works cited

 

"General Statistics Vietnam War." General Statistics Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2014.

 

 

"Booby Traps Created by the VC during the Vietnam War." Booby Traps Created by the VC during the Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2014.

 

 

"Booby Traps." Booby Traps. N.p., 20 May 2004. Web. 1 May 2014.

 

 

"Mike Smith Interveiw." Personal interview. 2 May 2014.

Most of the non-explosive traps were not fatal to first but infection was the greatest threat after getting into a booby trap. Most traps were targeted at the feet and legs of the soldiers, so they wouldn't die from the traps immediately. The Viet Cong knew this and to aid in infecting the wound they would soak the punji sticks used in allot of traps in human excrement for days. The excrement would get into the wound and could cause lethal infections.
The explosive traps were better at killing soldiers much faster. The grenades didn't need help in killing power. An M67 grenade has a casualty radius of 15 meters. That means anyone in 15 meters of the grenade when it goes off can die. This id why the Viet Cong didn't have to help their explosive traps in preforming.

The traps set by the Viet Cong were effective but were not a huge cause of death in the Vietnam war. Booby traps and mines were the cause for only eleven percent of the death. Only fifteen percent were wounded by the booby traps. The pungi sticks accounted for a whole two percent of the wounds in Vietnam. One in ten Americans sent to Vietnam didn't return back home alive. It is estimated that 5.8 million soldiers fought in the war. 2.2 million died and 58 thousand were American Soldiers. So overall the nasty booby traps and pungi sticks did not take many soldiers out of the war but it did strike fear in the soldiers.

Improvised explosive devices in the Vietnam war

Explosive traps were not as diverse as the non-explosive traps were. The explosive traps were not used very often because the Viet Cong had limited resources and couldn't get explosives easily. Since the explosive traps weren't used often there isn't much information on the subject. The only explosive trap I could find information on was a trip wire attached to a grenade. The Viet Cong would take a soup can and attach it to a tree or stick of bamboo. This was used to hold the grenade waiting for a soldier to pull the wire that would pull the pin on the grenade and set it off. There were traps set on bridges for vehicles to drive across and blow them up. The explosive traps were not very popular simply because the Viet Cong had limited resources and couldn't get explosives.

The Use Of Punji Traps In The Vietnam War

There were two different types of booby traps used in Vietnam; explosive and non explosive. The different booby traps were used for different targets. The explosive traps were used to take out larger targets like cars and trucks or even larger groups of soldiers. The explosive could use grenades or C4. The non-explosive traps were mostly for a single to small groups of soldiers. The non-explosive traps used pungi sticks or sometimes they used poisonous snakes in the traps. Both traps were effective in slowing down troops. The non-explosive traps were more widely used by the Viet Cong.