In May 1952, the chief of staff of the US 1st Army, Colsen, transferred a tank company, an infantry battalion, and then concentrated all the first-level shooters of the 8th Army, which was not enough, and sent the elite 187th Airborne Regiment, prepared a large number of terrible poison gas, and each soldier put on a gas mask and waited for it.
At the same time, Ridgway, Clark, and Van Vleet, who successively served as commanders of the "United Nations Forces," gathered on Geoje Island, and these three American generals with 1 million heavy troops were sitting at their desks, frowning deeply and discussing plans against the "enemy."
However, what made them anxious was not the Chinese People's Volunteers, who also had a million lions, but only more than 130,000 people, unarmed, and tortured to death!
This strange picture has become a curious story in the history of war and the most humiliating event in the history of the US military.
So, what's going on here?
First, Chinese is not easy to mess with, and it is not easy to provoke it
In the Fifth Campaign to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese Volunteers and the People's Army fought bloody battles for 50 days, annihilating more than 82,000 enemies. The Americans can no longer sit still!
After this battle, the US authorities finally realized that it was no longer possible to annex Korea (later replaced by "North Korea"), and that only sitting down and negotiating was the only way to end the war and the last way to save the face of the United States.
On June 23, 1951, while delivering a speech at a ceremony, Truman suddenly shouted to China from the air: "The United States is willing to participate in the peaceful settlement of the Korean question." ”
On June 30, Ridgway, then commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Forces," sent a request for negotiations to the DPRK command and released the news to the press.
Comrade Mao Runzhi had long expected this point from the United States to call for negotiations.
From October 1950, when the Chinese People's Volunteers entered the Korean War to June 1951, when the Fifth Campaign was won, the US-led "United Nations Army" suffered a lot of losses under the concerted war of resistance between the Volunteers and the People's Army, and the US army's manpower, material resources, and financial resources were consumed enormously, which the United States did not expect at all.
Moreover, after World War II, the global strategic focus of the United States was in Europe, and the ultimate goal of its "Cold War" was to deal with the Soviet Union.
The United States intervened in the Korean civil war originally to drag the Soviet Union into the water, but it never expected that Stalin not only did not take the bait but also ran to vacation, and what surprised the United States was that China, which had just come out of the ruins of the war, actually sent troops to help North Korea!
Truman, then head of state, even did not shy away from saying: "The main enemy of the United States is sitting upright in the Kremlin, and as long as this enemy is not involved in the battlefield but only pulling the line, we must not waste the strength we have mobilized again." ”
Although Comrade Mao Yunzhi had long been convinced of this, he did not relax because of this, but reminded the DPRK and Chinese delegations: "The enemy is very likely to use the negotiations to make a name for himself." ”
As expected, as Comrade Mao Runzhi expected, the United States continued to "make a name for itself" throughout the negotiation period, obstructing the peaceful settlement of the DPRK issue, which lasted as long as two years and more than 10 days, which is rare in history.
On July 10, 1951, the first meeting of Korean armistice negotiations was held in Kaesong. But before the meeting began, the United States could not help but play tricks.
The US delegation entered the venue in advance and sat in a south-facing seat first. According to international practice, the victors sit facing south and the vanquished sitting north. Moreover, after announcing the start of the meeting, the US representative went so far as to put the small flag of the so-called "United Nations Army" on the table, declaring his self-righteous strength and invincibility, and provoking the DPRK and Chinese delegations.
In order to combat the invincible arrogance of the United States, the DPRK and Chinese delegations entered the venue early the next day and took the lead in occupying the south-facing seats and placing the DPRK flag on the conference table. What is even more relieving is that the DPRK and Chinese delegations have also replaced all the north-facing seats with low stools, and the US representative immediately became much shorter as soon as he sat down.
However, the barbaric and impudent Americans still did not know how to restrain themselves, and even proposed to give up 12,000 square kilometers of land to the Chinese side as compensation!
Such an absurd request was immediately rejected by the DPRK and Chinese representatives. The US side even threatened that its air force and navy were very strong and could hit the Yalu River, and that the DPRK would give up some land to the Chinese side so that the people would be calmed and would not suffer losses.
Comrade Mao Runzhi immediately sent a telegram to instruct the DPRK and Chinese representatives to denounce the arrogance and absurdity of the US speech, which was completely a clamor on the battlefield and devoid of sincerity in peace talks, and rejected all the absurd demands of the US side with a firm and tough attitude.
However, the self-righteous Americans, thinking that China would not shed tears without seeing the coffin, launched a large-scale offensive behind the negotiations, sent a plane to invade the neutral zone, hovered at a low altitude, dropped 4 fire-fired bombs, 12 anti-personnel bombs, and then fired at the DPRK and Chinese delegations.
Now the volunteers can be provoked, and this barbarian who does not know how to do it must know, "Chinese is not easy to provoke, it is not easy to provoke, it is not easy to provoke"!
Therefore, the volunteers immediately launched a strong counteroffensive, and the US offensive in the summer and autumn failed, and the US representatives had to return to the negotiating table with a thick skin and ashes.
But the unreasonable Americans always want to make small moves in negotiations and take advantage of small advantages.
2. Korean and Chinese prisoners of war, "monsters" that the Americans cannot control
In the Korean armistice talks, the most hotly debated and time-consuming issue between the two sides was the repatriation of prisoners of war.
Under the Geneva International Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, belligerents must accord good humanitarian treatment to their respective prisoners of war and release and repatriate all prisoners without delay at the end of the war.
At that time, China had not yet signed the Convention, but it had always strictly adhered to all the provisions of the Convention, treated United Nations prisoners of war very well, not only provided them with clean beds, nutritious food, fruits, and drinks, but also allowed them to communicate with their families, giving them the greatest freedom and humanity in the prisoner-of-war camps.
Treatment of United Nations prisoners of war in the Sino-Korean prisoner-of-war camps
When the American prisoners of war, who were raised white and fat, were released, they once praised the media: "This is the world's first class prisoner camp!" ”
Where they came to be prisoners, they simply came to visit the door and knock on the house.
In 1952, Mrs. Felton, President of the British Women's Conference, visited our captured United Nations prisoners of war
Even Ridgway had to admit that if the war was viewed in terms of the "prisoner of war issue," it would be a contest between civilization and barbarism.
China is civilized, while the United States is barbaric.
Because the United States, which signed the Geneva Conventions, shamefully violated all the rules regarding prisoners of war.
The Americans kept the Korean and Chinese prisoners of war in barbed wire, a tent for 50 people, no beds, all of them huddled on the damp mud to rest, not allowed to speak, not allowed to look around, only 400 grams of mold rice a day, and at night with searchlights, bright as day, so that the Korean and Chinese prisoners of war could not sleep, and during the day they had to do heavy physical work such as carrying ammunition.
Treatment of our personnel in American prisoner of war camps
What is even more cruel is that the United States went so far as to use prisoners of war for surgical experiments!
According to two Western journalists with a sense of justice, Englishman Alan Winnington and Australian Wilfred:
The Americans cut off four limbs of most Korean and Chinese prisoners of war, some even one leg had to be amputated five or six times, while those with tracheitis or pleurisy had their ribs amputated many times, and one of the prisoners named Kim Chun-san had five ribs amputated.
According to statistics, of the 2,172 wounded and sick Chinese prisoners of war treated by the US military medical service, nearly half had two limbs amputated. Of the 6,000 Chinese prisoners of war, 1,172 were so-called "surgical patients," 84 percent of whom were crippled and incapacitated, and even four had their limbs amputated, leaving only bare torsos. Another 4,000 people contracted malaria and died from passive treatment by the U.S. military.
In order to rescue our soldiers as soon as possible, the DPRK-Chinese delegation repeatedly tolerated the US side during the negotiations, but the stupid Americans never knew what to do, harbored ghosts, and insisted on making the DPRK and China embarrassed.
On 11 December 1951, a meeting of the group to negotiate the issue of prisoners of war began. The DPRK and China proposed to promptly repatriate all prisoners of war after the armistice in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The US representative, Billy, proposed to exchange the list of prisoners of war and then talk about repatriation.
Because of its lack of experience in international wars, the Chinese army also followed the old tradition of civil war, educating and releasing prisoners, so that when it came time to exchange lists, the ratio of prisoners to the enemy reached 14:1.
Therefore, the United States took advantage of this to make a big fuss and even proposed a "one-on-one" exchange, and the prisoners of war who were not exchanged were either replaced by civilians or swore not to fight again in the future. This is simply a human trade in slave times.
The DPRK and China immediately angrily refuted: "The release and repatriation of prisoners of war is not human trafficking, and today in the 20th century is not the era of barbaric slavery!" ”
However, Americans with a long tradition of slave trade are not ashamed to eat the scales - iron heart, but to do so.
Not only that, they also directed and acted in a dark and bloody "voluntary repatriation".
Truman said, "Communism is a system that ignores human dignity and human freedom." For our part, we must not agree to the forced return of those who yearn for freedom to such a system. ”
The so-called "voluntary repatriation" means that the United States, under the slogan of humanitarianism, tells the lie that it follows the wishes of the DPRK and Chinese prisoners of war and allows them to choose to return home or refuse to return home, but in fact uses all kinds of coercion and abuse to prevent them from returning home, in a vain attempt to smear communism through such despicable and indecent means, so as to tell the world that the DPRK and China are the aggressors, so that their captured soldiers do not want to return home, but want to flee to the Western "free world."
In order to achieve this conspiracy, in early April 1952, the United States began a cruel and terrible "repatriation screening" of Korean and Chinese prisoners of war.
Truman even said, "This is a fundamental principle, at least not to force them back with a sharp knife." ”
Yes, the Americans did not force the Korean prisoners of war to go home with knives, but forced them with knives not to go home!
The American soldiers put a sharp knife against the chest of the Korean and Chinese prisoners of war and forced them to draw a detention on the "refusal to return" book, and if anyone did not comply, he would be severely beaten, and then let him "reconsider."
On 18 February, the humiliating prisoners of war at Camp 62 rose up in resistance, and the Americans brutally crushed 373 people with tanks and swept them with guns.
A more cruel scene occurred in Camp 72, known as the "Hall of Hades". In this earthly purgatory, 62 patriots insisted on shouting about returning to the motherland, but they were cut alive, 7 washbasins were loaded, and the devils threatened other prisoners of war with knives with their flesh, and whoever dared to say that they would return to the country would "make dumplings" with his meat and eat them!
However, our warriors all have an iron will and would rather die than give in. The famous martyr Lin Xueqi died at this time, and at the last moment of his life, he still shouted "Long live China"!
Not only that, the Americans also summoned Chiang Fang's agents and asked them to tattoo Chiang Fang's banners and slogans on the prisoners of war, so that they did not dare to return to China because of shame.
However, both the Americans and Chiang Fang's agents underestimated the patriotic determination of our soldiers, and they would rather not have this piece of meat, this skin, than let Chiang Fang's flag and slogan stay on their bodies for a second longer, and they scratched or burned their skin with fire until all the patterns on their bodies were erased.
In order to speed up the success of the conspiracy, the United States has built a tall censorship room on Geoje Island, and Taiwan spies at the door form two narrow passages, one is full of flowers, the road to Taiwan's "freedom", and the other is a sharp knife road, the gate to the motherland's "hell". If you want to return to China, you must run into the sword formation of the spies with your head, slow down and not dead or disabled.
But our volunteer soldiers were undaunted and ran desperately towards the sword formation, and the first volunteer martyr to rush out was Shi Zhenqing, who also became the first person to die in order to return to China.
The American prisoner-of-war camp on Geoje Island has no humanity, no freedom, only endless abuse and killing.
Truman's American civilization and free world is a joke. This barbaric crime of killing prisoners of war directed by him will forever be engraved on the pillar of shame in human history!
The Americans, dressed in the coat of "humanitarianism", turned the prisoner-of-war camp into a human purgatory that tested the soul and will of the prisoners of war, in an attempt to control the prisoners of war and smear the DPRK and China.
However, the Americans never expected that the DPRK-China prisoners of war were "monsters" that they could not control, not only letting their plots go to naught, but also making them lose face, leaving a lingering black spot in the US military history and becoming an international joke.
Third, the Jedi counterattack of Korean and Chinese prisoners of war became a scandal in the history of the US military
The DPRK and Chinese prisoners of war realized that the resistance of a single or a small number of prisoners of war could not play a role in the prisoner-of-war camps at all, and would only increase sacrifices; only by exposing to the world the illusion of the "voluntary repatriation" of the Americans and the inhumane treatment of the DPRK and Chinese prisoners of war, and using international public opinion to attack the United States, could they win a glimmer of hope.
So they joined forces to create a "red prisoner of war camp" and developed a "disclosure plan".
First of all, volunteer prisoners of war held hunger strikes and demonstrations for many days, and proposed that if they wanted to negotiate, they could only let Dude come, and other American officers came with a gray nose, and in desperation, they could only let Dude come.
As soon as Dude came, the volunteer prisoners of war changed their previous attitude and were very cooperative. Dude was immediately complacent, feeling that he was so dignified that even the volunteer prisoners of war had to be obedient.
After the volunteer prisoners of war successfully confused Dodd, the 76th Prisoner of War Wing also offered to negotiate with Dodd. Dude, who was smug, agreed without thinking. Unexpectedly, this move not only ruined his military career, but also made the United States lose face and became an international joke.
On May 7, 1952, the unsuspecting Dude came to the gate of the 76th Wing prisoner of war camp and shouted very arrogantly: "Prisoners of war must look like prisoners of war!" ”
But he didn't know that a large woven net had already wanted him to pounce.
Just as Dodd arrogantly spoke, a dozen KPA prisoners of war suddenly rushed out, locked Dodd's waist, lifted his limbs, dragged him into the camp, and then quickly closed the gate. Dude's retinue Rayside survived because he clinged to the pillar outside the door.
Lei Bian immediately got up from the ground and quickly ran to report the message: The big thing is not good, the prisoners of war have captured General Dodd!
When the bad news came out, Ridgway and Van Vleet thought that there was something wrong with their ears, and after repeated confirmation, they had to admit this fact, and hurriedly ordered that the news be strictly prohibited, but unfortunately it was too late, and the pervasive news reporters had long spread the news to every corner of the world.
"Dud's capture" made the United States a joke, and a series of events that followed pushed the United States to the forefront of international public opinion.
On May 8, the chief of staff of the US 1st Army, Colson, transferred a tank company, an infantry battalion, and then concentrated all the first-level shooters of the 8th Army, which was not enough, and sent the elite 187th Airborne Regiment, prepared a large amount of terrible poison gas, and each soldier put on a gas mask and strictly guarded outside the door of the 76th Prisoner of War Wing, just waiting for the news that Dude had been threatened or even killed inside, and then rushed into the bloodbath prisoner of war camp as soon as possible.
However, the clever prisoners of war did not leave the Americans with the slightest chance. In the prisoner of war camp, Dodd not only did not receive the slightest threat, but even enjoyed "VIP treatment".
They not only vacated a tent for Dodd to live in, separated the bedroom and office with blankets and white cloth, allowed two unarmed American soldiers to come in to serve Dodd, but also intimately asked someone to bring medicine to treat Dodd's stomach ulcer, and even invited him to watch a theatrical performance in the prisoner-of-war camp.
In addition, the prisoners of war made a banner 7 meters long and 2 meters wide and hung at the door, which read:
"We captured Brigadier General Dodd and absolutely guaranteed his life. When we are finished, he will be safely repatriated, and you will be fully responsible for the adverse consequences caused by serious arming. ”
The prisoners of war did such a tricky thing that it made it difficult for the Americans, who could not wait to attack, but could not find the slightest excuse.
On May 9, Ridgway, Clark, and Van Vleet, who had successively served as commanders of the "United Nations Forces," gathered on Geoje Island, where three American generals with 1 million troops were sitting at their desks, frowning deeply and studying how to deal with a group of unarmed Korean and Chinese prisoners of war.
This has become a major anecdote in the history of world wars, and it is also the scandal that the United States most wants to erase.
Just when Ridgway was impatient and ready to cut off news reports and conduct a secret bloodbath in the prisoner of war camp regardless of Dodd's life or death, the unclear-minded Dude successfully negotiated with the prisoner of war camp, which saved the tragedy from happening.
The representatives of the DPRK-China prisoners of war drafted the "Indictment of the DPRK-China Congress of Prisoners of War to the People of the World" to expose the dark truth of the prisoner-of-war camps to the people of the world. And made 4 demands to Dodd:
1. Immediately stop humiliating, torture, torture, imprisonment, and testing poisonous gas and bacteriological weapons with prisoners of war, and safeguard the human rights and lives of prisoners of war in accordance with the provisions of international law.
2. Immediately cease the illegal voluntary repatriation of prisoners of war.
3. Stop screening under the coercion of force.
4. Recognition of the delegation of prisoners of war.
With the exception of Article II, the Americans acknowledged all the crimes committed in the camps and promised to treat them humanely in accordance with international law.
However, as soon as the prisoners of war released Dodd and succeeded Ridgway as commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces, Clark broke his promise in front of the world, tore up his promise, and took frenzied revenge on the prisoners of war.
He sent the most elite U.S. airborne troops, killed more than 100 unarmed prisoners of war, and imprisoned the entire Korean and Chinese prisoner-of-war delegation.
However, the ugly face of the Americans who tortured and killed prisoners has been exposed to the people of the world, and no one believes in the hypocritical "humanity and freedom" of the United States, and the world is denounced, even Britain, an ally of the United States, has protested.
Chinese heard the news and was completely furious! Comrade Mao Runzhi said: "Just fight until US imperialism is willing to stop, and until the people of the DPRK and China are completely victorious!" ”
On January 25, 1953, the United States launched its last offensive in Korea at "T-Zi Mountain", where a large number of US congressmen, senior generals, and journalists gathered to watch the huge offensive of the United States and how to strike at the volunteer army.
170,000 shells, 220,000 pounds of bombs, 1 battalion of American infantry, surging towards the small "T-shaped mountain", but unexpectedly, they were easily repelled by 1 platoon of the volunteer army with grenades! The last offensive of the United States came to an end like a farce.
Today, unlike in the past, the volunteers are no longer what they were when they first entered the DPRK, and the volunteers are stronger and know how to fight the US army better.
The newly appointed head of state, Eisenhower, finally stopped ostentatiating and was bent on seeking peace, and Comrade Mao Runzhi cured his hot and cold "malaria" in the First World War.
On 8 June, the prisoner-of-war agreement was finally reached, and thus all the issues of the armistice agreement were agreed.
On July 27, 1953, when the news of the signing of the armistice agreement reached Beijing, Comrade Mao Runzhi happily sang Beijing opera in the courtyard, "We can take off our military uniforms, I take them off, and you will take them off." ”
Taking off our military uniforms means that we have finally won this war, and the worries of the past three years can finally be released.
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese People's Volunteers suffered about 360,000 casualties, consumed more than 5.6 million tons of materials, and spent 6.25 billion yuan on the war.
This is a victory stained red with blood, a war that looks at death as home, forges ahead bravely for justice, for peace, and for the people, and never shrinks!
This battle has brought out the national prestige and military prestige of the mainland, played the spirit of the Chinese people, and fully demonstrated the iron and bloody nature of daring to fight and win!
The heroes have buried their bones in the mountains, but the spirit of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea forged by them lives forever in the world, waiting for us to inherit, carry forward, and pass on, and live on from generation to generation.
Although the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea has left us, we have always enjoyed the fruits of post-war happiness. I think this is a war that we should all be involved in, and the way to "go to war" is to relive and remember!