Saturday, September 21, 2019
The Tunnel Rats Essay Example for Free
The Tunnel Rats Essay INTRODUCTION            It was in January 1966 when one of the biggest intelligence coups of the war that time took place. While the soldiers or the â€Å"diggers†were doing a sweep of the â€Å"Iron Triangle†that was an area near Saigon they discovered a vast complex of tunnels.[1] This location was heavily guarded with armed protection and was restricted by the Viet Cong (VC). What they were about to find out was 60 feet into the ground of that perimeter would be the Viet Cong headquarters. [2]            When they arrived in Vietnam as part of the 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry, 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division in January 7, 1966, they were called the â€Å"Big Red One†and were sent to engage in operation â€Å"Crimp.†[3] The mission was to search and destroy sweep the Viet Cong stationed in the Northwest of Saigon. Even as they were just landing, they could see from the air how there were groups of their men in trouble with small fire fights that made them quickly exit their helicopters to engage in battle and destroy the VC that had been attacking the soldiers.            When they went inside the tree line that led to the locations were they saw some of the fights, they saw a large trench filled with nothing and no one. They did not know where the VCs went. Those they saw that were firing at the other soldiers just disappeared into thin air. They were gone, all of them.            The battalion moved forward to see large catches of rice and estimated the amount they saw were enough to feed a Regiment.  Even after a few days later, they saw foxholes, trenches and caves but there were no VC enemies to fight with. However, it was evident the United States casualties were still increasing because of sustained enemy sniper fire that basically came out of nowhere.            It was already January 10th and they merely had a few glimpse of this enemy. Later that day, a radio report came out that elements from another brigade had made contact with the VC and found the same thing tunnels. VIETNAM WARFARE STATEGIES            Later they would discover that the VC’s strategy was to strike unexpectedly and then slip away into the tunnels to avoid retaliation. Their strategy was concealment and was effective with their hit and run tactics.[4] Tunneling was the essential element in the VC strategy. It was the greatest element in the VC stationed in the area of Cu Chi, located north the South Vietnamese capital, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon).            They used the tunnels for many functions. They attack American installations that were conveniently built right above them.[5] They took refuge in the tunnels when they felt threatened with annihilation. They used the tunnels to escape from threatened villages. The also used them to store war materials and to operate facilities like an underground hospital. The Americans never really discovered the full extent of the Viet Cong tunnel systems, but they gradually tried their best to develop tactics to counter attack the VCs and to use the complexities of the tunnels to their advantage.[6]            The tunnels are now made into something like a Disney amusement park wherein tourists can take an hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh to experience going into them. These tunnels used to be well hidden from American soldiers and reporters of the war but now it has brought tourism to the country. But along with the sights and the interesting experience, the war tactics and weapons the Viet Cong used were placed on display that serves as a reminded of their polished warfare strategies.            Man traps made to kill were part of the display. When American soldiers would try to slip into the tunnels, Punjisticks or spears of bamboo with razor sharpness and covered with excrement or poison were the first things that greeted them.[7] The sticks pierced the legs and the torsos of the Americans. More brutal strategies were used as bear traps were also placed in the tunnel openings to amputate the feet of the soldiers as they go inside the tunnel. Like this was not enough protection, booby traps were also hung from the trees near the opening that would result to beheaded soldiers or amputated limbs.[8]            The VC did not even bury some of their casualties. The United States forces often buried their dead enemy to keep track of the extent of the casualties for the enemy. Tactical conditions from the Viet Congs would result to dead VCs lying around the tunnels for the tunnel rats to discover. In some cases, they would even pull the bodies of dead American soldiers in the tunnels for the soldiers to encounter. This was a strategy they used to unnerve and demoralize the U.S. troops that would come into the tunnels.[9] TUNNELS OF CU CHI            Located just seventy-five kilometers northwest from the country’s capital Ho Chi Minh were the tunnels of Cu Chi. This district of Cu Chi was a major Viet Cong infiltration route that served as a trail towards the Ho Chi Minh.[10] Situated above the ground of this perimeter was the station of the United States 25th Infantry Division.[11] Below them was the home of the 7th Viet Cong Regiment and other allied units. It was like sleeping with the enemy, only with them they were sleeping above the enemy, literally.            The tunnels were reported to be 250 kilometers long and most of the tunnels were located in Cu Chi. There were three levels to the VC tunnels. [12] In the first level, the opening was three meters deep. As one goes deeper into the tunnel, it would widen and be about six meters deep. The third level of the tunnels was eight meters below the ground. An Underground Battle Station            In the tunnels, it was like a whole word underground. There were kitchens, there was a hospital, and the officers’ quarters were there as well as a meeting room.[13] During that time the tunnels were almost inaccessible. It was hidden in a jungle-like area. During the war it was ravaged by a skin-burning chemical Agent Orange that was part of the American counterattack. Some tunnels were also too narrow for an overweight Westerner.[14]            The tunnel system included different sizes of chambers, rest areas, weapons and ammunitions storage, kitchens, workshops, barracks room as well as rooms that housed the communication equipments.[15] The kitchens was designed so well the smoke that could signal the Americans of their location were dispersed and dissipated into numerous pipes that would mislead anyone who would see it.[16]            The tunnels of Cu Chi were the venue where the Viet Cong fighters and the American Tunnel Rats, as they call those brave enough to penetrate the tunnels, would go into hand-to-hand combat inside dark and dangerous subterranean and complex tunnels. These tunnels were where they fought to death using knives and pistols.[17] The Little IRT            The tunnels of Cu Chi were known as the Little IRT. They were similar to the railway system in America with an interconnecting tunnel system that was in the northern section of Hau Nghia Province and in the southwester section of Binh Duong Province. The tunnels complexity connected hamlets, villages and provinces in the area. Originally it was dug up to be used to support the Viet Minh guerilla war against the French.            The American soldiers dubbed the tunnels the â€Å"little IRT†because of how similar it was to the New York City Subway. The complex tunnel system allowed for different levels in different locations that were interconnected by a series of â€Å"trap doors, channels, shafts, wells and communication tunnels.†[18] There connections from the tunnels to bunkers that was almost bombproof as well as to ground level bunkers. Tunnel Explorer, Locator Communicator System            The TELACS was an experimental communications device system that the tunnel rats or the American soldiers used when they explored the enemy tunnel systems. It was a system that was composed of an earphone and a throat microphone for communications with the troops in the surface.[19]            It was a flawed system because there was much voice distortion and there needed to be a large amount of wire that had to be dragged behind the explorer. It was a slow and inaccurate system. When it was tested in the year 1969, it was withdrawn.[20]            The tunnel system proved to a sophisticated military tactic from the Viet Cong that may have been underestimated by the American troops. The genius of their strategies overwhelmed U.S. Forces until it came to the point that they decided to clear the tunnels of the VC. TUNNEL CLEARING            After the time when Ben Suc, Vietnam was depopulated American troops went on to clear out the tunnels of Cu Chi, looking for Viet Cong fighters. The army made use of large tanks with bull dozer blades as well as medium built soldiers that were known to be â€Å"tunnel rats†that went to uncover the underground city.[21] In the clearing process they found stoves, furniture, clothes for men and women, and essentially thousands of pages of important war documents. This major headquarters that the American command found brought them to explore further into the tunnels.            However, during that time, a senior officer that was in-charge of exploring the tunnel was killed by one of the bloody booby traps. The U.S. army saw the danger of the situation and retreated from exploring the tunnels. Instead, they pumped tear gas into the tunnels as well as set off explosives.[22] The Americans thought this was the top headquarters for the Viet Cong, they miss the headquarters of the NLF that was several miles north that place.            The U.S. used tons of artillery and bombs for every Viet Cong fighter. The Viet Cong manual even said that the U.S. had much superior weapons and strength compared to them on the battlefield. But they could not chase them as they always launched surprise attacks from their underground tunnels.[23]            The use of incendiary weapons that included the white phosphorous and the napalm was used vastly by the U.S. forces during this time. [24]This move has placed them in the center of condemnation. Napalm was described to be a petroleum fuel that as very effective in the destruction of the enemies’ bunkers as well as the people inside them. White phosphorous was used to mark targets and to set fire to flammable ones. It has caused suffering that would tend to continue burning the skin long after the initial contact.[25] Used together with napalm would prove to be painfully lethal. The mortality rate from those who suffered from such weapons was high and there were deaths that arose from injuries where victims were too badly burnt to receive hospital treatment.[26] CS Gas was proficiently used in clearing the tunnel complexes that sifted the enemy soldiers as well as the large numbers of civilians who sought refuge in the tunnels.[27]            Some antiwar critics of the U.S. Forces in the Vietnam claimed that America conducted a war of genocide in Vietnam because of the civilian casualties. However this was denied because the U.S. military strategy did not amount to having an official policy of genocide nor was it the intention of the government and the armed forces to wipe out any significant part of the Vietnamese civilians. TUNNEL RATS            During the war trained special units were called tunnel rats. They were described to be â€Å"small, mean and crazy†as they actually went inside the tunnels and combated with Viet Congs they encountered while other units merely thrown explosives to clear the tunnels.[28] They were also known to be the â€Å"Tunnel Runners†by the 25th Infantry Division and â€Å"Ferrets†by the Australian Army. â€Å"Tunnel Rat†was their official accepted name.[29]            It was during this time that the U.S. Army realized that it was short-sighted to destroy the tunnels by the bulldozers and the bombings. There would be a massive loss of vital intelligence if the plans and documents of the Viet Cong would be destroyed through their first strategy.            It was in 1965 when the 1st and 25th Infantry division organized specialized teams that had missions to search and explore the tunnels in the III Corp area.[30] The tunnel rats were not assigned; they were all volunteers and were armed only with a pistol or shotgun, a knife and a flashlight.[31] They infiltrated the tunnels with such minimal weapons where hundreds of VC might be hiding with their massive supply of weapons stored in the tunnels as well. Anyone who went into the tunnels was then dubbed as â€Å"Tunnel Exploration Personnels.†           As the tunnel rats descended into the tunnels they experience walking into a pitch black and claustrophobic pathway wherein they were playing a deadly game of hide and seek with the enemy Viet Cong. The sensitive probing of the floor, sides and roofs of the tunnels soon became second nature to the tunnel rat as he inched his way deeper into the tunnel complexes.[32] They carefully watched out for wires and tree roots that was irregular and could pass for booby trap that could blow them up to pieces or cut their limbs into pieces.            The entrances of the tunnels alone are usually mined or protected by concealed guards ready to fire upon entry. Sometimes, the unsuspecting tunnel rat can met the garrote or someone would cut his throat as he came up and pass by connecting trapdoors[33].            Aside from the VC booby traps were a whole breed of animals that resided in the dark confines of the tunnels.[34] There were bats that used the grounds during the daylight hours. Snakes were also encountered inside the tunnels. The Bamboo Viper and the Krait were the deadly snakes that can be found the VC tunnels. The Viet Cong would deliberately tether a snake in the tunnels to serve as a natural booby trap for the tunnel rats.            The stress the tunnel rats undergo every time they went into the tunnel was unthinkable that pushed their mental state to its limits. They would crawl into the narrow, pitch black tunnels looking for a heavily armed enemy for hours to combat with. The idea was to find the VC first before he jumped on them to kill them. Sometimes the strain on the men’s nerves was too much to bear to the point wherein he had to be dragged from the tunnel screaming and crying.[35] When this occurs, they are not allowed to go into the tunnel ever again. There were no dead tunnel rats that were to be left inside the tunnel. Dead or wounded they were dragged out with wires, rope or by a comrade only to be taken out of the VC territory.[36] Weapons and Warfare            There was extensive use of the tunnel by the VC. The tunnel rats had to search and flush out the VC. Tunnel warfare then occurred between the VC and the U.S. Tunnel Rats.            The soldiers became used to tunnel welfare that they reveled in the opportunity to pursue a VC through the narrow passageways. It was not a work for someone with a faint heart as the danger of death was ever present underground were grenades would just pop through trapdoors and other forms of booby trap awaited.[37]            When a tunnel rat went in for tunnel warfare, the infantry basic load was kept to a minimal. His total lack of equipment to carry was a factor for the tunnel rat’s survival.[38] The pistols the tunnel rats carried where the .38 Smith and Wesson. Sometimes they would carry a 9mm German Luger.[39] Most of the tunnel rats agreed not to carry the Colt .45. It was too big of a weapon for the underground battle with a silencer. Without a silencer, it was too loud that the enemies from far away could know your location instantly while you are temporarily deafened by the shot. In tunnel warfare, the tunnel rats follow the golden rule that prohibits firing more than three shots underground without reloading.[40] If this does not happen, the VC could know that the tunnel rat is out of ammunition and could attack while they reload.            The tunnel rats carried a standard Army issue flashlight and each member carried one. They practiced how they would carry the flashlight to prevent themselves from being lighted targets. They also practiced how to change batteries in pitch darkness by touch alone and how it can be done quickly.[41] CONCLUSION            The tunnel rats were remembered to be one of the bravest in the American-Vietnam war. They did a job that not many wanted to do. In fact, not many dared to volunteer for this position. But they stepped up and made it a duty to their country.            It was not an easy job considering the highly sophisticated tunnel strategies that the Viet Cong implemented before the U.S. Army troops even discovered that they existed. They were in and out of a battle scene. They controlled the tempo of the battle because of their invisibility. Even when the tunnels were discovered, threats still turned on the American troops as it proved to be dangerous to explore the tunnels. Deadly booby traps such as land mines, sharp sticks and trapdoors overwhelmed the U.S. troops that may have underestimated the intelligence of the VC tactics. In the end much of the tunnels that were deeper into the complexes were remained uncovered and unexplored by the U.S. Army. This was a war rightfully won by the one who had the best strategies, the most ruthless approaches that surprised the nations of the world. BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, Lousie. War and Aftermath in Vietnam. New York, Routledge, 1991. Clark, Gregory R. Words of the Vietnam War: The Slang, Jargon Abbreviations, Acronyms Nomenclature, Nicknames Pseudonyms, Slogans Specs, Euphemisms Double-Talk, Chants and Names and Places of the Era of United States Involvement in Vietnam. Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1990. Mangolds, Tom. â€Å"Behind Enemy Lines a Nam Vet Returns; Tom Mangold Revisits the Terrifying Viet Cong Tunnels He Discovered as a Young War Reporter.And Finds Them Transformed into a Fascinating, Disney-Style Attraction†, The Mail on Sunday, 15 October 2006, 94. McGibbon, Ian. â€Å"The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Remarkable Story of War in Vietnam†, New Zealand Internationa lReview, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2006): 29. Philbert, Robert E. â€Å"Back to Nam†, Social Studies, Vol. 86, No. 1 (1995): 6. Schulzinger, Robert D. A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975. New York Oxford University Press, 1997. â€Å"Tunnel Rats.†Digger History, (2002). Available from http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/vietnam/tunnel-rats.htm, accessed on October 3, 2007.
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