Traps during the war. Vietnamese traps that terrified Americans during the war

We can talk about these traps for a very long time, paying tribute to the ingenuity, cruelty and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese. For the Americans, these “surprises” came as a very unpleasant surprise.

Because of natural features terrain - dense jungle, many rivers and swamps, as well as an underdeveloped road network, the Americans could not fully use vehicles, and were forced to rely on helicopters in huge numbers to move troops. In the Vietnamese jungle itself, in the depths of the territory, American troops, having no other option, were forced to move and fight on foot. And this is in conditions of average summer temperatures of more than 30 degrees and one hundred percent humidity. It is also worth remembering what the rainy season is like in Vietnam - when tropical rains fall almost continuously for several months, flooding vast areas with water. Main character The film "Forrest Gump" talks about the rains in Vietnam:
"One day it began to rain and did not stop for four months. During this time we learned all types of rain: direct rain, slanting rain, horizontal rain, and even rain that comes from bottom to top."

American Marines in murky Vietnamese waters

In the wilds of the Vietnamese jungle

A Piasecki H-21 "Shawnee" helicopter transports reinforcements and picks up the wounded. Vietnam. The beginning of the war. 1965

South Vietnamese Army soldiers on the march

Vietnamese swamp. Batangan. 1965

Aerial cavalcade of Bell UH-1 "Huey". 1968

A column of the 25th Division on an M113 armored personnel carrier (APC) is moving along the "federal" road Tau Ninh-Dau Tieng. 1968

In such specific conditions, when even a few dirt roads turn into an impassable mess, and the use of aviation is problematic, technical superiority American army is leveled out to a certain extent and Vietnamese traps become very effective and deadly.
Here are some of them.

The famous Punji trap was installed in large numbers on forest paths, near American bases, and being camouflaged under a thin layer of grass, leaves, soil or water, it was difficult to detect. The size of the trap was calculated exactly to fit the foot in the boot. The stakes were always smeared with feces, carrion and other bad substances. Getting your foot into such a trap, having your sole pierced by stakes and being wounded almost certainly caused blood poisoning. They often had a more complex design.

Broken shoe

Bamboo trap - installed in the doors of rural houses. As soon as the door was opened, a small log with sharp stakes flew out of the opening. Often traps were set in such a way that the blow would fall on the head - if triggered successfully, this would lead to severe injuries, often fatal.

Sometimes such traps, but in the form of a large log with stakes and a trigger mechanism using a tripwire, were installed on paths in the jungle.
In dense thickets, the log was replaced with a spherical structure. It should be noted that the Vietnamese often made stakes not from metal, but from bamboo - a very hard material, from which Southeast Asia make knives.

Whip Trap - often set along jungle trails. To do this, a bamboo trunk with long stakes at the ends was bent and connected to a guy wire through a block. As soon as you touched a wire or fishing line (the Vietnamese often used it), the released bamboo trunk with stakes hit with all its might the area from the knees to the stomach of the person who touched it. Naturally, all traps were carefully camouflaged.

Big Punji is a larger version of Punji. This trap inflicted much more serious injuries - here the leg was pierced up to the thigh, including the groin area, often with irreversible injuries in the area of the "main" male organ"The stakes were also smeared with something bad.

One of the scariest big Punji is with a rotating lid. The lid was attached to a bamboo trunk and rotated freely, always returning to a strictly horizontal position. The lid was covered with grass and leaves on both sides. Having stepped on the platform cover, the victim fell into deep hole(3 meters or more) with stakes, the lid was rotated 180 degrees and the trap was again ready for the next victim.

Bucket Trap (bucket trap) - a bucket with stakes, and often with large fishing hooks, dug into the ground, camouflaged. The whole horror of this trap was that the stakes were firmly attached to the bucket at an angle downward, and if you fell into such a trap, it was impossible to pull out your leg - when you tried to pull it out of the bucket, the stakes only dug deeper into your leg. Therefore, it was necessary to dig out a bucket, and the unfortunate man, along with the bucket on his leg, was evacuated using MEDEVAC to the hospital.

Side Closing Trap - two boards with stakes were held together with elastic rubber, stretched, and thin bamboo sticks were inserted between them. As soon as you fell into such a trap, breaking the sticks, the doors slammed shut just at the level of the victim’s stomach. Additional stakes may also have been dug into the bottom of the pit.

Spike Board trap - these traps were usually installed in shallow ponds, swamps, puddles, etc. As soon as you stepped on the pressure plate, the other end of the board with stakes would forcefully hit upward and towards the person who stepped on it. A successful hit often resulted in death.

The Vietnamese have launched mass production of traps

Press-action cartridge trap in a bamboo container. Could be used different cartridges, including hunting ones with shot or buckshot.
Although all these traps look impressive, of course, the damage they cause cannot be compared with mines and tripwire grenades. By constantly mining the territory and setting up tripwires, the Vietnamese managed to turn the presence of the American military on foreign soil into a real hell.

"Pineapple" (pineapple) - pomegranates, high explosive shells and other ammunition suspended from tree branches. To trigger it, you had to touch the branches. One of the most common traps during the Vietnam War.

In the photo from Vietnam - a well-installed Chinese guy hand grenade in the grass. Even with camera flash it is very difficult to notice.

Good shot. An explosion of ammunition at a Marine base as a result of sabotage. Vietnam. March 18, 1968

To prevent their own people from falling into traps, the Vietnamese developed an entire signaling system consisting of located in a certain way sticks, leaves and broken branches. An experienced person could use these marks to determine not only that a trap was installed nearby, but also the type of trap.

This is not to say that the Americans did not struggle with this. Traps and signaling system carefully and constantly studied. Regular training was conducted with personnel, and pocket instructions on traps and their disarming were issued. Miners began to be placed at the head of the groups.

Disarming a trap

Rewards were paid to local residents for reports of found traps.
USMC announcement of reward for reporting decoys

However, the American military still continued to fall into traps and be blown up throughout the war.

What Vietnamese traps existed during the war with the United States?

The Vietnam War took place between 1964 and 1975. Participated in it various countries, namely the USA, Vietnam, USSR, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan, China and North Korea. This was another round of development." cold war"between the superpowers. The essence of the war was to obtain all of Vietnam as a satellite. Southern part countries were supported by the American government, while the north was on the side Soviet Union. Thus, the war, which claimed many lives, had one goal: control of the country and the possibility of placing military bases on it to control the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The US Army was ill-prepared for a ground war, as it had no previous experience in jungle operations. Their shape in the first years of the conflict was the same as always, so they stood out well in the foliage. At the same time, the Vietnamese had a camouflage uniform, and it was difficult to notice them in the thick grass.

As for armored vehicles, they also could not move through the jungle, so the Americans could only count on their own manpower and air support. Their aircraft immediately took a leading position in the war, but this situation was changed when the USSR entered the Vietnam conflict on the side of North Vietnam. But not into direct confrontation, but began to supply the necessary equipment.

The Soviet aircraft turned out to be more technologically advanced, and the experience of the pilots acquired during the Second World War made it possible to shoot down American planes with minimal losses. However, NATO forces had complete superiority at sea, which made it possible to shell coastal areas from ships.

It is worth noting that the NATO army quickly realized its mistakes at the beginning of the conflict and made adjustments to its uniform and improved its equipment. This made it possible to use it in jungle conditions.

Traps for American soldiers

Vietnamese soldiers turned out to be original in creating traps. It was the only one effective way struggle, since weapons in Vietnam in the initial stages of the conflict were significantly inferior in quality to US weapons. A wide variety of methods were used to combat the occupiers, the following were used:

Improvised explosive devices;
Punja's trap is regular and rotating;
Whip Trap;
Bucket trap;
Trap with closing sides;
Trap cartridge;
Cube-shaped spike traps;
Standard stretch marks;
Poisonous snakes;
Mining;
Exploding flags;
Self-firing guns protecting the graves of ancestors.

These are the main Vietnamese traps that became a real nightmare for the American army and its allies. None modern weapons could not cope with them, so NATO forces lost soldiers every day without a fight. You can read to learn more about partisan traps.

Poisonous "gifts"

In Vietnam, the liberation army often used traps, the main element of which was poisonous snakes. Usually a bamboo keffiyeh was used. It is also called the “three-step snake” because its venom acts instantly. This is a small snake that was hung by its tail at face level. When it bites, the body's blood clotting process is disrupted and red blood cells are destroyed.

Vietnamese soldiers are like snakes liberation army hidden wherever possible: in bags, boxes, tunnels, in empty bamboo stalks. They were also planted on the trails where American troops were supposed to pass.

Minefields

Soviet-made anti-personnel mines were used to mine the villages that had to be abandoned. In addition to villages, large fields where the enemy should or could be located were mined. Absolutely everything in the villages was mined: weapons, windows, doors, objects that could be of interest to the invaders, and so on.

During the war symbolic meaning is to remove the enemy flag from the flagpole. But often NATO soldiers blew themselves up. Considering that the battles were fierce, the first desire after the victory was to remove the flag, which was flying in a prominent place. But when someone started to pull the rope, he pulled the pin out of the grenade and exploded. When his colleagues saw this, they ran up to the exploded soldier. At this moment, a more powerful explosion was heard, which significantly increased the losses of NATO forces.

Protection of graves

Often in Vietnam, traps were set on graves, as the occupiers did not hesitate to avenge their fellow dead. Often a gun was placed in the grave. This trap could have taken one life. They also used a “torpedo”. There were a lot different types, for example, they installed a shotgun in a coffin. It fired when the lid was opened. Another type of such trap resembled an anti-tank mine in its principle of operation.

Cube with spikes

Such traps were often set during . It was a small metal cube with spikes. He did not kill, but could neutralize an enemy soldier for a long time. Thus, the leg of the enemy soldier was damaged, and he became helpless. Moreover, two other soldiers were neutralized and were forced to carry the wounded man and his weapon.

About the Bamboo trap

It was great way get rid of the looters. This trap was installed at the entrance to an abandoned house. When the enemy entered, a stick with spikes was pointed at him. In most cases, such a blow was fatal. The main blow fell on the head or stomach to crush the skull or rip open the insides. The same devices were sometimes used on small jungle paths.

About the whip trap

It also served as a kind of weapon to fight the Americans.

Outwardly, it was a tripwire, but it did not use explosives. So, a bamboo trunk with long stakes was bent and connected to a guy wire. If someone touched the tripwire, they received a powerful blow to the area from the knees to the stomach. Such weapons were rarely lethal, but they reduced the enemy's combat effectiveness and negatively affected the morale of the enemy army.

Bucket trap nightmare

It is somewhat similar to Punji, but it used fish hooks set at an angle. The bucket itself was buried and camouflaged. If an enemy soldier fell into such a trap, he could not get out of it on his own. They had to dig out the bucket and take the victim to the medical unit. If someone tried to get out on their own, the hooks dug into the leg more strongly.

Despite the fact that it is not a lethal weapon, with its help the number of enemy combat-ready soldiers decreased daily. To make it, you needed any bucket and several fishhooks. Simplicity and low cost made it possible to use such a device especially often.

The article is written based on the books by Alan Lloyd Peter ""Back. Part 1: Across the Fence" and ""Back. Part 2: Into the Jungle"

During the Vietnam War (1964-1973), Americans faced one unexpected and very unpleasant surprise - a large number Vietnamese traps. Due to the natural features of the area - dense jungle, many rivers and swamps, as well as an underdeveloped road network, the Americans could not fully use vehicles, and were forced to rely on helicopters in huge numbers to move troops. In the Vietnamese jungle itself, in the depths of the territory, American troops, having no other option, were forced to move and fight on foot. And this is in conditions of average summer temperatures of more than 30 degrees and one hundred percent humidity. It is also worth remembering what the rainy season is like in Vietnam - when tropical rains fall almost continuously for several months, flooding vast areas with water. The main character of the movie "Forrest Gump" talks about the rains in Vietnam:
"One day it began to rain and did not stop for four months. During this time we learned all types of rain: direct rain, slanting rain, horizontal rain, and even rain that comes from bottom to top."

American Marines in murky Vietnamese waters

In the wilds of the Vietnamese jungle

Vietnamese swamp. Batangan. 1965

South Vietnamese Army soldiers on the march

A Piasecki H-21 "Shawnee" helicopter transports reinforcements and picks up the wounded. Vietnam. The beginning of the war. 1965

Aerial cavalcade of Bell UH-1 "Huey". 1968

A column of the 25th Division on an M113 armored personnel carrier (APC) is moving along the "federal" road Tau Ninh-Dau Tieng. 1968

It was no better in the mountains of Vietnam. Shau District

In such specific conditions, when even a few dirt roads turn into an impassable mess, and the use of aviation is problematic, the technical superiority of the American army is to a certain extent leveled out and Vietnamese traps become very effective and deadly.
Here are some of them.

Broken shoe

Sometimes such traps, but in the form of a large log with stakes and a trigger mechanism using a tripwire, were installed on paths in the jungle.

In dense thickets, the log was replaced with a spherical structure. It should be noted that the Vietnamese often made stakes not from metal, but from bamboo - a very hard material from which knives are made in Southeast Asia.

Big Punji is a larger version of Punji. This trap caused much more serious injuries - here the leg was pierced up to the thigh, including the groin area, often with irreversible injuries in the area of the “main male organ”. The stakes were also smeared with something nasty.

One of the scariest big Punji is with a rotating lid. The lid was attached to a bamboo trunk and rotated freely, always returning to a strictly horizontal position. The lid was covered with grass and leaves on both sides. Having stepped on the platform lid, the victim fell into a deep hole (3 meters or more) with stakes, the lid was rotated 180 degrees and the trap was again ready for the next victim.

The Vietnamese have launched mass production of traps

Press-action cartridge trap in a bamboo container. Various cartridges could be used, including hunting cartridges with shot or buckshot.

Although all these traps look impressive, of course, the damage they cause cannot be compared with mines and tripwire grenades. By constantly mining the territory and setting up tripwires, the Vietnamese managed to turn the presence of the American military on foreign soil into a real hell.

"Pineapple" - grenades, high-explosive shells and other ammunition suspended from tree branches. To trigger it, you had to touch the branches. One of the most common traps during the Vietnam War.

Stretching - installed on the ground or close to it. The situation was aggravated by the fact that in the forest floor of the jungle, in the twilight, it is very difficult to notice a trap, and even more so in forty-degree heat and one hundred percent humidity, which clearly do not contribute to concentration. The photo from Vietnam shows a well-installed tripwire with a Chinese hand grenade in the grass. Even with camera flash it is very difficult to notice.

Very often the Vietnamese installed tripwires underwater. Find them in muddy water it was almost impossible.

Often, a vessel made of thick bamboo filled with a mixture of ammonia nitrate and diesel fuel was installed under the grenade or other ammunition. This technique greatly increased the damaging effect of a grenade explosion. So, on December 6, 1968, in the Ho Chi Minh Trail area, one such tripwire led to the death of 5 Marines and injuries of varying degrees of severity to another 12 from the group. Tripwire is the most common trap during the Vietnam War.

Naturally, like in any other big war, the Vietnamese also massively used mines different types- ordinary push-action, jumping, tripwire, directional action, which were often set to non-removable, land mines along roads to blow up vehicles and armored vehicles, as well as ambushes and sabotage behind enemy lines.

Vietnam's war with America was brutal and unequal in strength. But the fearless Vietnamese fought desperately, using natural resources and your ingenuity.

The Vietnam War lasted from 1964 to 1975. It was attended by the USA, Vietnam, USSR, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, China and the DPRK. The war claimed many lives and had only one goal: the possession of all of Vietnam and the possibility of placing military bases on its territory to control the Asia-Pacific region. The US Army, as it turned out later, was poorly prepared for this war. It was almost impossible for the Americans to conduct ground operations in the local jungle with a bunch of Vietnamese traps set by the local population.

All local rebels dressed in camouflage and knew the terrain very well. It was extremely difficult for American soldiers to notice them. US armored vehicles could not move through the jungle, so the Americans could only rely on infantry and air support. Vietnam's war with America was brutal and unequal in strength. But the fearless Vietnamese fought desperately, using natural resources and their ingenuity. Their traps were truly dangerous.

Punji. The Vietnamese installed these traps near American bases on the trails, perfectly camouflaging them under a layer of grass or earth. They were extremely difficult to detect. An ordinary punji was designed to fit the size of a human foot, was half a meter deep and resembled a cube with spikes that were lubricated with various wastes. A person who fell into it could not only injure his leg, but also easily get blood poisoning. Other punjas were three-meter inverted cubes. Falling inside, a person died from sharp spikes that reached the length of the groin area. Then the cube turned 180 degrees and waited for a new victim. There was punji and even more with a rotating different sides lid, but in the end always returning to a clearly horizontal position. It was impossible to get out of such a trap.
Bamboo traps. It was usually installed at the entrance to houses. When the enemy entered, a stick with spikes flew at him. The blow was to the head or stomach. Such a trap easily crushed the bones of the skull and ripped open the insides. Similar traps, but larger size The Vietnamese installed them on the trails in the form of trip wires. Here the blow from her fell to the full height of a person.
Whip traps. Sometimes the Vietnamese installed a trip wire in the jungle, attaching a bamboo trunk to it, which they bent. Sharp stakes were tied tightly to the end of the trunk. If the enemy touched the fishing line or wire, then the freed barrel would inflict instant blow stakes from the stomach to the knees.
Bucket traps. It was similar to punji, but it used fish hooks set at an angle and the most ordinary buckets. The bucket was buried and carefully camouflaged. When falling into such a trap, sharp hooks dug into the enemy’s leg, causing considerable pain. It was impossible to get out of it without digging a bucket. Although these Vietnamese traps were not lethal, they greatly reduced the number of enemy combat-ready soldiers.
Traps with closing sides. The Vietnamese made them from two boards held together with elastic rubber and stretched them. Bamboo was inserted between them and this structure was placed over a dug hole, at the bottom of which stakes or poisonous snakes could be located. Falling into the trap, a person found himself pinned at the level of his stomach.
Spike board. The traps were camouflaged plates to which a board with stakes was attached. If the opponent stepped on the plate, he received swipe from bottom to top board.
Classic stretching. Was on the ground or at a low altitude from it. The trap was very difficult to spot. This was hampered by dense thickets, tall grass, the twilight of the jungle and terrible heat with a humidity of 100%. Exhausted American soldiers at that time often fell into such traps.

Let's look at the traps used by Vietnamese guerrillas during the war and how they ruined the lives of the occupiers.
Vietnamese traps, being very insidious and effective products, at one time spoiled a lot of blood for Americans.

The jungle in Cu Chi was fraught with many unpleasant surprises, from the already mentioned mines, which even blew up tanks like this M41, to the movie's famous homemade traps, some of which can be seen up close.

"Tiger Trap" Ji Ai walks along calmly, suddenly the ground under his feet opens up and he falls to the bottom of a hole studded with stakes. If he is unlucky and does not die immediately, but screams in pain, his comrades will gather nearby, trying to pull the unfortunate man out. Need I say that in several places around the trap there are exits from the tunnels to the surface, to camouflaged sniper positions?
The trap was covered to match the terrain: with leaves

Or covered with turf and grass

Or more humane traps, “Vietnamese souvenirs”. This is a pretty high-tech trap. There are pins at the bottom; in addition, ropes connected to nails are stretched under the round platform. When a soldier steps on an inconspicuous hole, covered on top with a piece of paper with leaves...

The leg falls through and the first thing he does is pierce the leg with pins at the bottom, at the same time the ropes are stretched and pull nails out of the holes, which pierce the leg from the sides, while fixing it and making it impossible to pull it out.

As a rule, the soldier did not die, but as a result he lost his leg, and then received pins removed from his leg in a Saigon hospital as a souvenir. Hence the name.

The next few photos show a similar design.

Or is there a wider trap?

As you may have already noticed, special attention They paid attention not only to the task of piercing the adversary, but also to pin him in place and not let him get off the hook. This “basket” was placed in flooded rice fields or near river banks, hidden under water. A paratrooper jumps out of a helicopter or boat, OPA! - we've arrived...

The soldiers try to follow the trail

However, it happened that the task was not to injure, but to kill. Then they put on grinds like this, in which G.I. quickly stuffed himself under his own weight.

For those who liked to enter the house without knocking, simply by knocking down the door with a valiant blow, such a device was hung above it. The slow one went straight to the other world, the quick one managed to put a machine gun forward - for such, the lower half of the trap was suspended on a separate loop and made a sofa out of his eggs. So the efficient one, as the Vietnamese guide put it, then went to Thailand, a paradise for transvestites.

Well, the simplest, most reliable and popular design in the film industry. Since it flies much faster than the “home” one, there is no need to worry about having two halves. And so it will sweep away. The guide likes her the most.

The traps were very diverse.

Regular wolf pit

Leading Vietnamese production workers returned to their workplaces. Long nails, thin steel rods - everything will go into use. It is enough to drive more sharp objects into a wooden block, and the base for the trap is ready.

The magazine clearly shows that even women and children participated in the making of traps.

Clamshell trap. The simplest and most common trap. They say that at one time it was mass-produced by Vietnamese schoolchildren during labor lessons. The principle is simple. Placed in a small hole and covered with leaves. When the enemy steps on it, under the weight of the foot, the boards are dented and the nails, previously smeared with manure, are pierced into the foot. Blood poisoning is guaranteed.

Board with spades. It is made on the principle of a rake, at the end of which there is a board with nails. When the enemy steps on the “pedal”, the board joyfully jumps up and hits the soldier in the chest, either in the face, or in the neck, or wherever it hits.

Sliding trap. It consists of two wooden boards moving along guides and studded with pins. The boards are moved apart, a support is placed between them, and they are wrapped with an elastic rubber band (or Pilates tape). When the support holding the slats moves, the latter, under the action of the cord, slide along the guides towards each other. But they are not destined to meet, because someone’s soft body is already between them.

A welcoming trap. Making such a trap is not difficult, and it will please you for a long time. You and your guests. You will need: two bamboo stalks, steel rods and wire. We connect the bamboo into the letter “T” and drive the rods into the headboard. We hang the finished trap above the door, connect it with a wire and invite a neighbor to come over, for example, to watch football. When a neighbor inadvertently crosses the wire, the trap flies whistling towards the guest.

According to an old Vietnamese belief, hanging a rake over the entrance and smeared with manure is a sign of peace in the house.
Someone was “lucky” to run into this trap. It's better to dismantle it.