by Jon E. Lewis
5 A camouflage net should stand clear of the vehicle, partly so that you can get in and out and also to disguise the vehicle’s shape. It should also stretch far enough to contain any shadow that the vehicle might cast. Ideally, it should also have a “mushroom” on the top; a frame of wire about the size of a domestic saucer. This gives a smooth line when the net is stretched over. Make sure that the net will not snag on the vehicle or underbrush or trees, preventing any quick exit you might need to make.
BOOBY TRAPS
A booby trap is designed to cause sudden and surprise casualties and to reduce morale by creating fear, uncertainty and suspicion. You will only be able to counter booby traps if you understand how they work, in what circumstances they are employed and what they look like.
Booby traps are used in various terrorist situations but are more likely to be used in a jungle environment than anywhere else, mainly because they are more easily hidden but also because the materials to make them are readily to hand.
JUNGLE TRAPS
The jungle guerrilla will be restricted in the operational employment of booby traps only by the extent of his imagination. The range and variety of traps used by the Viet Cong was bewildering and was responsible for lowering the morale of government forces in Vietnam. Guerillas will continue to use booby traps along obvious lines of communication, forcing troops to move cautiously or to deploy engineers and assault pioneers to clear routes – which is very time consuming – or to move deeper into the jungle where the going is appreciably more difficult.
The sides of roads, rivers and streams and any track or ridge line are likely targets. When they are on the defensive, guerillas will use booby traps to protect a bunkered camp, a defended village or a tunnel system. They will be laid in conjunction with obstacles, wire, conventional mines and roadblocks to deter any detailed reconnaissance of their position and to give advance warning of an attack. They will also use booby traps to cover their withdrawal.
But, despite the very real and unpleasant threat of booby traps, there is something you can do about them. First, learn all there is to learn about booby traps. Knowledge dispels fear; know your enemy and you’re halfway to beating him. Five examples of jungle booby traps are:-
THE WAY THE ENEMY’S MIND WORKS
A guerilla will follow some common-sense rules when he is setting up his booby traps.
1 He will go to enormous lengths to conceal his device. The charge and mechanism will be concealed or made to resemble some harmless object.
2 He will usually choose a constricted location where you are channelled into his trap. Any defile or enclosed space such as a room or tunnel is a potential booby trap site.
3 Traps are usually laid in groups so that when you come across them you are likely to spring at least one of them. There will be dummy booby traps to confuse you; having disarmed an obvious trap, the idea is that you will be sufficiently off your guard to blunder into a second one.
4 Guerillas often place traps on obstacles. The removal of the obstacle, which may be a road block of some kind, sets off the trap. Similarly traps can be placed on attractive items such as weapons, food or potential souvenirs.
5 When you think you have discovered a booby trap and the method of setting it off, beware a second method!
1 The barbed spike plate
This is a very common trap. It is easily made and can be placed anywhere and is difficult to detect before the damage is done. The spikes are often tipped with poison such as human excrement.
2 The punji bear trap
The trap is concealed under brushwood or leaves on the track. When you walk over the trap, your leg plunges down into the pit, pivoting the boards, which close on your leg spiking it above the ankle.
The punji bear trap is a refinement of the basic pit trap to counter the steel plate in the bottom of the issue jungle boot. This arrangement leads to damage to the unprotected area of the calf above the boot.
3 The overhead grenade trap
A grenade is suspended in the overhead foliage. As you trip a wire, the pin is pulled from the grenade suspended above you. You have 3–5 seconds to get out of range of the blast; difficult because the shrapnel from the grenade is likely to travel a great distance due to its height above the ground. It is particularly effective at night. By day, the tripwire can be removed to allow the enemy or civilians to use the track.
4 The cartridge trap
This trap is easily set up and is very effective. It is buried so that the head of the round is only partly exposed; pressure on the tip sets the round off.
5 Grenade daisy chain
The trip wire is camouflaged across the track and when pulled, the first grenade explodes. This breaks the wire to the second grenade, which has had its pin removed, and releases the lever. The second grenade explodes, breaking the wire to the third grenade and so on.
DETECTING BOOBY TRAPS
These booby traps are operated by a pull, pressure, release or delay mechanism, or a combination of more than one method. When looking for booby traps, there is no substitute for sharp eyesight and awareness. Among the many things you can look out for are loose dirt or newly filled areas; loose or taut wires; rope, strings or vines or sticks and stones in unnatural-looking positions, providing marker indicators. The foliage may be disturbed or damaged or camouflage may look out of place or have died.
Look out for plastic wrapper materials protruding from the ground. Look in particular for any electrical lead wires. And, of course, look for irregular tread patterns and footprints on roads and tracks.
Marker indicators may give you the best warning that a booby trap is in the area. Guerillas have traditionally marked their booby traps to warn their own men and sympathetic locals to avoid the area. The sort of indicators they have used are piles of stones, crossed sticks, broken saplings or marks on the trunks of trees. One specific marker they have used is a stick balanced in the fork of a tree. This is surprisingly difficult to detect and has been known to indicate a mine or booby trap some 10–20 metres away.
Another example is knotted tufts of grass: four tufts of knotted grass at each corner of a square indicate a mine or trap within the encompassed area.
A simple but often used indicator is a short piece of bamboo stuck into the ground at 45 degrees and pointing towards the booby trap. Perhaps the hardest example of all to detect is a twig threaded through a leaf to indicate the very close presence of a trap.
Dealing with booby traps
If you are aware of these methods of detection and recognition, you stand a very good chance of avoiding a booby trap. If you detect a booby trap you should ideally call in an expert to deal with it – an engineer or assault pioneer. But sometimes a device has to be neutralized quickly and there are two things you can do to disarm the device – providing you use your common sense.
First, by pulling with a cable and hook from a safe distance and from behind cover you can either set off the device intentionally or disrupt the mechanism. Secondly, you can destroy the device by placing a charge next to it and then detonating it from a safe distance. But never attempt to disarm a device by hand.
Avoid the obvious
The best way of combatting booby traps is to avoid tracks and roads whenever possible. But if you have to use tracks, avoid setting a pattern; it is unlikely that the guerillas will be able to booby trap or mine every track or road. Locals can be a useful source of information; even if they are not willing to help you directly, their behaviour can provide clues. If they are avoiding an area, it’s for a good reason. And if they show signs of anxiety or agitation at the close proximity of troops, this is a sure indicator that something is amiss.
Any future jungle enemy will continue to employ booby traps. Find out everything you can about his likely booby trap methods, types and procedures, and understand the disciplines for coping with the threat. If you become “jungle wise”, a booby trap is unlikely to surprise you.
MINES AND LARGE-SCALE BOOBY TRAPS
Mines are often deployed as booby traps or combined with other explosives as nasty surprises for the unwary. This is particularly common in counter-insurgency, so it is especially important to take precautions and to understand the sort of devices you may encounter. Most booby traps exploit haste, carelessness or curiosity. By staying alert to the danger, you increase your chances of survival. There are eight general precautionary measures which should be observed at all times.
1 Never leave any of your own equipment behind where hostile forces could make use of it. In Vietnam, careless American troops left a trail of valuable equipment behind them. Grenades slipped into webbing by the lever may look good in the movies, but many fell off and were literally handed to the enemy. Similarly, US landing zones were often littered with everything from empty cans (ideal for grenade traps), rifle magazines, loose rounds and many other items useful to the needy guerilla. British readers need not be smug: the British Army was guilty of the same thing in South Africa during 1900/1901.
RUT TRAPS
Keep out of old ruts. The puddles and mud could conceal an excavation under a tarpaulin with a wire anchored on one end with the other attached to a grenade. The grenade can be used as the booster charge to initiate a secondary explosion inside a pot filled with explosive and scrapyard confetti. This type of mine was commonly used by the Viet Cong.
RUT GRENADE TRAP
Puddles and muddy ruts in the road can be used to disguise a simple pressure plate of wood or wire mesh that, when stepped on or driven over, acts on the two anchored wires attached to the operating rod threaded through the grenade pins.
2 When on the move, maintain proper spacing. Mines have a limited radius of effect, so dispersed formations suffer less damage. Men or vehicles that bunch up are asking for trouble.
3 When driving, drivers should follow the tracks of the vehicle in front. If he is safe, then so are you. Conversely, don’t drive in old tracks you know nothing about. They are a favourite spot for an anti-tank mine
4 If a unit on foot sustains casualties to mines, approach the wounded with caution: secondary mines or booby traps are often used against those who rush in to assist a mine victim.
COMMAND-DETONATED ROCKET ATTACK
Most rockets from the 66-mm LAW to single BM-21 rounds, can be fired as booby traps or command-detonated devices. The only way to defend against this type of attack is not to bunch up and not to drive at constant speed. Foot patrols should be used to clear any potential firing points.
5 Vehicle floors can be sandbagged and a thick rubber mat over the sandbags will further reduce blast and secondary fragmentation if you detonate a mine. Keep your arms and legs in.
6 Mines can be command-detonated i.e. someone watching from the bushes presses the plunger as you drive past the bomb. This is a favourite IRA ambush technique. One answer is to vary the speed and the spacing of vehicles to make it hard for the terrorist to judge the right moment to set it off.
7 Never allow single vehicles out on their own. They are an easy target and very tempting for terrorists/guerillas who regard small units of troops as a potential source of weapons and equipment.
8 Key personnel are an obvious target for command-detonated mines. A conspicuous command vehicle bristling with radio aerials is easily singled out, so do not place all the HQ personnel in the same APC. The same “eggs in one basket” principle applies to medical and other specialists.
Detection and search techniques
Detecting mines and booby traps is hard, slow work which demands careful observation and a great deal of concentration. There are certain areas worth particular attention and various clues which will help you survive. Once again, get into the habit of thinking. “If I were going to booby trap this area, where would I lay the tripwire?” Expect a trap and you may well find it.
Observe the movement of the local people: guerillas usually aim to single out the security forces in the familiar “battle for the hearts and minds”. If the farmer suddenly stops using one particular gate, there could be a very good reason. Gates and places where paths pass through dense undergrowth are favourite spots for a booby trap, and don’t forget to look above you and to the flanks for grenades or shells in the trees. Entrances to buildings, caves or tunnels require special caution.
You have been warned about leaving kit behind for the enemy. Be very cautious if the enemy has been so obliging as to leave weapons or supplies lying about for you. They may well be wired to something nasty. Check all items which would make good souvenirs: they also make good booby traps.
Sawing through a native bridge with a drop onto some punji stakes concealed by the water of a drainage ditch will produce a difficult casualty. Even a simple fall for a soldier fully laden with equipment can produce a broken leg.
Bridges, drainage ditches, culverts and streams are common sites for mines and booby traps and they should be checked. Look out for any signs and markings which the enemy may be using to mark his mines – this could be anything from knotted grass to the positioning of stones. If you can learn his signs they will act as sign posts in the future.
Disarming methods
The first step to surviving the mined battlefield is to detect, recognize and locate mines. Having done this, your safest bet is to bypass the area you know to be dangerous, but in certain circumstances this will not be possible. In combat you may need to maintain the momentum of an attack. Engineer units will have to destroy mines in place to allow the safe passage of friendly troops and the rest of the mines will be neutralized later by EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) teams.
Making a mine safe means displacing or replacing safeties in the firing assembly and separating the main charge from the detonator. If this is not possible, the mine must be destroyed in place.
Destruction in place
A mine can be deliberately detonated if the damage is acceptable and the tactical situation permits. For example, a mine by a roadside can be detonated without much trouble, but if you deliberately explode a powerful enemy mine on a strategically vital road bridge you may have some explaining to do.
Before trying to remove a mine, probe around the main charge with care to locate any anti-handling devices which have to be neutralized. Identify the type of firing mechanism and replace all safety devices. If you have any doubts about neutralising the mine, pull it out with a grapnel or rope from behind cover. Wait at least 30 seconds after extracting it in case it has a delay-action fuse. Only trained specialists should attempt to disarm a mine by hand unless the device and appropriate disarming techniques are well known.
NON-EXPLOSIVE SPEAR TRAP
Improvised traps may take many forms that may seem alien to Western eyes, but such traps are still widely used in the jungle environment for trapping animals such as bush pigs. The Viet Cong simply scaled up their traps to deal with a larger prey. This trap uses a bamboo hollowed out barrel and a steel dart propelled by a car fan belt secured to a block of wood and connected to a trip wire.
Non-explosive traps
Not all booby traps are explosive, but you should follow the general principles above, being especially alert for further mines and booby traps near a trap you have found. Also, a trap may be several booby traps together: you find one wire, think you are safe and walk round it straight into the punji pit. If you bypass a trap, mark it clearly for any following troops. Loose spike-type devices and bear traps which have been sprung should be picked up and disposed of so they cannot be re-used after you have gone. Spike pits should be exposed to view and later dismantled and filled in.
Be particularly careful when clearing or neutralising traps activated by tripwires. This includes such devices as log or ball maces, angled arrow traps, suspended spikes and bamboo whips. Clear all troops from the area and set off the device from a safe place using a grapnel.
OTHER TRAPS
Falklands booby trap
Hundreds of booby traps were left in the Falklands by the Argentine forces. These can be divided in
to two main categories, those that used the M5 grenade and those improvised using available components and explosives. Many booby traps were improvised in the field by military engineers using available components: most used a trip wire to release a spring-loaded striker to fire a detonator. The main charge was normally American-made TNT demolition blocks buried in the ground.
Occasionally the TNT blocks would be used to initiate an item of explosive ordnance such as a large artillery shell; one such device was discovered in a culvert near Port Stanley connected to a 1,000lb-aircraft bomb. Other variations include attaching a short wire to an innocent looking object such as an ammunition box. This would explode if the item was removed by the victim. A recent find was a trip wire with a TNT charge at each end.
Viet Cong and IRA traps
Bamboo bomb
Any tube, such as a bicycle frame or section of bamboo, can be used as a container for explosive. These could be used as booby traps or as grenades packed with metal scrap. The Viet Cong packed explosives in growing bamboo on the side of a known patrol route; in the same way the IRA made mines out of cast iron drain pipes on the sides of houses.
The Coconut mine
Any non-metallic mine will produce fragmentation that will now show up well on an X-ray of the victim. The Viet Cong made highly effective IEDs out of hollowed out coconuts packed with black powder and a detonator. Fragmentation effect was usually enhanced by placing stones and broken glass round the mine.
Anti-Vehicle traps
Tank crews can see very little when buttoned up and will therefore drive with hatches open when out of contact. This type of grenade booby trap is designed to injure the crew and any infantry riding on the tank or in trucks or other soft skinned vehicles. The grenade bodies are tied to the main wire and the pins are tied to stakes driven into the ground. More than two grenades are usually used; the whole arrangement is camouflaged in the trees lining a road for example.