The Vietnam War

and the Tunnels of

Cu Chi

(Tunnel Warfare)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

Shown above is a ventilation hole for the tunnels below. Ventilation holes for

cooking stoves were usually a significant distance away from the kitchen.

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!

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.

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.

Imagine yourself shoulder deep in between these two punji axles. The punji sticks

would penetrate into the sides or armpits of your body!

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!

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.