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.

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.