"Fun" fact : The Morpho conception is based on the Schwerer Gustav railway gun built by Nazi Germany during World War II. Even the 800mm caliber and the dimensions/weight are the same (The firepower too)
its not really that he cares for them that much... its because of his ideal... remember what he said on their 2nd meeting... that humanity is better off destroyed if they have to kill children...and now, of all people the federacy sent a bunch of children to a suicide mission basically because they would be the least missed and necessary so if they die in that mission it would go against the very ideals he and the federacy stand for
In the scene where shin's comrades were thanking shin (which was a very beautiful scene), all of this was actually going through shin's mind (that is, shin was telling himself that if it wasn't for me, my comrades would not have had this honorable death and because of me It was that they had such an honorable death ) and in fact he convinced himself that it was useful to his comrades . You may know, but I said it might be something interesting.