Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 181 Warship Piloting
It should be noted that the decision to treat prisoners of war well was absolutely the most correct one made by the General Headquarters, so Wang Gensheng naturally supported this policy.

During the three-year war of relief, the Nationalist Army, which once held an absolute advantage, became weaker and weaker due to factors such as battlefield attrition and internal corruption. On the contrary, the relief army continued to grow stronger, and its soldiers became more and more courageous in battle.

Ultimately, there were two reasons for the increase in the number of soldiers in the wartime relief forces: first, farmers in the relief areas actively joined the army; and second, a correct policy for prisoners of war was formulated.

It is important to understand that during the war of liberation, our army suffered 1.43 million casualties, while as many as 2.8 million prisoners of war were reformed and selected to join our army. It is noteworthy that by 1500, the total number of liberated troops was only 5.4 million. Such success was largely due to our army's policy of cultivating outstanding prisoners of war.

In fact, as early as 1928, when it was still the Red Army, there was already a very humane policy for prisoners of war, which was to not beat prisoners, not search their pockets, provide medical treatment for the wounded, enlist those who wanted to stay, and provide travel expenses for those who wanted to leave.

Then in 1938, regarding the issue of Japanese prisoners of war, the General Headquarters pointed out: "For the soldiers of the Japanese devils, it is not about insulting their self-esteem, but about understanding and guiding their self-esteem, treating prisoners of war leniently, and guiding them to understand the anti-people aggression of the Japanese rulers."

Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the Japanese consistently adopted a lenient policy in dealing with prisoners of war. It should be noted that the Japanese were notoriously cruel to prisoners of war. There were numerous examples of Japanese prisoners of war being shot or even used as live experimental subjects. Being used as laborers was almost the best treatment that Japanese prisoners of war could receive.

Therefore, by the time of the liberation war, our army's policy on prisoners of war had been improved and perfected through years of practice. As soon as the liberation war began, the General Headquarters issued guidelines and policies for prisoner work, such as "weakening the national army and increasing the replenishment of the liberation army" and "weighing the pros and cons and making flexible use of them".

After all, our army was able to avoid indiscriminate killing and mistreatment of Japanese prisoners of war, so it was naturally more willing to treat and absorb the Nationalist army, which was also composed of Koreans.

Regarding KMT prisoners of war, our army's handling methods can be roughly divided into the following three categories:
For captured Kuomintang soldiers, the elderly, weak, sick and disabled were repatriated and given medical treatment and assistance. Those who were healthy but unwilling to continue fighting were sent home. The remaining soldiers were educated and reformed by our army to make them understand the situation, raise their awareness, and encourage them to join our army voluntarily. This part of the prisoners of war was the main source of our army's expansion.

It is worth mentioning that many of Lao Ji's soldiers came from poor backgrounds and were forcibly conscripted into the army. Therefore, these soldiers already harbored resentment towards the Nationalist army. In comparison, they were actually more willing to join the righteous and sincere Communist army. As a result, many Nationalist prisoners of war were captured in the morning and directly joined the Communist army in the afternoon.

For captured mid- to high-ranking and mid- to lower-ranking officers, considering that these individuals have made mistakes to varying degrees due to their positions of authority, our army will first conduct centralized education for them, and then release, reform, or retain them based on the level of their mistakes and their willingness to stay.

For prisoners of war who insisted on aiding and abetting evil, harming the people and being recognized by the general public as war criminals, as well as civil war elements who, although not war criminals, had also harmed the people, and stubborn high-ranking officers, apart from a few who were executed directly due to their serious crimes, our army would generally subject them to a period of imprisonment and reform.

If these prisoners of war repent and reform after rehabilitation, our army will release or recruit them based on the degree of rehabilitation and the crimes they committed. However, ideological work with these prisoners is not easy, and because they are reluctant to change their stance, they are often imprisoned for more than ten years.

The correct policy towards prisoners of war played a significant role in the war of liberation, enabling our army to rapidly grow stronger while the Nationalist army rapidly weakened. In fact, some prisoners of war secretly returned to the Nationalist army after their release, but their experiences as prisoners greatly changed their perception of our army. Through their propaganda, the rumors circulating within the Nationalist army that the liberation army massacred prisoners of war were dispelled, our army's image was enhanced, and the enemy's morale plummeted.

Knowing all this, Wang Gensheng naturally couldn't tarnish the image of the Gongjun, so he couldn't agree to Baili Xiu's suggestion to kill him to silence him.

However, there are two difficulties: if everyone is released under these circumstances, who will teach the soldiers how to operate and maintain the warships?
Another concern is whether releasing the prisoners of war from the warship would expose its hiding place and attract enemy bombing.

If these two difficulties are not handled properly, then all of Wang Gensheng's hard work will be in vain.

It's likely that Baili Xiu had considered this point, which is why he ordered the prisoners to be killed to silence them. However, these problems aren't insurmountable; for example, more soldiers could be left to guard the ships and learn how to operate them.

Alternatively, once all the prisoners are released, they can quickly find a new location under the cover of night to move the warships. That way, even if the soldiers are released and the matter is kept secret, and the old fighter planes come to bomb them, they won't be able to find the location.

In the end, Wang Gensheng thought it over and decided to put aside the warship project for now. Instead, he took all two thousand members of his regiment aboard the ship to learn how to drive and operate it.

In particular, how to operate the cannons on a warship.

Even Wang Gensheng himself started learning. There was no other way; how could Si Ling, a naval officer, not learn how to pilot a warship?

Fortunately, the ship's chief engineer was still alive, so he was able to teach a very comprehensive range of knowledge about warship maintenance and repair.

Despite possessing a wealth of knowledge, Wang Gensheng's enhanced physical fitness also deepened his memory.

Wang Gensheng can now easily achieve the ability to remember everything he sees.

Fortunately, warships of this era did not have many electronic devices, so learning them was not too difficult.

Wang Gensheng could understand most of the mechanical equipment after just one or two glances.

The radio equipment on the warship was also learned by Du Yiman, the telegraph operator, so it was not difficult to learn.

Of course, this was just a warship built during World War II, so it naturally couldn't be equipped with radar.

Of course, this does not mean that warships during World War II were not equipped with radar.

Rather, radar technology was only just developing during World War II and was not very mature, so only large or important warships were equipped with it. The warship that Wang Gensheng seized, which was only a thousand tons, was naturally not qualified to be equipped with it.

Even the Japanese battleship Yamato was only equipped with radar in its later stages; the early Yamato battleships were not equipped with radar at all.

(End of this chapter)