Battle of Ramree Island

Battle of Ramree Island
Part of the Burma Campaign
British troops in landing craft make their way ashore on Ramree Island, 21 January 1945
Date 14 January – 22 February 1945 Location Ramree Island (Yangbye Kywan) off Burma 19°06′00″N 93°48′00″E / 19.10000°N 93.80000°E / 19.10000; 93.80000Coordinates: 19°06′00″N 93°48′00″E / 19.10000°N 93.80000°E / 19.10000; 93.80000 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  India	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Cyril Lomax	Kanichi Nagazawa
Strength
26th Indian Infantry Division 1 squadron 146th Regiment RAC 3 Commando Brigade (elements)	II Battalion (reinforced to 1,000 men), 121st Infantry Regiment 54th Division
Casualties and losses
unknown	500 killed (possibly only 20 survivors) 20 captured 500 escaped to mainland
Ramree Island Burma (Myanmar)

 United Kingdom

The Battle of Ramree Island (also Operation Matador) was fought in January and February 1945, during World War II, as part of the XV Indian Corps offensive on the Southern Front in the Burma Campaign. Ramree Island (Yangbye Kywan) lies off the Burma coast, 70 miles (110 km) south of Akyab (now Sittwe), that had been captured by the Imperial Japanese Army in early 1942, along with the rest of Southern Burma. In January 1945, the Allies launched an attack to retake Ramree and its neighbour Cheduba Island, to establish airbases on the islands for the supply of the mainland campaign.

The battle is associated with reports of many Japanese soldiers being eaten by saltwater crocodiles living in the inland mangrove swamps; these reports are disputed. The Guinness Book of World Records has listed it as "worst crocodile disaster in the world" and "most number of fatalities in a crocodile attack" but scientists and historians have cast doubt on the story.

The early capture of Akyab made the 26th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General H. M. Chambers) available for an attack on Ramree Island, 70 miles (110 km) to the south, the island being 50 miles (80 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide, flat and an obvious site for airfields. A plan was ready by 2 January, when it was clear that the advance of the Fourteenth Army (Lieutenant-General William Slim) would soon pass beyond the range of its airbases at Imphal and Agartala; replacements at Chittagong, Akyab and Ramree would be needed. On 14 January, the 26th Indian Division was ordered to attack Ramree on 21 January, as a Royal Marine detachment from 3 Commando Brigade occupied Cheduba Island.

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