On 26 January in Operation Sankey, a Royal Marine force landed on Cheduba island, about 6.2 mi (10 km) offshore of the south-west coast of Ramree Island and found it unoccupied. Men of the Wiltshire Regiment from the 26th Indian Infantry Division prepare a meal beside a temple on Ramree Island. Phoebe also joined the bombardment, along with Consolidated B-24 Liberators, North American B-25 Mitchells and Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of 224 Group Royal Air Force (RAF), under the command of HQ RAF Bengal and Burma, that strafed and bombed the beaches. ![]() ![]() Cotterell-Hill) was to land, Queen Elizabeth opened fire with 69 rounds of 15 in (380 mm)-shell from the main battery, the fall of shot being watched by aircraft from Ameer. On 21 January, an hour before the 71st Indian Infantry Brigade (Brigadier R. The large number of ships was intended to provide more firepower in support of the landing force. Reconnaissance carried out on 14 January 1945, found that Japanese forces were placing artillery in caves overlooking the landing beaches on Ramree and the Royal Navy assigned the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth, the escort carrier HMS Ameer, light cruiser HMS Phoebe, the destroyers Rapid, Napier, Norman and Pathfinder, with the sloops Flamingo and HMIS Kistna. The invasion force was led by three Joint Assault Commanders, Captain Bush RN, Major-General Cyril Lomax and Wing Commander H. The battle started with Operation Matador, an amphibious assault to capture the strategic port of Kyaukpyu at the north end of Ramree Island and the airfield near the port, south of Akyab across Hunter's Bay. The Japanese garrison of Ramree consisted of the II Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment (Colonel Kanichi Nagazawa), part of the 54th Division, with artillery and engineer detachments to act as an independent force. 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 the neighbouring Cheduba Island. A plan was ready by 2 January, when it was clear that the advance of the Fourteenth Army (Lieutenant-General William Slim) into Central Burma would soon pass beyond the range of its airbases at Imphal and Agartala replacements at Chittagong, Akyab and Ramree would be needed. The early capture of Akyab made the 26th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General Henry Chambers) available for an attack on Ramree Island, 70 mi (110 km) to the south, the island being 50 mi (80 km) long and 20 mi (32 km) wide, flat and an obvious site for airfields. Some editions of the Guinness Book of World Records have attributed the highest number of fatalities in an animal attack to the battle zoologists and modern military historians have dismissed these claims. The battle is known for claims that hundreds of Japanese soldiers were killed by crocodiles in the mangrove swamps of Ramree. ![]() In January 1945, forces of the Indian XV Corps landed on Ramree and the neighbouring island of Cheduba, to establish airfields for the supply of the mainland campaign. During the Invasion of Burma in early 1942, the Island had been captured by the Imperial Japanese Army. Ramree Island, part of Arakan (now Rakhine State), has an area of 520 sq mi (1,350 km 2) and is separated from the mainland by a strait with an average width of about 490 ft (150 m) the island is 70 mi (110 km) south of Akyab (now Sittwe). The Battle of Ramree Island ( Burmese:ရမ်းဗြဲကျွန်း တိုက်ပွဲ, (also called Operation Matador) took place from 14 January to 22 February 1945, in the Second World War as part of the offensive on the Southern Front in the Burma campaign by the XV Indian Corps. Northern Burma and Western Yunnan (1943-1945) Burma campaign (1944)
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