In all wars, our army has the experience of capturing enemy troops, whether it is the War of Liberation, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the 62-year self-defense counterattack against India, the 79-year self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, or the 1984-1989 Liangshan Round Battle. Even in the recent Sino-Indian border conflict, a large number of Indian troops were captured by our army.
Therefore, our army has rich experience in captivity, and has also formed a habit of shouting to the enemy in battle: "Surrender the gun and not kill, we will treat the prisoners preferentially." This sentence has become an old tradition of our army, whether it is in Chinese, Vietnamese, Hakka and Hokkien, you can hear the sound of this sentence.
During the war against Vietnam and the Liangshan round battle in 79, our soldiers learned Vietnamese and shouted: "Nuo Song Kongye (surrender the gun and don't kill)", Zongdui Kuanhong poisonous soldiers (we treat prisoners preferentially)"!
In 2022, a section of our army's training** was circulated in Taiwan Province, and the People's Liberation Army in ** shouted in Hakka and Hokkien: "Surrender quickly, we will treat prisoners preferentially."
1. Did you know? The original phrase was "We are lenient with our captives"!
As early as October 25, 1937, ** talked to the British journalist Bertrand that there were three major principles in the political work of the Eighth Route Army: first.
First, the officers and men are unanimous. Clause.
Second, the military and the people are consistent. Clause.
3. Dismantle the enemy army and treat prisoners leniently.
On August 4, 1948, the Xinhua News Agency also issued a special instruction, saying that the prisoners should not be given "preferential treatment", but only "lenient treatment", because they should not be allowed to live better than our soldiers, otherwise it would cause misunderstanding.
But later, the troops became accustomed to shouting "preferential treatment of prisoners", and preferential treatment of ** prisoners, so that they could help persuade other ** to surrender, which can reduce the ** of our army, so this statement has been used.
Of course, for the ** prisoners, our army still did not abuse, scold, or search their pockets, but their living conditions were not higher than those of our officers and soldiers.
Second, our prisoner policy is really "preferential treatment" for foreign military prisoners, and their treatment is better than ours!
During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the supplies of the Volunteer Army were very tight, and the front-line soldiers could sometimes only eat fried rice and snow. However, the treatment of prisoners of war became better and better, and finally each prisoner of war could eat 875 grams of white flour or rice, as well as 50 grams of cooking oil, 50 grams of meat, 50 grams of fish and other foods every day. If you do the math, each prisoner of war will pay 1,545 yuan (old currency) for food every day, and if he is sick, he will need 2,313 yuan or 3,634 yuan. This standard is much higher than that of ordinary cadres and fighters.
In the 1962 self-defense counterattack against India, our army also treated Indian prisoners very favorably.
He Xicheng, born in Qidong County, Hunan Province in 1937, enlisted in the army in 1954, and served as a security officer in the political office of a regiment of the 130th Division of the 54th Army in 62. He recalled:
After this campaign, I also did "prisoner management work" for a while. We treated thousands of Indian prisoners of war very favorably according to the instructions of *** and ***, we were wearing old cotton clothes at that time, but each of the Indian prisoners was given a new set of cotton clothes, which was not only better than our soldiers in terms of food, but also gave each of them a pack of "Daqianmen" cigarettes every day. Because many of the captives were Muslims, we also organized them to pray and to play basketball and other recreational activities. Later, when we handed over these Indian prisoners to their "Red Cross", many of them hugged us and wept bitterly, unwilling to return to China, and some even said, "They are willing to be prisoners of China for the rest of their lives."
Lao Ka felt that the new cotton clothes issued to the prisoners were not deliberately made to let them wear the old cotton clothes we worn, which is understandable, and organizing them to do "worship" and "play basketball" is also to respect their faith and entertainment needs, which is also understandable, but why give everyone a "big front door"?
In 79, when we fought with the two mountains, our army also captured a lot of Vietnamese soldiers, and these Vietnamese prisoners also lived very comfortably, and they also made a fortune when they were captured.
Vietnamese prisoners were given meat, eggs, and milk every day in the detention center. Moreover, the prisoners were given a monthly allowance of 25 yuan, which was higher than that of the Vietnamese army and our soldiers.
At that time, the monthly allowance for our recruits was only 6 yuan in the first year, 7 yuan in the second year, 8 yuan in the third year, and 10 yuan in the fourth year.
Lao Ka joined the army in 1989 and went to the Guangzhou base of the navy, and during the three months of April, May and June in the recruit company, the allowance was only 20 yuan per month, which was not as good as the Vietnamese prisoners 10 years ago.
Therefore, the Vietnamese prisoners were imprisoned for a year, not to mention eating and drinking, and gaining weight, and they could also bring 300 yuan in savings back to China, isn't this a small fortune?
3. In the next war, we must maintain the fine tradition of not mistreating prisoners, but we should never treat prisoners more than the standard of living of our own officers and soldiers!
In the next war, we may capture a lot of foreign troops or puppet troops in Taiwan Province, and we have also had this experience.
If the puppet army of Taiwan Province can admit that they are Chinese, then it is better to say that it is okay to give preferential treatment, after all, it is their own family members who fight, and it is still brothers who put down their guns.
However, with regard to the captured foreign troops, whether they are the U.S. Army, the British Army, or the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, our army should insist on not abusing or beating or scolding the prisoners, but it must no longer treat the prisoners as preferentially as before! Let them live like the soldiers, at most take care of their eating habits.
Things like giving Indian prisoners a pack of cigarettes a day and a monthly allowance of 20 yuan to Vietnamese prisoners can no longer be done!
We must remember that we are fighting to defend the motherland and the people, our officers and soldiers are the loveliest people, our people are the greatest people, and our country is the most powerful country!
We must be responsible for our own officers and men and people, we must be proud of our country and nation, we must be angry at the enemy's aggression and bullying, and we must be firm in our belief and determination in victory!
We must use our bravery and wisdom to defeat all enemies, defend our territory and sovereignty, maintain our peace and development, and realize our rejuvenation and dreams!
We want the whole world to know that we are Chinese, we are the People's Liberation Army, and we are invincible!
We don't mistreat prisoners, but we don't treat prisoners favorably, we only treat our own officers and soldiers and people, we only treat our own country and nation!
This is our old tradition, this is our new philosophy, this is our battle cry:
Surrender the gun and don't kill, we treat ourselves preferentially!