A small island in the Irrawaddy Estuary Delta…
Xixisuosuo…
A figure emerged from the bushes.
There was no one around, and the dim light in the morning was blocked by the dense canopy of trees, making it almost impossible to see the surrounding scene clearly.
The day had not yet fully dawned, and Private Onozuka Hitoshi began to wander aimlessly in the woods.
He carried several kettles on his back. Whenever he saw a broad-leaved shrub, he would immediately run over and carefully remove the dew from the leaves and pour it into the kettle.
There was heavy fog and heavy humidity today, and the bushes in the forest were covered with dew. This also made Onozuka Jin's work much easier today. He filled three water bottles in less than an hour.
Through the canopy of the trees, Onozuka Jin looked at the increasingly brighter sky. He knew that time was running out and the sun would rise soon.
The sunshine in June is very harsh, and the dew on these leaves will evaporate in an instant. When the water is not filled, the team leader doesn't know how to deal with himself.
Alas, we have been trapped on this small island for more than a month. Now the entire army has no water or food. The situation can be said to be very bad.
The food they had snatched from the indigenous people had long been used up. More than 10,000 troops were scattered on various small islands. They almost lost radio contact with each other and could only rely on manpower to transmit information.
But the expeditionary force would not let them have it easy. As soon as they found any movement on the island, the artillery on the opposite side immediately began to bombard them wildly, as if the artillery shells were free of charge, and one round would come every day.
There are enemy planes constantly circling in the sky. If they are not hidden carefully enough and are discovered, they will be bombarded mercilessly.
Onozuka Jin's team had not had a hot meal for several days, and they had long lost contact with their superiors. The team leader had to ask the remaining people to use local materials to learn from the animals, birds, and swamps on the island. The waterhole solves the problem of eating and drinking.
There is no shortage of water in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia, but the altitude of these small islands at the mouth of the sea is not high, not even a hillside, let alone active rivers or streams, only dirty swamps and mire.
If you don't have anything to eat, you can still hunt monkeys and birds, dig sweet potatoes and pick fruits to satisfy your hunger, but you can't live long without water.
Tortured by scorching heat and hunger every day, the thirsty Japanese soldiers couldn't care less and started drinking water.
The number of microorganisms in tropical rain forest water is unfortunately unknown. It is not a question of whether it is clean or not, it is just like a nest of germs.
As a result, before the enemy could attack, many Japanese soldiers fell ill due to malaria infection. Coupled with the lack of medical treatment and medicine, the death toll dropped faster than during the war.
It's not that they haven't considered boiling water, but once they light a fire, the slowly rising smoke is like a signal light, which will attract enemy artillery fire in a short time, making them die faster.
There is no way, they can only rely on the early morning dew to maintain their needs. Even if it is a drop in the bucket, they can still survive.
In addition to hunger and dehydration, the most serious problems were diseases and infections. You must know that when the little devils were besieged on the island, there were thousands of injured people in the team with varying degrees of severity.
As time went by, the condition of these wounded became worse and worse day by day. In addition, the number of people who fell ill due to various reasons also increased. In the end, they basically died in pain in the helpless eyes of their companions.
Some little devils couldn't stand the torment of pain and infection, so they chose to commit suicide for relief, while those who were still alive had to suffer so much that life was worse than death.
Touching his growling stomach, Onozuka Jin's face was full of sadness. He licked his lips unconsciously when he thought of the time when he first came to Myanmar to eat so much. It seemed that he had almost forgotten what the fragrant rice tasted like.
call out…
A piercing scream interrupted Onozuka Jin's reverie. The sound frightened him so much that he immediately lay down on the spot. A few seconds later, dozens of shells fell to the ground.
boom!
boom!
…
The explosion was deafening, and Onozuka Jin could only hold his head and hide in a low-lying pond.
Why don't these damn Chinese people stop letting people calm down so early in the morning?
boom!
Unfortunately, a shell happened to land near his position.
Following the loud noise, Onozuka Hitoshi felt dizzy for a moment, and the huge impact made his internal organs hurt, and he almost fainted.
After hearing the noise, the little devils on the island immediately became confused, each looking for a bunker in panic, for fear of being taken away by the shells.
But the bombardment didn't last long, like a sneeze compared to normal times.
The Japanese had no idea that this was simply something done by a bunch of idle expeditionary force artillerymen to kill time. In their words, they called it: adding something to the little devil's breakfast.
After an unknown amount of time, Onozuka Hitoshi woke up after falling into a coma. Before he had time to rejoice that he had survived, he felt a sharp pain in his leg that made him take a breath.
A piece of shrapnel the size of an index finger was shot into the thigh, and the end that entered the flesh was caught by the femur, causing the other half of the shrapnel to be exposed. Although there was a lot of blood, luckily it did not damage the artery, which was a blessing in misfortune.
Onozuka Ren struggled to get up from the ground. He was so frightened that he did not dare to stay any longer. He did not care about the pain in his legs. He found a branch on the ground for support and limped towards the gathering place of the team. …
…
The team was not far away. Fortunately, the shelling just now did not cause any casualties. At this moment, most of the little devils were chewing tree roots and wild vines, which served as their breakfast and lunch today.
Squadron leader Masao Hikawa had just peeled off the outer bark of a banana tree, revealing the flawless white core inside.
Licking his lips, Masao Hinakawa immediately started devouring it.
The core of the banana tree is extremely crisp and stringy when you bite into it. Although it has no taste, it is still quite juicy.
This made the other Japanese soldiers so greedy. Seeing the squadron leader eating happily, everyone couldn't help but swallow their saliva, and instantly felt that the wild vine leaves in their hands no longer tasted good.
There were more than seventy little Japs hiding on this small island, and most of them were still injured. They couldn't contact other troops, so they could only survive here.
After being on the island for so long, the little devils have searched for everything they can eat and drink. All the living creatures in the forest have been hunted and eaten, and the wild fruits have also been looted.
The little devil didn't dare to go fishing by the water, because that would only attract enemy gunfire.
Although the expeditionary force did not attack, the patrol ship would still cruise near the island from time to time. As long as someone appeared, the machine gun on the ship would not be vague, and it would be a shuttle.
Being so hungry that he couldn't help it, the little devil began to dig up the wild sweet potatoes on the island. After eating all the sweet potatoes, he started to dig up edible tree roots, wild vegetables and vines, even the earthworms and reptiles in the soil.
Don't look at things like banana tree cores, which are usually not eaten by dogs, but now they are a supreme delicacy that only senior officials can eat.
There is also a climbing plant called Kuiyam, with green and juicy leaves. It produces fruits that look like ginger, but they taste sticky and unpleasant.
The advantage of this plant is that it reproduces quickly and can be found everywhere in the bush.
The local indigenous people used its vine leaves and fruits to feed their livestock, but now it has become a rare ration for the little devils. It is really a waste of money.
Although it is difficult to swallow, this is the only thing that can replenish sugar and water at the moment. In order to survive, it must be swallowed no matter how unpalatable it is.
(End of chapter)
