二战时期的瓜岛战役,日军究竟饥饿到什么程度? 第1页

到1942年12月，17军每天饿死50人，四分之一的士兵牙齿脱落、无法排大便、无法站立。1943年过新年，整个17军连续几日没有任何像样的食物，只发一杯淡化海水。新年过后，每日饿死者升至百人。

能站立者可活30日，能坐起者可活20日，躺着小便者可活3日，不能说话者可活2日，不能眨眼者当日必死——那个时候总结的经验。

东京快车从1942年8月到1943年2月，总共发车350艘次。完全不足以供给岛上的部队所需。

以下截取一段资料 关于12月上旬的东京快车——

Confronting the Americans on his left flank from Point Cruz inland to Hill 66, General Hyakutake had troops of Maruyama's 2d Division composed of the 4th, 16th, and 29th Regiments. From this division's right (inland) flank were the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 228th Infantry on high ground west of the Matanikau. The 124th Infantry and other units extended from the Matanikau to Mount Austen. Remaining elements of the 38th Division (including the 230th, 228th, and 229th Regiments) plus detachments of the 124th Infantry were deployed in the Mount Austen area.

At this time the total Japanese strength on the island stood at about 25,000 men. But they were incapable of concentrated offensive action, and they had dug in for a defensive stand while awaiting General Imamura's Eighth Area Army reinforcements. Rations were low, malaria now was more prevalent in Japanese ranks than in American, ammunition stocks were nearly exhausted, preventive and corrective medical capabilities were practically nonexistent, and the Tokyo Express was hard pressed to maintain even a starvation-level of supplies. Admiral Tanaka still was in charge of this supply operation down The Slot, and the measures now being taken were desperate ones. Destroyers tried to supply these Imperial troops by making high-speed runs to Guadalcanal and dropping off strings of lashed-together drums into which supplies had been sealed. Barges from the island then were to tow these drums ashore. This procedure was not too successful, however, and the troops managed to retrieve only about 30 per cent of these supplies that Tanaka's destroyers cast upon the water.

Tanaka's destroyers raced down The Slot on 3 December and dropped strings of 1,500 drums. But the island troops managed to haul in only about 300 of these from the waters off Tassafaronga and Segilau. "Our troubles," Tanaka said, "were still with us."8

On 7 December Captain Sato led 10 destroyers to Guadalcanal for the third Japanese attempt to supply the troops. Fourteen U.S. bomber and fighter planes located this force in The Slot at about nightfall, however, and one Japanese ship was hit and had to start back north under tow by another destroyer. Two other ships escorted this aided cripple. Admiral Tanaka went south to the scene in his new flagship, the newly-built destroyer Teruzuki, an improved 2,500-ton model capable of 39 knots. The other destroyers which had been on the drum run went on south toward Guadalcanal but had to turn back when they encountered PT boats and U.S. planes. Thus the third supply run failed completely.

The fourth of these supply runs came in 11 December, and Tanaka himself led this one in his speedy Teruzuki. A flight of 21 U.S. bombers attacked these ships at about sunset but scored no hits. Tanaka's destroyers managed to shoot down two of six fighters which were covering for the bombers, and the Japanese steamed on south. The Teruzuki patrolled beyond Savo Island while the other destroyers dropped some 1,200 drums of supplies off Cape Esperance and then headed north again. Admiral Tanaka sighted some U.S. PT boats, and his new destroyer went to the attack. The Japanese ship chased the PT boats away but in the process got hit in its port side aft by a torpedo. The ship caught fire and became unnavigable almost at once, and the destroyer Naganami hurried alongside to rescue survivors. Tanaka, who had been wounded and knocked unconscious, plus others from the officers and crew were transferred to this other destroyer, and the destroyer Arashi also came up to help. But the heartened U.S. PT boats chased these sound ships away from the sinking Teruzuki, and the Japanese could only drop life rafts to crew members who were still in the water. Some of the drums were recovered by the troops ashore, but with the loss of such ships as the Teruzuki, this sort of supply operation was becoming very costly. And now the moon was entering a phase which caused other such attempts to be temporarily postponed. Japanese defenses had received very little help for the actions which now shaped up against them.

【总结】12月上旬，瓜岛上有日军25000人，东京快车 在12月上旬总共来了3次（12月3日、7日、11日），成功投放2次，投下2700个铁桶，其中不到1000个铁桶被部队成功捞起。损失驱逐舰2艘。我们假设这些铁通里装的都是食物，那么这半个月内，平均25个人要吃这一个铁桶里的东西。

耗子尾汁。