Tunnel rat
The tunnel rats were American, Australian, New Zealander, and South Vietnamese soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War.
Later, similar teams were used by the Soviet Army during the Soviet–Afghan War and by the Israel Defense Forces in campaigns in the Middle East.
History
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, "tunnel rat" became an unofficial specialty for volunteer
In the early stages of the war against the
During the
Many tunnel rats reportedly came to dislike the intense
Besides enemy combatants, the tunnels themselves presented many potential dangers to tunnel rats. Sometimes they were poorly constructed and they would simply collapse. Tunnels were often
Tunnel rats were generally men of smaller stature (165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and under), who were able to maneuver more comfortably in the narrow tunnels.
By Mangold and Penycate's account, the tunnel rats first garnered public attention in January 1966, after a combined U.S. and Australian operation against the
In the years since the Vietnam War ended, tunnel rats have suffered from a high percentage of Agent Orange injuries and diseases due to soldiers' exposure to the chemicals on the ground, or that leached from topsoil into the tunnel environment. While in the tunnels, soldiers were breathing air heavily saturated with Agent Orange.[citation needed]
Afghanistan
Israel
SAMOOR (Hebrew: סמור, "weasel"), a formation within Israel's Yahalom elite combat engineer unit, is charged with many of the same missions that tunnel rats performed during the Vietnam War.[13]
See also
References
- ^ "Historical Vignette 062 - How Army Engineers Cleared Viet Cong Tunnels". U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. January 2003.
- ^ Tom Mangold and John Penycate, The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Harrowing Account of America's Tunnel Rats in the Underground Battlefields of Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1986).
- ISBN 9781742374895.
- ^ "M1917 revolver". historic-firearms.com.
- ^ a b Kevin Dockery (June 2002). "Tunnel Weapon: The Bang in the Dark". smallarmsreview.com.
- ^ "Weapons Lab: Small Arms Development at USALWL". Small Arms Defense Journal. 25 August 2014.
- ^ Jones, Jonathon. Beneath the Bamboo: A Vietnam War Story.
- ^ "The Tunnel Rats of Viet Nam". Viet Nam. Digger History: an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces.
- ^ ISBN 0-89141-869-5.
- ^ Grau, Lester W.; Ali Ahmad Jalali (November 1998). "Underground Combat: Stereophonic Blasting, Tunnel Rats and the Soviet-Afghan War" (PDF). Engineer.
- ^ ""Taliban using ancient well and tunnel system"". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011.
- ^ ""Taliban Secret Weapon: Ancient Irrigation Trenches"". Archived from the original on November 16, 2001.
- ^ "Israel's 'tunnel rats' brace for new guerrilla war", Mar 8, 2012 Reuters
Sources
- Mangold, Tom; John Penycate (2005). The Tunnels of Cu Chi. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-869-5.
- Rottman, Gordon (2006). Viet Cong and NVA Tunnels and Field Fortifications of the Vietnam War. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-003-X.
- Rottman, Gordon (2012). Tunnel Rat in Vietnam. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-783-4.
- Kirchner, Paul (2009). More of the Deadliest Men Who Ever Lived. Paladin Press. ISBN 978-1-58160-690-4.
- Marett, Jim (February 9, 2018). "My Life as a Tunnel Rat". New York Times.
External links
- Australian Tunnel Rats
- The short film STAFF FILM REPORT 66-17A (1966) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- The short film STAFF FILM REPORT 66-18A (1966) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- The short film STAFF FILM REPORT 66-25A (1966) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.