Everyone knows the Olympic Games, do you know that the Chinese army organized the Prisoner of War Olympic Games? Almost no one has ever heard of it. Let's talk about this unique sports event.
In October 1950, the Chinese Volunteer Army entered the Korean War. Our opponents are the so-called United Nations forces led by the United States and the South Korean army, with the armies of 17 countries participating in the war, and several countries sending service detachments.
On the Korean battlefield, for the first time in the history of the mainland, it faced enemy forces in so many countries.
After the victories in the first and second battles, our army advanced from the Yalu River to the vicinity of the 38th Line. The third campaign fought another 38th parallel and captured Seoul, the capital of South Korea. After the fourth and fifth times, the front was once again stabilized near the 38th line.
After that, the movement war ended and began to enter the period of trench warfare. During this period, our army took many prisoners of the so-called United Nations army and the South Korean army. (Initially, due to the lack of experience in international warfare, many American prisoners were temporarily returned.) ）
By 1952, there were 13,107 prisoners of war from 14 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Turkey, at the Bitong County Shelter in North Pyongan Province, North Korea.
At that time, the Chinese army had a tradition of preferential treatment of prisoners of war, there was no bloody suppression in the prisoners of war camp, at the request of the prisoners of war, in November 1952, our army organized a unique sports meeting for transnational prisoners of war.
At that time, our army did not have much experience, and the prisoners who were athletes raised one after another, and the black prisoners proposed. We have prisoners of war from more than a dozen countries. It's not funny to call it a regular sports event. Let's just call it the Olympics.
On November 15, 1952, the unprecedented Olympic Games for prisoners of war of the Chinese Volunteer Army Bitong opened. The slogan of the Congress was "The Games are the road to friendship" and "Peace is the goal of all".
At that time, there was a team of prisoners of war from 14 countries, with more than 500 athletes, in addition to more than 200 cheerleaders. Originally, it was standardized to enter according to the country, but due to the small number of prisoners of war in some small countries, it was finally decided to give up and form a team in the shelter.
There are many sports in the Games. It is divided into 27 sports such as athletics, ball, gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, and tug-of-war. Water projects were missing as there was no proper pool.
The conference was warm and conducted in a harmonious atmosphere. So, how are the results of players from various countries?
Americans have been in the spotlight ever since. In the high-profile 100-meter race, black runner John F. Kennedy l？ Thomas finished first with a time of 10.6 seconds, followed by Norman Thomas. Crawford, whose time was 11.6 seconds (the world record for the 100m at the time was 10.2 seconds).
29-year-old Norman? Crawford finished second, but he was a runner in the U.S. Tri-Service Games, winning the 100m at the time.
This 100-meter run may be a little older. I lost to the 20-year-old, Norman? Crawford's overall strength is very strong, winning the first place in the bagged run, the third place in the long jump, and the overall individual score ranks second in the conference.
In addition, the championship of the 200-meter run (27 seconds), boxing was also taken on by the Americans. The American-dominated teams also excel in the competition.
However, the American team also had a disgraceful performance. I heard that an American boxer won the championship by stealing cooking wine (rice wine) from the cooking class before the competition. After the incident was reported by the black soldiers, the results were canceled and the pigs were punished. This may be the only case of "doping" used at the Olympic Games.
Englishman George? Green won the 1500-meter race and won the prize, the sun umbrella.
British prisoner of war George? e？ Newhouse's narrator was still very capable, and this man was elected to the Senate after returning home.
The Turks won excellent titles in wrestling. Interestingly, there was also a wrestling king in the game, Arif Guecuche. He set a record of 7 consecutive wins. Of course, the project was originally called Turkish wrestling, but the innate advantages of the country's prisoners of war were very clear.
Also in Korean wrestling, the best performer was of course the Korean prisoner of war, and Kim Dong-so won. In the stadium, South Korean prisoners of war performed gymnastics, but there were also movements that were too dangerous, and were said to have been warned by volunteers.
Interestingly, Korean prisoners of war are very good at long-distance running, winning all the medals in the 3,000-meter run, which is stronger than the black runners.
According to the veterans of the volunteer army, South Korean prisoners of war were actually difficult to catch and ran too fast. At that time, the volunteers were all born on iron feet, and even the volunteers may not be able to catch up, and I think it is not easy.
No wonder that in the first battle of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, when the 118th Division of the Volunteer Army was drilling Wenjing, a reinforced battalion of the Second Regiment of the South Korean Army was attacked and more than 400 people fled. After these people returned to the regimental headquarters, the main force of the regiment also pulled out their legs and fled, and our 118th Division was quite depressed.
It is worth mentioning that this Olympic Games also has a full-time photojournalist - a senior communications reporter, a Pulitzer Prize winner, nicknamed "Daddy" Frank Noah.
At the end of November 1950, the 52-year-old Frank Noah was captured by our army wearing the uniform of an American captain. In the shelter, Frank Noah had the freedom to take pictures, and the photos he took were put back to The Associated Press. After these photos spread around the world, they had a very positive significance for the image of New China and the volunteer army, breaking the lie fabricated by the US propaganda department about the mistreatment of Prisoners of War of the Chinese army.
Frank Noah's royalties in these exclusive photographs were so lucrative that American families collected millions of dollars. That's nearly 70 years ago, and it's a lot of money.
Through the propaganda of Frank Noah's photograph, this unique prisoner-of-war games appeared in the mainstream newspapers of most countries in the world, and the Chinese soldiers not only won on the battlefield, but also had a moral advantage, which was a major victory on the propaganda front.
Such a prisoner-of-war Olympics is unprecedented, and, perhaps, for quite some time, will not be a later one. Because the capture of the soldiers of 14 countries at a time, and the capture of a large number of cases of war, will not appear for a long time to come.
In the attitude of the Chinese army toward prisoners of war, the memoirs of the famous American general Ridgway wrote:
We later learned that Chinese were strong and fierce fighters who often attacked regardless of death or injury. But we find them more civilized enemies than the Koreans. He shared a small amount of food with the prisoners of war many times and was friendly to the prisoners of war.
Without mistreating captive armies, our people's army may be the first in human history. I can defeat you on the battlefield, have proved my strength, and what is the point of having gone to bully unarmed captives? Using your own way to impress the prisoners and defeat them psychologically again is the real way to strengthen the army, so that the enemy loses and then takes it.