The brazen intervention of the United States in the Korean battlefield also forced China to intervene in the war from the perspective of "defending the homeland and defending the country", and from 1950 to 1953, the US military suffered very heavy losses on the Korean battlefield.
If there is a war, there will be prisoners of war, and this war has not completely stopped for several years, and the highest-ranking prisoner of war captured by the Sino-Korean coalition is Major General William Fisher Dean.
Since neither side knew about the other party's situation with prisoners of war before the war, the major general had a sense of "coming back from the dead" after he returned, and even wrote a book called"Adventures in Capture in Korea".
Major General William Fisher Dean.
After graduating from the ROTC, Dean became an ensign, and since then, he's been a bit busy, taking care of his father's farm and studying in the U.S. National Guard.
Soon,Pacific Warbroke out, and the United States also chose to formally enter the war at this juncture, and there were not many people in the country, so the soldiers who had been educated at the Higher Military Academy naturally became "sought-after goods".
Dean was also noticed by the troops in this situation, and was soon promoted from second lieutenant to brigadier general, and soon after, due to the personnel adjustment of the army, Dean successfully had the rank of major general.
When he first participated in the war, Major General Dean's focus was always on the European theater, and he was honored here.
At that time, Hitler's troops were already in a state of collapse, they fled to the mountainous terrain of Bavaria, and in order to prevent the enemy from continuing to approach the mountainous area, Dean led his troops to garrison the outskirts of the mountainous area and held their positions.
The Germans were better equipped than the Americans, but at that time the morale of the army was already quite unstable, and after a breakthrough without success, they surrendered directly.
Dean went to surrender as a commander, but he didn't expect that there were more German ** people who were captured than the number of his own troops, and Dean became a hero of the United States.
Unexpectedly, a few years later, this major general, who had meritorious service in capturing the enemy, became a prisoner himself.
After the outbreak of the Korean War,TrumanUrgent electricity, commandMacArthurLeading the army to the Korean Peninsula, the top commander immediately began to mobilize troops, including the 24th Division, which performed very well in the Pacific theater and could be described as "repeatedly miraculous", and it was a very suitable choice for them to go.
MacArthurMajor General Dean thus came to the Korean battlefield, and in his eyes, compared to the well-equipped German soldiers, the DPRK was simply a group of "peasant army", and it was even possible to carry a hoe to the battlefield.
So, after coming ashore from Busan, Dean led his troops to take over the fortifications of Daejeon, and Han **min was of course very happy, and a reporter made a special trip to interview Major General Dian, and the reply he got was also very concise: "I want to taste the cold noodles of Pyongyang." ”
As a result, just a few days after arriving, the U.S. army and the North Korean army fought a battle at Zhumyling, and the U.S. army lost more than half of it at once, and the 24th Division rushed to the battlefield when it heard the news, and immediately threw itself into the battlefield in an attempt to prevent the North Korean army from continuing to move south, but this did not play any role at all.
In mid-July, the 3rd Division of the DPRK Army, seeing that the situation of the battle was very favorable to itself, immediately launched a fierce attack on DaejeonDaejeon Airportof the American artillery positions were hit by howitzers and were helpless.
Major General Dean, who had no one in his eyes at the beginning, is now also starting to panic, and the loss of Daejeon is not a big problem, if his own life is gone, this problem will be big.
On the night of July 20, North Korean tanks rushed into the city of Daejeon and started a war of annihilation against the remnants, and the American troops were generally "life-saving" on the battlefield.
The group walked and walked, but they even went in the wrong direction, and suddenly plunged into the encirclement of the Korean army, and were beaten again, and when Major General Dean broke through, there were few people around him.
said that it was a breakthrough, but it was just to find a step down for the major general, and the real situation was that he found the enemy and immediately rushed to the nearby mountains and forests.
Major General Dean's next struggle has nothing to do with the identity of a soldier, it is a land version of "Robinson Crusoe".
He originally planned to climb over a mountain peak, and he remembered that there should be American troops, but as he turned over, he stumbled and fell into the depths of the valley, and instantly lost consciousness, and at this time, he was the only one left.
Fortunately, the branches were lush on the way to the fall, and Major General Dean was not killed or seriously injured, and he had to wander alone in the valley cold and hungry, relying on "wild meat" and wild fruits to satisfy his hunger.
After wandering in the mountains and forests for thirty-six days, he finally saw the exit of the mountains and forests, and at the end of August, he successfully made his way out of Jingun, Jeollabuk-do, but was caught by Korean guerrillas as soon as he came out.
He had just been caught, his face was yellow and thin, and he had lost almost a hundred pounds.
At this time, Major General Dean had almost broken through his limit, so he was willing to be a prisoner, compared to any major general and division commander, what he hoped was that he could eat a bowl of hot rice.
Therefore, after the intimate Korean guerrillas learned that this person was Major General Dean, who had made a lot of nonsense a few days ago, they immediately arranged for him to have cold noodles in Pyongyang, and Major General Dean, who had been struggling in the lonely mountains for nearly 40 days, ate several bowls in a row, which could be regarded as a "great feast."
On the other side, after Major General Dean fell into the cliff, the personnel of the division headquarters also found the right way and hurriedly went back to report the situation.
This matter soon reached MacArthur's ears, and he immediately sent the US Eighth Army to search for the whereabouts of Major General Dean, but after a long search process, the Major General was still missing, thereforeMacArthur came to the conclusion that "Major General Dean was martyred."
After the Chinese People's Volunteers entered the war in Korea, many prisoners of war were also captured, and most of them were then transferred to the mountains of northern Korea.
On the other hand, the US-led coalition treated a large number of Korean civilians and Chinese migrant workers as "prisoners of war" and forcibly imprisoned them in US prisoner of war camps, inhumanely tortured and even tortured.
Therefore, in the beginning, many American prisoners of war felt that as long as they entered the prisoner of war camp, then they were not far from death.
However, under the inspiration of the lenient treatment of prisoners of war by China and North Korea, many prisoners of war have changed their thinking, one of them is calledFrank KnollBecause of his knowledge of photography, he quickly became a member of the reporting team, and he shuttled through the various prisoner of war management regiments of the Volunteer Army, took a lot of **, and spread it to the Asian branch of the Associated Press, which caused a great sensation at the time.
And what shocked the American prisoners of war was that the volunteers would also ** wound and sick prisoners of war.
For example, there was a US military major who was almost blind in both eyes, and when Western medicine** was ineffective, the military doctor suggested that he try acupuncture**.
But after hearing about acupuncture, the major couldn't believe it, but he still felt that he had become a prisoner of war, even if he died, it was someone else's business, and his fate was no longer in his hands.
Unexpectedly, after acupuncture**, the doctor finally regained his sight, and he sighed excitedly: "This is an oriental miracle!" ”
It can be seen that Major General Dean's life in the prisoner of war camp is also quite good, and at the beginning, he thought that after eating a few bowls of cold noodles, the army should send him "on the road".
Unexpectedly, although life in the prisoner of war camp was boring, at least they were normal people, and the Chinese and North Korean troops did not treat them as animals, but not far away from the US army, Major General Dean was already dead.
It is precisely because of this policy of treating prisoners of war that after the report, a wave of "resistance to the war" was also set off in Britain and the United States and other countries, and many relatives of the prisoners received letters from their children, in which they also said that they were living well in the prisoner of war camps.
Some parents took to the streets to start a march, calling for "Have children, not war!" ”
Under the idea of world hegemony by the United States, although the US military did not take advantage of anything on the Korean battlefield, they were still unwilling to accept defeat, and the military expenditure that could be consumed was too high, and the opinions of the people were too great, so they had no choice but to negotiate.
After more than two years of negotiations on the Korean armistice, more than 1,000 meetings of all sizes were held, and an agreement was finally signed at the end of July 1953.
Through the radio, the vast number of prisoners of war heard the news of the armistice, and the prisoner of war camp was boiling instantly, and the long-awaited peaceful life was finally coming.
The first group of prisoners of war, who had spent more than two years with the guards, were now leaving, and they were even a little reluctant, and they sincerely said: "I hope that the United States will never fight with North Korea and China again!" ”
The two sides also began the process of exchanging prisoners of war, and many people learned that Major General Dean of the US Army had finally returned from the prisoner of war camp.
Interestingly, when the U.S. military unilaterally recognized Dean's death, the U.S. Congress also awarded him the Congressional Medal of Honor.
But shortly after the medal was issued, news came from the Korean Peninsula: "Dean is not dead, he has gone to be a prisoner of war." ”
Moreover, his life in the prisoner of war camp was quite good, and by the way, he was also accompanied by General Dean's **.
Now the U.S. official can't get it round, so she has to silently accept the reality, Dean's wife was at home every day with tears on her face, after hearing the news, she quickly returned the medal, compared to this cold medal, or her husband's life is more precious.
At this point, the so-called "justice" of the United States has been slapped in the face.
Because the United States has always had distorted propaganda about China and North Korea, they are unwilling to admit that these two countries treat prisoners of war so kindly, and the United States, which has always used peace as a pretext, is waging war everywhere.
The repatriation committee also held a special banquet to see off Dean when he was leaving, which moved Major General Dean to a handful of snot and tears, he can be regarded as the first batch of prisoners of war to be captured, naturally he had mixed feelings, and he drank crookedly at the scene.
On 4 September, Major General Dean was repatriated to South Korea, through which he left the Korean Peninsula and returned to the United States.
After returning to China, he immediately became a hero of the United States and was appointed deputy commander of the Sixth Army by the authorities.
For a long time, he could not get out of this war, and he also wrote a letter to the leaders of China and North Korea, expressing his special feelings for this war as an ordinary soldier.
Later, Dean wrote a book, "Adventures in Korea," detailing his life in the mountains and later in a prisoner of war camp, which quickly became popular with the American public.
He retired from the army at the end of October 1955 and stayed at home until August 24, 1981, when Dean died at home at the age of 82.