15 January 1943

The Allies are optimistic that the end is in sight at the battle for Sanananda but the deep swamps are hampering their attempts to cut off the retreating Japanese.

Most of the time the pestilential water in the swamps is up to the soldiers’ armpits, in places it is over their heads. Many are already suffering from malaria and each day more are struck down by diseases like dysentery, scrub typhus and dengue fever.