According to U.S. statistics, it was accurately known that 771 people had been captured in Vietnam, the death toll was 113, and 658 people finally returned to the United States, most of whom were pilots. In the face of these American prisoners of war, the Vietnamese government took different measures according to the changes in the war situation. Early capture: From 1964 to 1965, from the first AMERICAN prisoner of war Alvarez to the latter successively captured US pilots, during which Time Vietnam publicly declared to the outside world: "Because the US Government did not declare war, the Geneva Pow Convention does not apply, let alone prisoners of war." That is, the status of prisoners of war is not recognized, and due to the limited number of prisoners of war, Vietnam's way of treating prisoners of war is still relatively rough and simple.
The second period, the "Middle Age": That is, from October 1965 to the autumn of 1969, a large number of American pilots were captured after the continuous bombing of Vietnamese territory by the US government launched "Operation Rolling Mines" and the two sides fought. In order to better occupy the commanding heights of international public opinion, Vietnam began to use prisoners of war in a purposeful manner. Propaganda, interrogation, and torture of prisoners of war also appeared in large numbers during this period, and the living conditions of prisoners of war began to deteriorate, which was also called the darkest period by American prisoners of war. The third period, the repatriation period: from 1969 to 1973, as the Vietnam War entered the period of U.S.-Vietnam peace talks, Vietnam began to send U.S. prisoners of war one after another, and the way of treating U.S. prisoners of war began to become more humane.
With the launch of "Operation Rolling Thunder", the number of US pilots and prisoners of war in Vietnam continued to increase, and Vietnam's attitude towards prisoners of war in order to use prisoners of war also changed, and US prisoners of war began to enter the "intermediate era" full of interrogation and torture. After U.S. pilots were captured in Vietnam, the first to interrogate them were Vietnamese provincial and regional political department officials, who usually used interviews to dig up useful U.S. military intelligence from prisoners of war and explicitly asked for military information from the outset.
After entering the prisoner-of-war camp, American prisoners of war began to face interrogation in the true sense of the word. Most POW camps in Vietnam are generally equipped with standard interrogation rooms: there will usually be a table with a cloth-covered tape recorder on the table. It would also provide a straight-back chair for the Vietnamese interrogators, and the PRISONERs would provide a stool about two feet high, and above the stool would generally hang a light bulb with a conical lampshade, so that the light could not only shine on the table, but also directly on the face of the PRISONERs, thus increasing the sense of isolation and inner vulnerability of the American PRISONERs of War.
Since U.S. PRISONERS were mainly made up of pilot officers with ranks, the Vietnamese side would arrange the most capable personnel to carry out interrogation tasks, usually well-trained special talents. Yet even the supposedly most qualified Vietnamese interrogators had restrictions on their language skills and lack of familiarity with American culture. Many prisoners of war managed to fool each other in front of Vietnamese interrogators by making up stories.
In order to change the attitude of prisoners of war, Vietnamese prisoners of war managers would also use carrot and stick policies alternately with prisoners of war in order to break the will of prisoners of war and make them willing to cooperate in interrogation. For example, in November 1965, in order to better manage prisoners of war, Vietnam carefully planned some regulations and claimed that as long as prisoners of war obeyed the rules and showed a good attitude, they could be treated humanely. And if you violate the regulations, you are punished. This marks the official introduction of Vietnam's carrot and stick policy. According to the prisoners of war, when prisoners of war are asked to sign a document, cigarettes and bananas are placed in front of them.
When the carrot policy was useless, the stick policy, the torture of prisoners of war, followed. The first to be punished after Vietnam issued regulations was U.S. pilot Knudsen. As early as October 17, 1965, when prisoner of war Knuthsen was shot down while flying an F-4 fighter, he killed two Vietnamese infantrymen for resisting capture. He still insisted on refusing to admit his mistake. The move was immediately punched and kicked by Vietnamese prisoner-of-war interrogators, resulting in a broken nose bone, several teeth and swollen eyelids. So Vietnam used a new criminal torture called rope punishment. This penal code was introduced on 25 October 1965 on Knudsen and soon spread to other prisoners of war who were reluctant to cooperate, becoming a veritable criminal law of terror.
When the rope is executed, the prisoner is usually forced to lie on the bed, and his ankles are locked, and then his elbows are tightly bound with a rope, while the other end of the rope is worn on the iron hook in the ceiling. When the guards pull the rope to lift the prisoner of war, the prisoner of war moves up from the bed, which will produce unbearable pain for ordinary people, because it feels like the arm is about to tear off the body, and it is difficult for the person to breathe normally. In addition, there is another variant of rope execution, which is simply to place a prisoner of war on a bed or on the ground, and then tie him with a rope from his feet to his neck, so that his back is arched, and pressure is applied on his back so that his mouth can touch his toes. After the first use of rope against prisoner of war, Knudsen, he screamed and cried and was forced to agree to cooperate with the Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp interrogators.
Air Force Colonel Conrad Traumán, who was shot down by Vietnam in 1967 and captured, recalled the scene of the rope execution when he returned home: It was very painful... Under this pain, you are tied very tightly, your trachea is strangled very tightly, but you can gasp for breath. You try to inhale hard because your breathing channels are slowly contracting. Your throat, every 30 seconds, becomes very dry... In this position for about 10 to 15 minutes, the nerves in your arms will be torn off, and then your entire upper body will become numb. It may be a comfort because you won't feel the pain anymore... However, when they loosen the rope, the pain repeats itself again, almost once again, and you have to endure the same pain that the rope binding brings you.
According to the recollections of returning PRISONERS, at least ninety-five percent of the population had been tortured by the Big Stick Policy. Although Vietnam interrogated prisoners of war in various ways, they did not receive much effective information in the end. For example, the prisoner of war Knuthsen, who agreed to cooperate after being tortured on rope, confessed all the contents of his confession that Vietnam already knew. It turned out that inexplicable and abnormal interrogations only made the prisoners' will to resist stronger. When prisoners of war were unsure of the needs and tactics of the Vietnamese interrogators, resistance became the most direct form.