Tunnel rat

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As a tunnel rat American, Australian and New Zealand soldiers were referred to in the Vietnam War penetrated the enemy fighting in underground tunnels that the Viet Cong had created. Some of these tunnels were barely larger than a person's width, making it a strenuous and dangerous activity. The soldiers were not elite soldiers, but were initially assigned to them by order. Later men were selected who had a certain talent for this job. The basic rules of Vietnamese tunnel construction were explained to them, but the important knowledge was only acquired through experience.

A "tunnel rat" of the 1st US Cavalry Division climbs into a tunnel system
"Tunnel rats" prepare to blow up a tunnel system. The small, easily camouflaged entrance hole is recognizable.
A Viet Cong moves in a tunnel (1968)
Demonstration of an entry hole to the museum tunnels of Củ Chi

Origin and basis

The US infantry quickly recognized a basic problem in Vietnam: The Viet Cong struck again and again from ambush, apparently coming out of nowhere, and disappeared again just as quickly. When the patrols were stepped up, small holes or trap doors were found in bumps or hills that were very well camouflaged. Whole groups of soldiers were sent there and died. So were some tunnel entrances dummies with a booby trap ( booby trap were equipped). Due to the pressure in closed rooms, one grenade was enough to kill everyone in the tunnel. In addition, the entrances to the tunnel complexes were secured with thorns and stakes. One of the most insidious of these traps was usually at the tunnel entrance, where the tunnel rat had to hold on to the edge in order to jump down. A small slit was built in at eye level through which a Viet Cong or a lanyard pushed a bamboo spear into the victim's face. If it was a real tunnel, many US soldiers often panicked on contact with the enemy and shot around uncontrollably, often killing more comrades than opponents.

The Viet Cong paid a lot of attention to the construction of good tunnels, for example many branches were built in, which were intended to mislead the enemy soldiers and let them run into traps. This created the need for individuals to explore the tunnels and, if necessary, fight enemy troops. In the further course, people were selected who were best suited for this based on a certain profile. When these tunnel rats proved to be quite successful, one began to assign a tunnel rat to every major patrol, for example to train a member of the train to do so. They were taught the basic structures of tunnels, special forms of locomotion, creeping up and finding their way around such systems.

commitment

If a patrol found such access, the specialist almost completely took off his equipment and crawled into the hole in the ground, usually armed only with a pistol and a few hand grenades . It's a rumor that these soldiers were special knife fighters in some form. Since the Second World War, combat knives have mainly been used to cut cords, sharpen stakes or open cans, and less so to kill opponents. In some cases he used a flashlight with a red or green filter, but this was used less often as it could have warned the Viet Cong in the tunnel. If the US soldiers were recognized in good time, the tunnels were easy to defend because the individual “rooms” of the system were often only connected by narrow passages. Most of the time, you could only cross it by crawling on the ground, and so the tunnel rat would be lost if it was discovered. On the other hand, the U.S. soldier had the advantage of causing a lot of damage among the Viet Cong if he went unnoticed. If several Viet Cong were present in a room, one grenade was enough to wipe out all persons. If he found no enemies in the whole system, he could still usually secure important documents, even set the system with booby traps or blow up weapons and ammunition stores. If something went wrong during one of these missions, the squad or platoon "only" lost one man instead of several as before.

background

The tunnel systems in Vietnam were extremely ramified, sometimes entire stretches of land were tunneled under. Parts of the tunnels have been preserved and can now be viewed as part of a war museum. They weren't just “holes in the ground”, but large underground corridor systems. Usually there were several entrances, so that it was often not enough to simply throw a grenade into a passage to kill the soldiers in it. If an entrance was blocked by an attack, it was ensured that the crew could withdraw. Thanks to skilful tunnel construction, the rooms in these tunnel systems were interconnected several times, but always with as small dimensions as necessary. Due to the large number of rooms within the tunnel systems, shelling by artillery was often ineffective, as the defenders could retreat to side rooms. Only through the use of soldiers to investigate it was it possible to dig these systems out with a large-scale “cleanup” if necessary. Flamethrowers weren't of much use here either, as taking them with you in the jungle was very tricky and only reached as far as the first chamber, which was usually specially designed for weakening enemy weapons.

success

The use of the tunnel rats was a success in itself. The tunnel rats made the Viet Cong feel safe from the US troops in their tunnels. The Viet Cong tried to solve this problem with devices of deception; however, it took a lot of effort. Guards had to be set up and the systems made more secure. Tunnel rats did not dig positions on their own, but at least gained extensive knowledge of a system in an area. With this information, infantry operations could then be better planned and carried out.

Further course

The US has not waged a war that needed such specialists for a long time since Vietnam. All armed conflicts after that took place on the surface. It was not until Operation Enduring Freedom that the US Army was confronted with tunnel systems again in Afghanistan. However, these were constructed differently and some of them were centuries old. Significant differences to Vietnamese tunnels consisted in the fact that the Afghan tunnels were also widely ramified, but were primarily intended as a retreat rather than a base for attacks from an ambush. In the meantime, the US Army has the opportunity to completely burn out these tunnel systems with special bunker-breaking weapons (such as the GBU-43 / B ). Nevertheless, the US Army still trains soldiers for tunnel combat today.

Processing in the literature

The experiences of a (fictional) soldier as a tunnel rat in the Vietnam War were described in Frederick Forsyth's novel “ The Avenger ” ( ISBN 3-442-45950-8 ).

Investigator Harry Bosch in Michael Connelly's crime novels suffers from his past as a tunnel rat, described in detail in the first Harry Bosch volume "The Black Echo" from 1992 (German: " Schwarzes Echo ", 1994, ISBN 3-550-06713- 5 ).

swell

See also