The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest and most violent conflicts in the second half
of the 20th century.
After the First Indochina War, Vietnam was divided into two states, North and South,
with those in the North being mostly communist and those in the South, capitalist.
It was agreed to hold a referendum a year later, with the intention that the Vietnamese
would vote on whether to remain divided or reunify.
But this never happened, as the South's leaders, in an attempt to avoid reunification from
happening, began a coup d'état.
Thus began a long war of attrition in which the U.S. and several allied countries supported
South Vietnam with arms and troops, while North Vietnam would be backed by China and
the Soviet Union.
A North Vietnamese-backed guerrilla group, called the Vietcong, having a clear disadvantage
in terms of weapons and soldiers, but a great knowledge of the terrain and battlefield,
began using ingenious and unorthodox traps that proved to be quite effective and terrifying
against the enemy.
Today we’ll learn about the dreaded "booby traps" that managed to stand up to an army
armed to the brim, welcome to Copernicus’s Galaxy.
Punji sticks or Punji stakes
This type of trap was one of the simplest and most rudimentary employed by the Vietcong,
since anyone was capable of making them, being the most infamous of all, and accounting for
2% of the wounds suffered by U.S. soldiers.
The traps consisted of boards glued to bamboo stakes cut diagonally making them very sharp.These
slats were hidden in a small hole, which was covered by a thin wooden plate that was camouflaged
with leaves, branches and grass.
The spikes were also often covered with animal waste or poison to facilitate the infection
of the wound and to delay the advance of the troops.
From these traps they began to create different variants that adjusted to each situation,
making them less and less predictable.
In addition, none of the traps needed the presence of the Vietnamese soldiers to be
triggered.
On the contrary, they used them to determine the location of the enemy, thanks to the screams
of pain that the soldiers produced when they fell into them.
Among them was the plank trap, which consisted of a mechanism placed on the ground.
When it was stepped on, it was activated, coming up and nailing all the spikes in the
stomach or chest of the unfortunate soldier.
The ingenuity of their traps had no limits, taking their now characteristic bamboo spikes
to new heights by means of mud, wood or metal that they fastened to the trees with a primitive
system of cables.
When activated, this heavy metal mace would fall at great speeds, generating a pendulum
effect, which was intended to impale several soldiers at a time in true Indiana Jones style.
And if your idea was to try to take refuge in one of the abandoned structures in the
jungle villages, we regret to inform you that it would be in vain...above the doors, death
traps made of a wooden structure with spikes at different heights were also installed,
which were triggered as soon as the doors were opened, perforating multiple parts of
the body and often ending the life of anyone who tried to enter.
U.S. soldiers had to always be alert, because the environment itself was turning against
them.
They could not trust anything, because what seemed safe could be a ticket to hell.
Many of the existing bridges were manipulated and cut slightly in half or created from the
beginning to fail, throwing many soldiers towards spikes camouflaged under water or
mud.
You may wonder how many different traps could be made with the same simple idea of a few
cut bamboo rods or sharp pieces of metal?
But the resourcefulness of the Vietcong soldiers knew no bounds, so there are still several
more to mention.
For example, the so-called "Venus flytrap", which clearly referring to the mechanism by
which these carnivorous plants obtain their food, consisted of the same main idea of the
square hole dug in the ground.
But this time with movable spikes that did not hurt you when you fell, but rather damaged
the soldier's leg when trying to pull it out of the trap, tearing it at the slightest movement.
But undoubtedly one of the most fearsome was the side-locking ones, which consisted of
two spiked wooden boards supported by a pair of thick elastic bands that were placed inside
a camouflaged hole.
When the person fell into the hole, it would close, perforating the soldier on both sides
and turning him into a human sandwich.
There was also a variant, born from the homemade bear traps that, since ancient times, the
Vietnamese inhabitants used for hunting.
It consisted of the same original trap, where they made a slight central cut so that, when
stepped on by the enemy, it would give way under the weight, splitting in two and sticking
the spikes into the sides of the leg.
If a bear trap wasn't enough, how about a tiger trap?..Those soldiers, who had miraculously
avoided all the previous traps, did not expect a large wooden board with metal spikes on
it, tied to trees and a pile of heavy stones on top, to fall from the heights.
This trap was activated thanks to an undetectable cable stretched at ankle height that activated
the deadly mechanism as soon as the soldier passed in front of it.
All of these traps were simple but ingenious so far.
However, the Vietcong soldiers did not limit themselves to the use of bamboo and metal
spikes alone, moving on to more elaborate tools.
The Vietnamese guerrillas developed an automatic mechanism to launch arrows into the chest
of their enemies by means of an elaborate system of taut strings and pieces of bamboo
that fired the pointed projectile into the victim at a 45-degree angle when the victim
triggered the trap by passing over the strategically placed wire.
The last punji trap is a classic one from the movies, consisting of a bamboo pole with
multiple spikes on one end that was attached to a log and bent backwards to form an arch
that was attached to a rope system.
When the soldier passed in front of the trap, he would activate the rope, which released
the bamboo pole, impaling the victim at a speed of approximately 160 km/hr.
Explosive Traps.
Within this category were the usual grenades, mines and mortars, which by themselves had
no merit.
But as with the previous section, what makes them interesting are the clever and inventive
ways in which they were utilized.
The greatest example of explosives used this way was the flag traps.
It was well known to everyone that the U.S. military liked to capture the enemy's flag
after controlling a position or winning a battle, as a trophy.
So the Vietcong came up with the idea of tying the flag's rope to the safety pin of a grenade
placed at the base of the flagpole, so that when the flag was taken, an explosion would
blast the soldier who lowered it.
On the other hand, the use of mines was much less creative, being used to protect the entrances
to the tunnels that the Vietcong built for their mobility and difficult detection.
They were placed on either side of the entrance so that when U.S. soldiers peeked in to inspect
them, they were detonated by a Vietcong member.
Typical grenade traps were also used, placed in the middle of the road, with a wire attached
to the safety pin and a wooden stake to keep the wire taut.
This way, when the soldier came in contact, he would press it, activating a grenade that
would explode instantly.
Only this time they would hide them inside food cans or place them underwater where they
were practically undetectable.
Mortars were another type of rudimentary trap that were placed underground, inside a piece
of bamboo, leaving a small space where they’d put any object capable of setting off the
firing pin at the slightest amount of pressure, detonating the mortar.
Another similar trap was also used with bullets, which when triggered, would perforate the
foot of the poor devil who had fallen into the trap.
Rudimentary Biological Traps
The U.S. military had highly dangerous and terrifying laboratory-produced chemicals at
its disposal, but the Vietnamese guerrilla group had managed to make their own biological
traps, which, although much more primitive, managed to provoke panic among the unfortunate
soldiers who set one off.
The Vietcong used any resource at their disposal as a weapon against their enemy and animals
were no exception.
Mainly, these traps used two types of poisonous animals.
First, there were the wasp traps, which consisted of a box with thousands of these small insects
inside that were released by means of the now typical tensioned
wire system.
This trap was especially effective when combined with the Punji traps, as the soldiers were
panicked by the stings of the swarming wasps and ran away without paying attention to their
surroundings, ending up impaled on one of these traps.
One of the most dreaded traps mentioned in this video are the highly venomous snake
pits.
These traps had multiple variations.
They were not only limited to making holes, they also hid these poisonous animals in gun
cases, backpacks, tunnels or even nailed to trees, so that when the soldiers picked up
the purposely left supplies or simply walked past these trees, they would be bitten by
a furious and hungry poisonous snake, which was nicknamed by the U.S. soldiers themselves
as "Two-Step Charlie" because you could only take two steps after being bitten before the
venom killed you or paralyzed the affected limb.
Trap markers
Clearly not all Vietcong soldiers had the ability to remember the position of each of
their traps perfectly.
Because they were so difficult to detect, it was a double-edged sword, as any soldier,
friend or foe, could fall victim to the "booby traps".
This led the Vietnamese guerrillas to leave signs or marks to help them avoid falling
into their own traps.
These ranged from branches arranged in a special way or strange shapes with bamboo structures,
among others.
Such signals would also be an opportunity for the enemy to detect them in time.
But it was still very difficult for the weary soldiers to pay attention to even the smallest
detail, which caused them to fall victim to these dreaded traps.
Human ingenuity is fascinating, especially when it tests our ability to survive in a
conflict, even if this often leads to unnecessary suffering...
whether in favor of progress or under the yoke of war, we'll be here to tell you about
it, at Copernicus’s Galaxy.