NON-EXPLOSIVE BOOBY-TRAPS

Non-explosive antipersonnel devices included punji stakes, bear traps, crossbow traps, spiked mud balls, double-spike caltrops, and scorpion-filled boxes. 

By far the most common types of booby trap was the single punji stake. Punji stakes were sharpened lengths of bamboo or metal with needle-like tips that had been fire-hardened. Often they were coated with excrement to cause infection.  Dug into shallow camouflaged holes and rice paddies and mounted on bent saplings, this was a common booby trap. Another similar device was a spiked mud ball suspended by vines in the jungle canopy with a trip-wire release. It functioned as a pendulum, impaling its intended victim.

The simplest pit type was a hole about 20 to 30cm deep. The floor of this trap was then set with punji stakes which could easily pierce the canvas and leather jungle boot. For added misery the spikes could be smeared with poison or human excrement to induce blood poisoning or worse. There were many variations which allowed the spikes to attack the sides of the leg. This was particularly favored after the introduction of the reinforced soled jungle boot.

Punji traps were laid wherever the enemy soldiers were likely to land with force. The purpose of the pit was to increase the downward force of a walking man. Such places included the places that soldiers would throw themselves to escape gunfire - ditches, behind logs, in long grass etc; or where they would land with some force - stream banks, likely helicopter landing zones etc.

Side closing traps were also to be found. These ranged from the same size as the punji pit up to man-sized traps. These were more sophisticated versions of the punji pit and were likewise smeared with excrement or poison.

The second group of non-explosive traps used some form of mechanism to set them off - usually a trip wire. The wire could be stretched across a track as a delaying tactic or linked to a hidden man to be released on command as part of an ambush or to hit a selected target.

The swinging man trap was positioned on jungle trails and heavily camouflaged. It comprised a weighted beam pivoted so that when the pressure plate was pushed down the other, spiked end swung upwards with enough force to impale the victim. The target area was the chest in order to inflict a messy fatal wound.

The bamboo whip was encountered on trails and was set off by a tripwire. It comprised a length of bamboo under tension and set with spikes (poisoned in the normal fashion) at chest height. The unfortunate victim would receive severe, it not fatal, wounds to the chest as it whipped across the trail

The spiked ball was another trap designed for jungle use. It was sprung by a trip wire which released the heavy clay ball set with sharp spikes. The force of gravity and the height of release combined to inflict horrific, usually fatal, wounds in the head and shoulders region.