something of the kind happen somewhere in 1945?

 

Certainly that sounds too Hollywood!

Does it mention where were these attacks? Does it mention if the Japanese were living in swamps and lakes or what? I don't think it is likely that so many men died because of crocodile attacks. A crocodile doesn't kill you when it attacks you, maybe a crocodile from the Nile which is the biggest of them all... but the Nile was very far from Japanese. And if those men died, I think it was because ill-treatment of their wounds?

 

I've seen that before, and apparently it IS true!The yanks were trying to take two Jap held islands.
They secured one island, but decided to leave the other to daybreak. During the night, they heard screams from the other island but obviously couldn't investigate. Next day, the island was strangely undefended, and as they advanced inland they gradually discovered what had happened.
I always thought it was late 1944, but I could be wrong. I'll try and rake some sources out later.

Regards,
Gordon

 

900??Come on!In 2 days? We should have signed them up.82nd Gator Regiment. Would'nt the Yanks noticed something was "fishy"when they came ashore?

 

Ramree Island... Also, is reportedly included in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Greatest Disaster Suffered from Animals."

 

Thanx Wilconqr,

here´s on that island:

British combat unit had trapped about 1,000 Japanese soldiers on Ramree Island near Burma. Their only escape was through the swamp. The crocodiles, alerted by the din of warfare and the smell of blood, gathered among the mangroves, lying with their eyes above 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. Their screams continued through the night, and by morning only 20 of the original thousand stumbled out of the swamp to surrender to the British. This was doubtless the most deliberate and wholesale attack on humans by large animals ever recorded.

http://www.fascinatingearth.com/Dinosaur%20Eater.htm

http://www.burmastar.org.uk/ramree.htm

 

Kai,

Cheers for that.......I stand corrected!

Regards,
Gordon

 

The usual rebuttal is that there aren't enough crocodiles to eat that many in one night. I haven't even come across an estimate of the croc population in ramree island. i just have this to say:

Crocs don't immediately eat their (large) prey. They kill them, usually by drowning, and let them get nice and soft through decomposition. So that night, I will say 500-1000 crocs can kill at least 300 people, upwards to 900. But the place should have been littered with bloated bodies in the following days.

 

I would disagree with the statement Nile crocs are the biggest...perhaps one might be the biggest, but on average the Australian crocs are thought to be among the biggest...partly because they are fully protected in Australia (even if you kill one in self defence, you will be charged) and partly because they are not hunted by the Aboriginals who have them as their totem animals...they are their ancestors...(All tribes have totem animals not all are the crocodile). So they can grow to a ripe old age (100 - 200 years). I understand this will be argued. Either way our crocs can still kill a man (and still do) in a blink of an eye...
Its true they drown their big prey and wait till the water and decomposition has softened the meat - which they then grab a good sized chunk and go into a "death roll" to twist off the chunk of meat. To keep their meat, the crocs will stash the bodies under fallen logs or large rocks to stop the bloating causing the body to rise and float away. Like many animals they will keep hunting until they have fed...which may be a number of days after the first kill.
One can only imagine what would have happened to the Japanese had they made it to the northern mainland of Australia...Northern Western Australia or "The Kimberley" - Northern Northern Territory or "The Top End" and Northern Queensland or "The Cape" are chockers full of large old crocodiles and plenty of slightly smaller crocs just waiting to challenge the old bugger...
And thats not even mentioning the Aboriginals who were more aggressive the farther north one went.
Shitsville for the Japanese!

 

Didn't look to hard...

This one was captured last year by Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife.

4.7 meters and weighed about 1,300 pounds.

 

an hour after eating Asian food, crocks are hungry all over again.
pardon me.

 

That's a load of croc!

 

yes, but who could argue this picture is not real-

 

Not a very good attempt at forced perspective since they put the croc on a trailer thus giving a point of comparison.