Myebon Mud, Part I: 30 miles South East of Akyab lays the narrow and extremely hilly Myebon Peninsula. Sandwiched between the Kyatsin and Myebon rivers the peninsula is densely covered with jungle and bamboo, but capturing it was essential to Lt Gen Christison's plan. /1 #VJDay75

The Allies needed to gain control of the main waterways, including the Daignbon Chaung, to deny the Japanese their escape route out to the sea. In addition, Myebon would provide a foothold on the Arakan in order to launch an attack on the key village of #Kangaw. /2 #VJDay75

3 Cde Bde were again to spearhead an amphibious assault at the tip of the peninsula to secure #Myebon village and its jetty. D-Day was set for 12th January and would follow a naval and air bombardment, with squadrons from 224 Group RAF strafing the landing areas /3 #VJDay75

as 44 Cdo finished their breakfasts on board minesweepers just outside of Hunters Bay. Timing was essential as the beaches where the Cdos were due to land were covered in thick mud and black sand, which would make landing almost impossible at low tide. /3 #VJDay75

In addition the shore line was covered with bamboo stakes, strong enough to withstand the bow door of LCMs. Charges had been laid the previous evening by No.1 COPP and were detonated with perfect timing to destroy at least some of these defences just ahead of H Hour /4 #VJDay75

when the first wave of men from 42 Cdo went ashore. The Japanese had been taken by surprise (one soldier was found to have committed ritual suicide hari-kari in a forward trench). Though the beach was mined and several men from 42 were wounded, they managed to secure 5/ #VJDay75

a beachhead for the 5 Cdo to land. Unfortunately for Ted and the other men of 44 and 1 Cdo, the landing of the 2nd wave would not go as smoothly. After a 3 hour wait, a signalling mistake amid the chaos of battle meant that rather than landing on adjacent beach, they 6/ #VJDay75

followed the same course, with the LCMs hitting the exposed and muddy beach at low tide, some 400 yards out. Ted stepped into the thick, glutinous Myebon mud and as another Marine was later heard to remark "lf Pharaoh could have seen us he would sure think his Red Sea 7/ #VJDay75

landing was mighty cushy." The waist high mud was a deep and sticky quicksand, making it impossible to keep kit dry and near impossible to move forward in even - even depriving men of their boots and socks. Some men struggled to stand, all struggled to move, some /8 #VJDay75

resorted to forming scrums to fight their way through the slimy morass. Mortars and brens went under, again and again, and by the time the men finally reached dry land, there was nothing that had not been consumed by the mud. /9 #VJDay75

The last man ashore was a subaltern who was plastered in mud and completely naked. The perseverance and fitness of the Commandos had prevented an awful landing from becoming a fatal one, as exhausted, they set about cleaning up and securing the beach. #VJDay75