There is a small island in the Pacific Ocean, where many weapons, gold coins and watches have been left behind due to some historical factors, and these war relics have later become the target of treasure hunters and salvagers.
Among them, there is a salvage team that has salvaged a lot of wealth because of its early and high-tech development.
After the salvage is over, the money will be shared, and everyone who participates will be paid one million, and directly realize the leap of life and live a "lying flat" life. So, what's the story? Let's talk about it today.
The Battle of Kuah Island in World War II
Guadalcanal, the second largest island in the Solomon Islands, is also an important strategic location in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
The intensity and strategic significance of this battle were unprecedented, and after this war, the US military began a strategic counteroffensive in the Pacific War, while Japan was in a passive position in the Pacific Theater.
The overall area of Kuah Island is not large, but because of its important location in the Pacific Ocean, its geographical location is very important, and it is a battleground for soldiers.
The Japanese army would establish airfields on the islands, retreat to protect its main base in Rabaul, and advance to threaten the supply lines of the American army, creating conditions for further expansion into the South Pacific.
For the U.S. military, if they want to stop the Japanese attack and protect the connection with Australia, they must take the island at all costs, so as to open the way for the Pacific and Southwest Pacific to advance.
In short, neither the U.S. nor the U.S. military could abandon the island, and a tragic war began.
We will not go into the details of the war, but between 1942 and 1943, the United States and Japan engaged in a six-month tug-of-war over the airport and seaport on Kuah Island.
A 5,000-square-kilometer island was fought for six months, with an immeasurable number of navies, warships, and aircraft invested, and as a result, both sides paid a huge price for it, with a large number of warships, aircraft, weapons, and ammunition sunk or left behind in the surrounding waters.
According to relevant statistics, the US military killed 7,100 people on Kuah Island, sank 29 warships, and damaged 615 aircraft. The Japanese lost 19,200 people, sank 38 warships, and destroyed about 800 aircraft.
Comparatively speaking, the United States' comprehensive national strength was much higher than Japan's, and it finally won the war, seized sea and air supremacy in the Solomon Islands, blocked the Japanese army's supply lines and the South Pacific defense line, and directly changed the pattern of the Pacific War.
Forgotten after the war
In the battle of Kuah Island and the subsequent Battle of Iwo Jima, the US military invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but if such islands were to be fought for many years and months, the so-called "leapfrog operation" was then developed.
The general meaning is that some unimportant islands will not be attacked, anyway, there is no supply due to the isolation of the ocean, and the Japanese army on the island cannot set off any big waves.
In this way, the American troops on Kuah Island began to retreat, and they boarded ships one after another to attack the Japanese mainland, but they did not have time to pack up because they were in a hurry.
As a result, there were a lot of weapons and ammunition left on the island after the war, as well as some watches and gold coins on the corpses, and the warships in the nearby waters had no energy to deal with them.
In addition, except for a period of time when Kuah Island was important in World War II, the rest of the period was not worth mentioning, and it was slowly forgotten by everyone over time, and sometimes the opportunity was "you can imagine it when others forgot about it".
In the 80s, an American named Robert Bauer founded a company called "Ocean Exploration" in 1981, and Robert was also a lover of history and ocean exploration.
Once, when he was researching the Second World War, he found out all kinds of things about Kuah Island, and the first thing he thought about was that there must be a large number of shipwrecks and planes in the area, which were very valuable.
Leaving aside the fact that shipwrecks and airplanes themselves belong to specially made metals, the design processes of airplanes and ships are also worth studying.
During World War II, Japan's Zero fighter, American Corsair fighter, and B-17 bomber were not very advanced in modern times, but they were extremely valuable for research at the time.
So, he decided to assemble a salvage team to go to Kuah Island to find out. Soon Robert found a group of professional divers, engineers, etc., and spent a lot of money to buy a salvage boat, and sailed to the waters of Kuah Island in a hurry.
Arriving at the destination, Robert signed a relevant agreement with the Solomon Islands government, which roughly stated that a certain percentage of the share should be given, and at the same time, the local natural environment should not be damaged, and after obtaining permission, he began to salvage in the waters of Kuah Island
Everyone gets a million
After a period of research, they determined the salvage area, and then used equipment to conduct a detailed survey, and they were shocked to find that there were at least 50 wrecked ships and 200 aircraft near Kuah Island alone.
Their salvage work is not easy, after all, in the ocean, there will be all kinds of environmental changes, and the slightest carelessness can destroy the ship and kill people. Fortunately, the whole salvage process was thrilling, and a large number of sunken ships and planes were salvaged and still maintained a certain integrity.
In some shipwrecks, a variety of war relics were also found, guns, knives, military uniforms, medals, ornaments and watches were also a lot, and the related military equipment on the warships could be seen everywhere, and the wealth obtained was immeasurable.
Robert's salvage team salvaged a total of six years in the waters of Kuah Island, and according to statistics, about 30 shipwrecks and 100 aircraft were salvaged, some of which were very rare and had high historical value.
In addition to the large number of war wreckage in the ocean, there are also many previous things on Kuah Island, you must know that the Japanese have been fighting the US military on this island for several years, and the US military has dropped bombs in order to take Kuah Island.
Soon after landing on the island, the salvage team found that there were weapons left over from the battle everywhere, as well as some more valuable gold coins, and the harvest was full.
Eventually, the salvage team shipped all of the harvest from several years back to the United States, where it was restored and cleaned and sold at a high price, either for personal collections or for museums.
If it is an ordinary thing after restoration, it may not be very valuable, but these things are relics of World War II, which have great historical research value and treasure value, and sometimes they can't buy it if they want to buy it for some enthusiasts.
In general, the salvaged things were sold for hundreds of millions of dollars at the time, you must know that this is the dollar of the eighties and nineties, and each member of the salvage team shared millions of dollars, and became a millionaire to achieve financial freedom.
It is worth mentioning that this incident was later filmed as a documentary, recording the historical legend of their "gold-making" in the waters of Kuah Island in those years. What do you think differently about this?