Chapter 110 Death at the hands of one’s own people
There was even a period of time when the enemy's planes bombed the prisoners so badly that the food for the captured officers above the major level was not very good. All the American prisoners actually went on a hunger strike in protest.
Sometimes the behavior of these guys made Xia Yuan want to beat them up because they were not honest enough to be taken as prisoners.
The leader of the military prisoner management team was named Su Zhang, who came from the military department. He was very smart. When he saw that the American prisoners went on a collective hunger strike because of food problems, he took them to see the meals of our army cadres.
They saw that the food of the men and women who were taking them was even worse than theirs, and they felt very incomprehensible:
"Why do you eat so poorly too?"
"This is caused by your aggressive war!"
"Who started this war of aggression?"
"American imperialism!"
Comrade Su Zhang asked the comrades in the prisoner control team to tell these American prisoners that it was because your people had control of the air and bombed both sides of the Yalu River indiscriminately, cutting off the supply lines behind our army, and the main and non-staple foods shipped from China were also destroyed.
Being blown up by your planes, not only the prisoner control brigade was left without food, but also the soldiers fighting at the front were left without food.
With the facts before their eyes, they had to put down their pretense as officers and eat whatever they had.
In order to prevent the prisoners from causing trouble, the comrades in the prisoner management team had to temporarily use the enemy officers' plan to manage the enemy soldiers. They had just been captured. When the prisoners did not have class consciousness, adopting other methods would make things worse.
There are also female soldiers among the prisoners. When it comes to accommodation, the comrades in the prisoner management team will separate the female soldiers, but they often disguise themselves as men and hang out among the male prisoners, leaving the comrades in the prisoner management team helpless. In addition, the cadres'
The culture is relatively low and they often make some jokes.
There was one time that made everyone very nervous. Xia Yuan and Dai Chunshan were chatting in the air-raid shelter. They made a fire. It was the smokeless stove he dug. Dai Chunshan said: "It turns out that you came up with the idea of the smokeless stove."
, it’s really good, it has been applied to many troops now, it is very suitable for making fires for cooking in the wild, and the smoke that rises is very small.”
He was a little surprised.
In the past, soldiers were often troubled by lighting fires for cooking. The rising smoke would reveal the soldiers' positions and attract the attention of enemy aircraft.
When I first came across a smokeless stove, I was shocked by its simple structure, light and fast digging method, and extremely small amount of smoke.
Smokeless stoves originated from the future army and are suitable for troops to carry out fire-making and cooking tasks in the field. He just brought the things of the future into the modern era. Of course, there are many things that can be applied to this era in the future, but due to backward conditions, many cumbersome processes
What a waste of time.
On the contrary, smokeless stoves are deeply loved by the soldiers in the cooking class because they are simple and can use local materials.
"They are all small ideas." Xia Yuan smiled. The flue of the smokeless stove can be dug along the entrance of the air raid shelter to the outside. You can even cover a section of the flue in the air raid shelter with soil and cover the end with weeds.
In this way, the smoke cannot be dissipated from this part of the hole, and the smoke will continue to spread along the flue, and eventually dissipate at the position where the tail is covered with weeds and dead leaves, and the smoke in the air-raid shelter will be very small.
"It's not good, it's not good, the prisoners are going to make trouble. A group of people are gathered around, chattering, and I don't know what they are discussing!"
Just then, the custody officer ran in and shouted breathlessly.
Everyone else stood up in shock. Dai Chunshan only knew a little English. He decided to take others to take a look first: "Go find the chief!"
"I'll go with you." Xia Yuan followed them, wanting to see what was going on.
He always felt that something was fishy. It was not like the behavior of American soldiers. They were afraid of volunteer soldiers even when they were fighting with guns. How could they organize and stop the riot after taking off their guns?
"Right in front." The prison guard pointed. Dai Chunshan looked at a group of US military prisoners gathered around, chattering something, and their expressions were a little uneasy, as if they had a premonition that something was going to happen.
It looks really real.
Xia Yuan, on the other hand, leaned over and listened and couldn't help laughing. Dai Chunshan was confused: "Xia Yuan, why are you laughing?"
Xia Yuan said: "They are praying, asking God to keep them safe and sound."
Dai Chunshan couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "It's a false alarm. I'll go and report to the chief. These guys are howling. I thought these American devils were really going to cause trouble."
After three days in the prisoner control team, the military commendation order finally came.
That day was a relatively ordinary day. The commander told them: "I originally planned to wait until the whole army held a commendation ceremony after the war, but I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to wait, so I will give you an award first. Then I will praise you properly at the military commendation ceremony."
Everyone was quite happy.
The day they received the award, they ran to the military field hospital and brought the good news to Zhou Mao.
Zhou Mao was lying on the stretcher, looking at the "Songgu Peak Special Merit Company", tears falling from his face.
"Peace, we have made a contribution."
Everyone's heart is heavy.
The superior officer approached Xia Yuan again, knowing that Xia Yuan could speak English, and asked him if he was used to being in the prisoner control team.
Xia Yuan said: "Not bad."
The superior officer said: "It's too late for you to return to the front line now, so you should stay in the prisoner control team for a while."
Xia Yuan was silent for a moment: "Okay, chief."
The life in the prisoner control team was not bad, and he also saw another unknown side of the Korean battlefield.
In order to prevent enemy planes and spies from detecting the prisoner control team's station and being bombed and robbed, the prisoner control team had to move at any time. The vast majority of American prisoners were very honest. They were afraid that the common people would deal with them and did not dare to fall behind during the march.
This is not the case with military prisoners. They are very familiar with the geography and people's conditions, and some often escape secretly.
After some puppet soldiers escaped, they saw that the people were very vigilant and had nowhere to hide, so they sneaked back.
After entering the prisoner control team, the lives of American soldiers are guaranteed and they can live a carefree life. The volunteer army told them that they will be sent home after the armistice. Therefore, these American soldiers prefer the prisoner control team and are very fond of it.
Obey, obey the orders of the prisoner control team.
The days in the prisoner control team are very leisurely. Since the superiors have not yet carried out ideological work and study courses for the US military prisoners, the days in the military prisoner control team include eating, drinking, sleeping, or taking leisurely walks.
However, their own planes often struggled with them. They neither died on the battlefield nor in prisoner camps, but died under the bombs of their own air force planes.
Due to the secret agents, the location of the prisoner control team was often exposed. Fortunately, they were not hijacked by the agents. Instead, they were bombed by U.S. military aircraft because of the exposed location.
At the very beginning, the US military prisoners told the volunteer soldiers how to let the aircraft distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, which was the control board. At the beginning, when the enemy planes came, the prisoners spontaneously deployed the control board, which was quite effective. The enemy planes would not attack the target when they saw it.
But one time, they were harassed by US military aircraft again. The prisoners took the initiative to set up cloth boards, but the aircraft turned a blind eye and continued strafing and bombing. The prisoners suffered a lot.
Lieutenant Colonel Kanpur, the chief adviser of the US Army's Seventh Puppet Division, was killed by his own plane.
Later, when their location is exposed again, they will start to move, and they will move every once in a while. The enemy's spies are mixed in the crowd of North Korean people, and the volunteer soldiers do not have sharp eyes, so it is difficult to distinguish them, and they will always fall into their trap.
Fortunately, there is no harm in exposing the location of the prisoner control team. The most critical thing is that the locations of the military headquarters and division headquarters are not exposed.
The U.S. military prisoners stayed at the military headquarters for five or six days. Christmas was getting closer and closer. The military headquarters issued a new order, and the prisoners of the military prisoner control team were to be escorted to the volunteer prisoner control camp by the Yalu River.
Ever since, they started heading towards the Yalu River again. Hong Jiwen said: "When you reach the Yalu River, you can see the border of the motherland."
The other soldiers became excited.
It has been almost two months since I entered North Korea, and it is impossible not to think about my motherland.
But in order to win the war, they could only hide this longing in their hearts.
After a day's trek, they finally arrived at the bank of the Yalu River. The cold river wind blew over and the river bank was covered with snow. Everyone couldn't help but have red eyes as they stared at the other side of the river. That was their motherland. After two months, they finally saw each other again.
to the territory of the motherland.
These American soldiers who once dreamed of spending Christmas in the Yalu River finally came to Bitong on the banks of the Yalu River, where they happily welcomed Christmas. But they did not accept Santa Claus's blessings as victors, but as volunteers.
The captives 'drink their horses from the Yalu River'.
Despite this, they felt very happy, because they could not have dreamed that they could live such a happy life in a prisoner of war camp without being troubled by the war.
At this point, even Li Qiwei had to admit that the Volunteer Army's policy of preferential treatment of prisoners was humane and better than 99% of the countries in the world.
He wrote in his memoirs: "We later realized that the Chinese were strong and fierce fighters, and they often attacked regardless of casualties. However, we found... that they were more civilized enemies, and on many occasions they were more civilized enemies.
, they shared the little food they had with the captives and treated them with a friendly attitude, which made me feel incredible."
Otto Bell, a soldier of the U.S. Second Division, was captured in this battle. After living in a volunteer prisoner-of-war camp for a period of time, he finally figured out who truly loved peace and that it was completely wrong for the United States to launch this war of aggression against Korea.
He once wrote to his wife in Olympia, Washington: "I am very good, in good health, and living a happy life. The Chinese people and the Korean people are very friendly and take good care of me. They are very kind to me and give me
Very good medical treatment.”
He also complained in the letter about the atrocities committed by the US military in North Korea:
"Before I was captured, I saw our American sentries checking every North Korean civilian who passed by them many times. The order given to us was to strip off all the clothes of men, women and children and search them for anything.
There were no weapons. The women were at a loss when they were forced to strip naked in front of the American soldiers surrounding her. After they were searched and put on their clothes, the American soldiers kicked them to let them go."
In her letter, she objectively compared the Volunteer Army and the US Army, as well as the prisoner policy of Li Puppet Army:
"Before I was captured, I knew that all the Chinese and North Korean prisoners were kept in cages with barbed wire and placed outdoors. It was winter and all the prisoners were shivering because of the cold weather."
"Before I was captured, I was told that if I was captured, the Chinese and Koreans would definitely kill me. When I was captured at 3:30 pm on December 1, 1950, five Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers
came to shake my hand, which was completely unexpected. I was cold and hungry at the time, so the Chinese took me to a warm house and gave me dinner. When I came here, there were already many people with me.
They were all brought here."
"It contains beef and potatoes. The Chinese want me to feel at ease, saying that I will not be harmed here. I have been a prisoner of the Chinese for more than ten months and I have never suffered any harm."
At the end of the letter, Otto Bell inspired his wife to take action and unite the peace-loving people to oppose the war of aggression against Korea launched by the United States:
"My dear, tell everyone to unite and fight for world peace with hundreds of millions of peace-loving people around the world. The sooner this war ends, the sooner I can return to you. Peace will also
Rule the world again and the people will live happily ever after."
These are the thoughts of an American soldier who was captured by our army for nearly a year.
In the prisoner-of-war camp, he had no physical restrictions and even had time to read and draw. In the afternoon, there was even afternoon tea.
The volunteers never forced them to do any work, and they lived very comfortably here.
While the prisoners celebrated Christmas on the banks of the Yalu River and received blessings from Santa Claus, the Chinese and North Korean troops had liberated Pyongyang and advanced to the vicinity of the 38th Parallel. The invading army commanded by MacArthur returned to the place where they launched the war of aggression.
In this battle, the Volunteer Army used short-hand firearms to deal a heavy blow to the US military, which is well-equipped in the world today, and completely shattered the myth of the US military's invincibility.
When Li Qiwei recalled this battle, he had to admit this fact.
He wrote: "The Eighth Army has suffered a heavy blow. The U.S. Second Division suffered serious losses in the Chongchon River area and declared that it had lost combat effectiveness at the end of November. Therefore, it withdrew from South Korea and reorganized and replenished it."
This battle not only shattered MacArthur's "General Offensive for Christmas Return", but also made the rulers of the United States, Britain, France and other countries realize for the first time the power of the people of New China.
Journalists from the United States, Britain, France and other countries had to use terms such as "deterioration", "falling apart", "the worst setback" and "the worst failure in the war" to describe the most humiliating failure of the United Nations forces.
This day was also the gloomiest day in the United States. Some people who supported MacArthur were particularly shocked.
When MacArthur launched the "General Christmas Offensive", Reuters reporter Bates, who had tried his best to promote the strength of the US military, had to make a depressing report on the 29th, a day he himself called "Black Wednesday"