At the end of World War II, the Allies were striking back at full throttle in the Burma front. Confronted with this severe counteroffensive, Japanese Army was repeating debacles in every direction after the failure of "Operation Imphal" in July 1944. Arakan Area where the 28th Army had been deployed was under incessant onslaughts of British-Indian Forces as well, and its lines of defense began collapsing everywhere. In January 1945, the 26th Indian Division landed Ramree Island, the strategic point in Bengal, and easily overwhelmed the garrison of no more than one battalion strength under the 121st Infantry Regiment.
Superior Private Minoru Kasuga, a machine gunner, takes part in the battle of Ondaw after he survived the severe air raids in Hill 353 located in the north of the island. Kasuga has determined to devote himself to shielding their land and families from evil hands of foreigners. He tries to fight against a land force advancing toward their position. However, up against the superiority of hostile firepower, their humble machine gun is no match. He can do nothing but pull back with his squad including: Sergeant Keiichi Tomita, his leader, and Etsutaro Hirono, his colleague.
The Tomita Squad clashes with a tank-supported enemy in the following battle in Mountain Maeda. It meets a severe defeat and suffers misery from almost total destruction in addition to Hirono's death. Those survivors including Kasuga and Tomita wander the battlefields for a good while and manage to join the main force. Driven into the east coast covered with mangroves, Ramree Garrison has been settled to evacuate to the continent by swimming across the vast water of Myinkhon Creek where the strait is narrowest.
But hostile gunboats and destroyers have already blockaded those saltwater creeks running between the island and the mainland. These are not only things they have to cope with. Neighboring swamps are all infested with a saltwater crocodile known as a man-eater, the biggest and most dangerous reptile in the world. Surviving his long journey up to now somehow, Kasuga happens to notice its existence and recognizes its fear during the flight, but the Japanese troops are rushing into the reckless operation with no one heeding his warning.
On the continental side, Second Lieutenant Yoshihisa Sumi, a tankette platoon commander of the 54th Reconnaissance Regiment under the 54th Division, gets the sudden division order from his company commander to go to the island to rescue the garrison now in a hole. Sumi is no more than an outsider happening to be there on his way to another front. He realizes this duty dangerous enough and thoroughly gets puzzled. When Army drafted him, he had been just preparing for a new job as a lecturer at his university in Kyoto. Besides, he has left his steady behind there, so that all his concerns are focused on getting back alive no matter what.
Sumi knows the island besieged closely by enemies, although he reluctantly plans for the infiltration with his subordinates including: Sergeant Kokichi Shimizu, and Pondgi, a Burmese National Army soldier. He gets several Burmese fishing boats and manages to sneak into a port of Uga in the west coast. He and his men soon find it quite a tough business to get to the east coast where the garrison supposedly is, as most of the island has been overrun by British-Indian Forces.
He searches for easier ways to care for his own safety more than any issue of the operation, but their march doesn't progress smoothly, hampered by the difficult terrain distinctive of this island. In addition to it, he is much annoyed by constant strife with Shimizu, the bold, aggressive veteran noncommissioned officer. The foes widespread throughout the area mercilessly cut off his way and cut down his man. Sumi tries hard to get in touch with survivors by all manner of means but can't make out with it. When his party finally arrives at Myinkhon Creek, the crossing operation has been already taken into action.
The operation to find a way out of the jaws of death has ended up in a miserable failure, as ever feared, and Kasuga's anxiety has become a reality. Those waiting for Sumi Rescue Party there in the maze of mangroves are only a handful of survivors having managed to come through the hell of Myinkhon Creek. Having witnessed the horrible sight of them firsthand, Sumi decides to remain on the island alone. He entrusts Shimizu with the troop making a return to the continent and resigns himself and everything to the fate to keep on rescuing further.