the vietnam war and the tunnels of cu chi (tunnel warfare)€¦ · underground tunnels to move...
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The Vietnam War
and the Tunnels of
Cu Chi
(Tunnel Warfare)
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Vietnam was a poor
peasant country that did
not have the weapons or
technology to fight America
in a normal military battle.
As a result, the Viet Cong
built an extensive system of
underground tunnels to
move troops, weapons, and
supplies.
Saigon was the capital of
South Vietnam and the
American 25th
battalion
military base was located
(shown by red arrow)
between Saigon and Cu Chi.
The extensive Cu Chi tunnel
system ran right beneath
the American military base
& allowed the Viet Cong to
effectively spy on American
command.
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Vietnamese soldiers
were much smaller
than Americans and
the tunnel systems
were very difficult for
the American military
to deal with. Only the
smallest American
soldiers (many were
Latinos) could fit into
the systems. Once in
the tunnels, it was a
struggle to stay calm
in a very
claustrophobic
environment. It was
usually impossible to
turn around until you
came to a cut out in
the walls which
allowed it.
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Tunnel entrances were usually very well hidden
and they were often booby trapped with
explosives. The U.S. military created a special
force known as the “Tunnel Rats” to fight in the
Viet Cong tunnels. Many of the Tunnel Rats
were small Latino soldiers.
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Today, the tunnels of Cu Chi have become a popular tourist destination. Many of the
tunnels have been increased in size by four times their original size in order to allow
tourists to experience them. It was difficult to breath in most of the tunnel system
because there was not enough ventilation holes. The Viet Cong were worried they
would give away the locations of the tunnels or cause the tunnels to collapse when
American tanks passed overhead.
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This tunnel has been enlarged, but is still seems like it would be very claustrophobic.
Very few men could successfully navigate through the extensive tunnel systems. Most
people lost their sense of direction soon after entering the tunnel systems which wound
up and down and zig zagged.
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(Left) A major communications tunnel that
is well braced. (Right) A smaller tunnel that
has been enlarged to allow tourists to crawl
through it without suffering panic attacks.
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The tunnel systems included large rooms used for planning military strategy, sleeping,
hospitals, and for storing large quantities of weapons and food. There was over 200
miles of tunnels. The tunnels were first started by the Vietnamese to fight against the
French, who controlled Indochina as a colony until 1954 when America took over.
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Shown above is a ventilation hole for the tunnels below. Ventilation holes for
cooking stoves were usually a significant distance away from the kitchen.
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The Viet Cong did not have money for lots of explosives or for high technology
weapons. They used a variety of simple punji stick traps like the one shown above.
Since poison was expensive, they smeared the ends of the sticks with human feces!
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In this type of punji stick booby trap, a soldier
would step on a hidden hatch that was attached to
an axle which allowed either end to drop. The
soldier would fall into the pit of punji sticks and his
body would be punctured with a stick that was
topped with human feces. These wounds became
infected (human waste on food often causes ecoli)
and sometimes the soldiers died. A simple trap like
this took out three American soldiers since one fell
in and it took two more to get him out and move
him to medical assistance.
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Here you see another type of punji stick trap that featured (right side) two separate
axles with punji sticks attached. The soldier would step in the middle and fall so that
his legs, side, or arms were punctured with punji sticks. (Left side) Another type of
trap was spring loaded and punctured the soldier when he stepped in the middle of it.
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Imagine yourself shoulder deep in between these two punji axles. The punji sticks
would penetrate into the sides or armpits of your body!
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Here is another type of punji trap that would be connected to a trip wire on the jungle
floor. Once you hit the trip wire, the punji ball comes swinging down at you!
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Here you
see a model
of two Viet
Cong
soldiers
carefully
sawing
open an
American
bomb
which was a
dud.
They carefully sawed these shells open in order to get the explosives out of them. They
poured water over the shell casing as they cut, to keep it cool. Many Viet Cong died
when the friction created heat and exploded the bomb.
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