Poisoned poles, hidden grenades and labyrinthine tunnels: so the Viet Cong have Keep up to the United States For twenty years during the war in Vietnam, eventually managing to obtain theindependence and to reunite the country. But … how were these tunnels made? These are extremely ingenious works, made possible by the particular characteristics of the soil and made from the 1940s. Their goal was to hide Viet Cong troops, taking American soldiers by surprise. To better understand the context, however, it is first necessary to spend two words on the War in Vietnam And explaining why the United States were there.
- 1Brief summary of the war in Vietnam
- 2The characteristics of the tunnels in Vietnam
- 3How the underground bases of the Viet Cong were structured
- 4How traps worked in defense of tunnels
- 4.1Punji Sticks
- 4.2Bamboo whisk
- 4.3Improvised grenades
- 4.4Other systems
- 5The attack on the United States tunnels: the CRIMP operction
- 6The geological study of Vietnam
- 7The Cedar Falls operation
Brief summary of the war in Vietnam
There Vietnam Warbroke out in 1955 and concluded in 1975, It was fought mainly in South Vietnambetween the guerrillas of the country and the United States of America. Its origin has to do with the Decolonization: In the 1940s, France, who in the Second World War had lost its colonies in Indochina, tried to regain them, but was defeated by the independentist movement led by the Communists – who already at the time actually realized part of the underground tunnels of which we will speak to brief.
In the 1950s, after the French defeat, two independent states were born: the North Vietnamin which a communist regime was established, and the South Vietnamruled by a dictatorship linked to the West.
In the south a guerrilla movement developed, that of Viet congabbreviation of Vietnam Cong San (“Vietnam Communists”), who fought to reunite the country. The United States on the other hand, intimidated by the possible expansion of communism, decided to intervene. Here begins our history.
The characteristics of the tunnels in Vietnam
To resist the US attacks, i Viet cong they made very long underground tunnels And, among all, the most famous and complex system was that of Cu who – To date can be visited in two short Seions north of Ho Chi Minh. Inside there were about 200 km of galleriesdug south-west of a strategic area during the war in Vietnam: the so-called Iron triangle. It is an area of just 100 km2 among the villages of Ben suc, Well Cat And Phu Hoa Which was very important for the Viet Cong, because from there they basically came supplies and reinforcements from Northern Vietnam and Cambodia. And here too there were obviously tunnels, even if a little less due to different ground characteristics.
From a technical point of view, in fact, the tunnels were excavated inside a flood soil: It is a clay soil color gray format by river sediment and which in this case is rich in iron. What is the point? That during the Monsoni season the soil is more tender and can be digged without too much difficulty, while in summer the iron oxides in the ground harden it a lotby binding and giving life to a material resistant almost like concrete.
Usually it was possible to dig galleries within the first 10-20 meters of soildepending on the level of the aquifer, and to make them 2 people dealt with the real excavationremoving the earth and compacting the one on the walls, while From 2 to 3 people removed the waste. Usually the galleries had a zigzag pattern and was trying to never have long straight but corridors with corners of 60 and 120 degrees: this was necessary to reduce the enemy fire line and to dampen any explosions. The galleries had an average of a width between 1.2 meters and 80 centimeterswith a soil thickness above the tunnel not less than meter and a half. This was done not only to accelerate the realization times, but also to make access to US soldiers much more difficult.
Attention But: that said it might seem that the tunnels were simple underground passages .. but in reality there were some under the ground real citadels which housed not only soldiers but also civilians.
How the underground tunnels of the Viet Cong were structured
The entry of the tunnels was possible through some botole who were disguised using wooden boards covered with sponge and waxwith above land And leaves: This allowed to deceive American soldiers who, walking on it, had the feeling of walking on normal ground. Do you think that even some revenue were made within the fences of the pigs because the Viets congested that the soldiers would not have thoroughly inspected those places. The underground tunnel system was very complex and some tunnel systems could have up to 4 depth levelswith some secret areas and reachable only through botole hidden in the galleries themselves.
Within these underground bases they could be found hospitals, housing areas, warehouses, factories of ARMthe, General neighborhoods, kitchens And anything else could serve an army in war. Then there were various holes that emerged on the surface to ensure a good one ventilation And inside the tunnels there were anse full of water every 100 meters.
These had 3 functions:
- made The advance of the enemy is more complex;
- they worked like Sifoni in case of floods;
- damn the effect of tear gas or antisomossa released by grenades, avoiding that they spread throughout the base.
So in short, they were not simple holes in the ground. Obviously, however much it was a brilliant system, it is easy to imagine how to live inside them was terrible: the stocks of food and drinking water were always at a minimummany people yes he fell ill malaria And it was necessary to share the space with ants, spiders, scorpions, poisonous centopies and any other creature that normally lives in the ground.
But if the tunnels are resisted so long it is not only thanks to how they were made, but also of the systems defense designed by the Viet cong.
Tunnel defense traps: how they worked and the types
To protect these bases, the Viet congre developed a defensive system as simple as it is ingenious: think that these traps seem to have caused only about the11% of the victims among the US soldiers in Vietnam. Let’s see the main ones.
Punji Sticks
Among the best known are i Punji Sticks. It was sharp bamboo polesor alternatively wood or metal, which were positioned on the bottom of a hole and then camouflaged. When an American soldier trampled on the coverage of the hole was pierced to the feet and legs by these sticks. To make everything even more lethal, the tips were covered with excrement or poisonous substances of both vegetable and animal origin, so as to enormously increase the risk of infection and poisoning. Often then these holes were made of couples, so not only he trapped a soldier but also those who tried to help him.
Bamboo whisk
Another trap involved taking a bamboo pole, to fix one end of a tree and to keep the other pulled back, to the mò of whisk with the spikes. When the unfortunate passed and triggered the mechanism, the tension of the branch was free and whipped, or rather, pierced.
Improvised grenades
Then there were the improvised grenades, That is, the grenades made inside jars whose trigger often took place thanks to a thread. This was tense between two trees and when someone trampled it he removed the spoiler, making the grenade immediately detonate.
Other systems
In addition to these there are full of poisonous snakes, balls full of spikes that swing in the forest, bamboo crossbow and many many others. As you may have understood these defense systems not only were they lethal, but they also destroyed morality Who survived, because the jungle is already a hostile environment, and in addition the traps could kill you at any moment.
Obviously to the United States this situation was not good, and therefore they set out that of destroying the tunnels.
The attack on the United States tunnels: the CRIMP operction
He then started in 1966 the CRIMP operation which expected to bomb with gods B-52 The areas in which tunnels were located. Or rather, where the United States hypothesized could be found. But nothing to do, as we said before this soil once dry becomes extremely resistant, So much to bear aerial bombings perfectly. In the meantime, the US and Australian soldiers as soon as they found tunnel entrances entered us, hoping to be able to clear them … needless to say that they died like fliesgiven that like the interior of the tunnels it was dotted with traps.
Over time, therefore, the figure of the so -called “Tunnel Rat “literally “mouse of gallery”, that is soldiers of smaller stature specially trained for clear the tunnelswhose only equipment was made up of one torch and from one pistol.
However, their task was free a portion of tunnel and then place explosive To blow everything up. Explosive that, as you may have intuited, it didn’t work much. Then tried to flood the tunnels, but among the anse Every 100 meters and the soil that absorbed a large part of the water, this plan also failed. We realized that continuing so we did not go anywhere, and therefore a new approach was needed.
The geological study of Vietnam
There were therefore two geologists, such Jim Burns and and Perry Narten, whose task was that of study soil and make a detail relationship. In particular they had to:
- identify an association between the tunnel And particular environmental characteristics, so as to narrow the area where to search for tunnels;
- Understanding in detail the characteristics of the soil and how it changes with humidity, so as to understand how to destroy them.
The result was one geological paper And from this it was understood to perfection which were the papable areas for the tunnels, so what were the areas to be hit with more violence. They were therefore ready to finish this story once and for all.
The Cedar Falls operation
In January 1967 theCedar Falls operation. Millions of liters of Agent Orange, which is a very powerful herbicide, to remove almost all the vegetation inside the iron triangle, then using Buldozzer To remove the surface layers of soil and expose the tunnelsallowing the rats tunnels to enter and free them. This actually made a large part of the tunnels inside the iron triangle, also considered the fact that in 1969 The area was bombed in a carpet with B-52going to give the coup de grace.
The crazy thing, however, is that even in this case a part of the tunnels succeeded in resist, so much so that today of the approximately 200 km original There are still 120 intact, especially in the Cu chi district. For this reason, already at the time it was noticed that and the situation had escaped hands and in 1973 the president Nixon, I realized that the war was too onerous in economic terms and human lives, accepted withdraw the army and two years later the Vietnam was brought together.
To date, therefore, there are some portions of tunnels still preserved that have been turned into the museum and that are visited, By allowing anyone to understand in what conditions the Viet Cong lived and what intricate structures they managed to build.
