Chapter 791 Hawaiian Islands (12)

In the underground air-raid shelter on Oahu, American soldiers were lying on the ground in all directions, and they groaned meaninglessly from time to time. Because there was no fresh water supply, everyone had already become dehydrated.

It is well known that water is the basis of life. All schools of thought recognize that water participates in the physiological functions of the human body. Water is the most abundant component in the human body. Body fluids account for about 70% of human body weight and are necessary to maintain normal physiological functions.

If a person cannot replenish water in time, then when he loses about 5% of water, he will obviously have symptoms such as headache, fatigue, forgetfulness and accelerated heartbeat. This is because the body will use most of the water in the body, including the precious water that was originally "wasted" in sweat, to maintain blood pressure to maintain life. When the body is dehydrated by more than 2% of body weight, dry mouth and tongue will appear, and urine volume will decrease. When it exceeds 6% of body weight, dizziness, palpitations, and irritability will occur. When it exceeds 7% to 15% of body weight, toxic shock and loss of consciousness will occur. When it is dehydrated by more than 20% of body weight, it will be life-threatening.

"Oh God." Michael, pale and in a trance, held the cross on his neck tightly in his hand, praying to God to send some rain to quench their thirst. The soldier opposite him was digging the ground with an engineer shovel, as if he wanted to dig a well. But looking at his weak appearance, he might not dig anything in his whole life.

At this time, the sound of the loudspeaker played by the German army on the opposite side came faintly from outside. "Brothers of the American army on the opposite side, we have cool and delicious drinks and sweet fresh water here; as long as you come over, you can drink it to your heart's content."

Hearing "cool and delicious drinks", Michael subconsciously wanted to swallow his saliva, but there was no saliva to swallow in his dry mouth. If he hadn't left a trace of reason, he might really run to the German side regardless of everything, but he didn't know how long he could hold on.

Commander Wilson in the command center was a little desperate because he couldn't contact the life-saving supply submarine for a long time. He asked the communicator to contact the Pacific Fleet Command directly to ask if they had any news about the supply submarine.

The staff in the headquarters reported the matter to Commander Nimitz. "Commander, our supply submarine is likely to be sunk by the Germans."

"..." Nimitz looked a little serious. "What's the situation on Oahu?"

"I heard that even the glucose solution for medical use has been distributed. Many soldiers have hallucinations and self-mutilation. I'm afraid they can't even last two days."

Nimitz couldn't help but sigh. He thought that the four divisions left behind could hit the Germans who landed on the island, but he didn't expect the Germans to successfully land on the island and gain a foothold easily. What's the point of these soldiers' persistence? After hesitating for a while, he finally gave an order. "Let the defenders on Oahu surrender. It's better than dying of thirst." The Germans who landed on the island only surrounded but did not attack. They clearly wanted to trap their own troops to death, but they couldn't watch them die of thirst. It was not realistic to send a new supply submarine. In seven or eight days, their soldiers would have died of thirst.

"Yes."

The order was quickly transmitted to Oahu. Commander Wilson, who received the message, was stunned for a moment and sighed deeply.

Soon, a US military representative holding a white flag came to the German position to discuss surrender.

Commander Hermann on the flagship said unhappily. "What is there to discuss? They can only surrender unconditionally, and we will treat them according to the Geneva Convention." Do these guys want to put forward some conditions or what?

Although he wanted to let these defenders die of thirst, the news sent by the weather plane said that a typhoon with a wind force of 13 was moving towards this side. If the route did not change, it would reach the Hawaiian Islands in the evening of the day after tomorrow. In other words, there will be rainfall in the Hawaiian Islands at the latest tomorrow night, and the Americans on the island can continue to resist even if they solve the fresh water problem. Therefore, he agreed to accept the surrender of the Americans.

Soon, rows of American soldiers who dropped their weapons and supported each other walked out of the air-raid shelter and walked towards the German position, murmuring "Water, give me water..."

Just as the German soldiers were about to hand over the kettle, the loudspeaker behind them sounded again. "Don't give them water, it will kill them!" When the body loses water, it also loses electrolyte ions in body fluids, such as potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, etc. The most important of these is potassium ions, with a potassium ion concentration of 5-5mmol/L in the body. If a large amount of water is added when the dehydration is severe, the potassium ion concentration in the body will be low, causing muscle cramps and paralysis. The most serious complications are cardiac arrest and even sudden death.

"Line up and get into the transport ship!"

In order to survive and surrender, the American soldiers naturally did not want to die immediately after surrendering. They could only grit their teeth and stagger towards the German temporary dock and enter the transport ship. There, emergency measures such as saline and glucose solution were prepared for them.

It was not until the evening that the German army took in all the American prisoners.

Then the German soldiers stationed in the US defense lines and underground facilities, and the fleet prepared to leave. After all, typhoons are not easy to mess with, even steel behemoths like them have to stay away from them.

In the original time and space, the US Navy suffered from typhoons during World War II. In December 1944, the US Third Fleet, led by Vice Admiral Halsey, nicknamed "Bull", assembled near Mindoro Island in central Philippines, preparing to launch an attack on Luzon Island in the Philippines occupied by the Japanese. The fleet, with the battleship "New Jersey" as its flagship, consisted of battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships.

On December 16, the "Bull" fleet approached the oil supply fleet for refueling. At this time, a typhoon named "Halsey" hit them. The wind was strong and the waves were high, making it difficult to refuel. However, Halsey and other commanders of the fleet were eager to fight and ordered the fleet to advance north to Luzon Island. Due to the inaccurate judgment of the location and path of the typhoon, this decision not only failed to get the fleet out of the typhoon, but also brought it closer to the typhoon. A few hours later, the typhoon arrived, and storms and huge waves hit the fleet. The typhoon with a wind force of 14 and gusts of up to 17 rolled up huge waves tens of meters high and rushed towards the fleet. The fleet's formation was completely disrupted, and the warships shook violently in the raging waves. The typhoon raged here for two days before leaving. This nightmare typhoon caused heavy damage to the "Bull" fleet: 3 destroyers sank, 2 aircraft carriers were seriously damaged, 146 carrier-based aircraft were thrown into the sea, and nearly 800 people died or went missing. Finally, Halsey had to give up the attack on Luzon Island and led the battered fleet to retreat for rest. The then US Navy Commander Nimitz said: "This is a huge loss suffered by the US Navy in the Pacific without any compensatory results." As the fleet commander, Halsey had an unshirkable responsibility for this, but because Halsey had outstanding military achievements and the US military was in need of people, Halsey was not held accountable later.

With the German flag raised on Oahu Island, the German army's first island chain in the Pacific to defend against the United States was formed.