ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 3618 27 February 1951
FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS SPECIAL REPORT 022) 15 February 1951
| PW NAME: | WANG, Li Te (王立德) |
| PW NUMBER: | 700173 |
| RANK: | Pvt |
| AGE: | 30 |
| DUTY: | Rifleman |
| UNIT: | 3rd Field Army, 9th Army Grp, 20th Army, 89th Div, 266th Regt, 3rd Bn, 8th Co, 3rd Plat, 8th Sqd |
| EDUCATION: | None |
| OCCUPATION: | Vegetable Peddler |
| PLACE OF CAPTURE: | HWANG CH’ORYONG (黃草嶺) |
| DATE OF CAPTURE: | 19 Dec 50 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH: | HOPEI-SHENG, POYANG-HSIEN, WANGCHUANG (河北省 濮陽縣 王莊) |
| HOME ADDRESS: | Same as above |
| INTERROGATOR: | SFC LEONG (ATIS) |
Not intelligent but fairly cooperative. Reliability - Fair.
Troops always move between 1700 and 0500. They generally march for not more than nine hours a night.
PW company has been traveling on highways only.
There is a halt for rest approximately every three hours. Such halts usually last about 15 to 20 minutes. Troops are allowed to sit down in place during the halt, but are not permitted smoke or to talk loudly. No security measures are taken during halts, such as the posting of guards in the area.
One sentry from each platoon is posted along the edge of the bivouac area which is usually occupied by one company. The guard would give warning verbally of approaching enemy aircraft. No other measures are taken as to against air, ground, or tank attacks.
Troops sleep during the day and are allowed to sleep as long as ten hours a day. They always sleep under the trees in the hills, whenever possible. When there is no hill around, troops would sleep in the fields by the highway. Troops are usually fed twice a day. One at 0500 and one at 2000 hours. Sometimes only one meal is fed when such conditions exist as shortage of food or insufficient time to prepare the meal. Meals are usually prepared in the civilians’ houses. If possible, the troops would eat their meals in the houses. Otherwise, the prepared food would be delivered to the bivouac areas. When there is no house around, meals would be prepared outdoors.
Troops seldom find opportunities to sleep indoor, almost always they sleep in groups under trees in the hills.
Only sentries in the bivouac areas would tie leaves and branches on themselves as means of camouflage.
a. Troops would march to the designated assembly area usually located between hills and would move out toward the objective from there.
b. The time the troops reach the assembly area in advance of the attack depends on the distance of the objective from the assembly area.
c. Troops would be briefed in as to the enemy’s strength, strong points, weakness, etc. Units would be assigned position to take during the attack.
d. Troops usually move out of the assembly area in single file. PW has no combat experience in KOREA therefore is unable to describe the procedure taken prior to an attack. But he knows that a scouting group is usually sent out ahead of the attacking party.
In the event of being attacked by enemy tanks, the only weapon his company had to use against the tanks were hand grenades.
a. Troops usually do not carry rations with them. Occasionally they carry a small amount of cooked soybeans which is just enough for one or two meals.
b. Each rifleman carries approximately 100 rounds of ammo. PW has never fired one single round in KOREA therefore he has not had an occasion to replace his ammo, and does not know just exactly how to get ammo supply as his company has not been in combat.
c. Men in the PW unit wear cotton padded jackets and trousers. They all wear basketball shoes. This is far from enough to keep the men warm. It is believed that no replacement of clothes will be available in case they are worn out or lost.
d. No civilian clothes are ever worn by the troops in the PW unit.
a. About three to four runners are used in each company. They carry both written and verbal messages and orders. PW does not know the distance the runners may cover.
b. Bugles, whistles and flares have never been used by the PW company in KOREA; although there was a bugler in his company.
c. Communication is slow since runners are the only available means.
PW received no training in the CCF with the exception of close order drill.
PW did not notice any diseases in his company.
About twenty percent of the troops suffer frostbite or frozen feet. PW presently recovering from frostbite.
During attacks by enemy aircrafts, while marching on a highway, troops would get off the road and immediately lie flat on the ground. In the event of being attacked while marching in the hills, they would disperse and take cover under the trees, if possible. Otherwise they would just lie flat on the ground. Troops have been told that they would not move an inch during the air attack even if wounded by the strafing. The company commander told them that he would shoot any man caught running during such an attack.
Troops are not so well disciplined as they used to be since their arrival in KOREA. Men usually do not get punished for taking things away from the Korean people.
No deserter has been reported in PW unit. A man would not know where to go should he decide to desert his unit. But any man who is found guilty of desertion would be shot right on the spot.
As a whole, Korean civilians are afraid of the CCF. They also dislike them for taking their things away.
PW does not recall any incident in which Korean civilians were used for any kind of work by the CCF.
PW did not see any Korean officers in the CCF units and knows nothing of CCF officers who have served in the North Korean units.
For the Commanding Officer:
ROBINSON
