What did the Viet Cong put on punji sticks?

Punji sticks They were mostly made out of bamboo (though sometimes metal) in varying lengths and width, and had a simple sharpened spike on one end to impale its victim. Sometimes the sticks were smeared with urine, feces or plant poison to also cause infection.

What was a punji bear trap?

The punji stick or punji stake is a type of booby trapped stake. It is a simple spike, made out of wood or bamboo, which is sharpened, heated, and usually set in a hole. Punji sticks are usually deployed in substantial numbers.

What were punji sticks covered with?

Elephant Grass was tall enough to hide massive Punji Sticks capable of crippling landing helicopters. Less than 1000 US soldiers died from Punji Sticks, but the soldiers who survived these traps were normally crippled for life.

What is a pungi pit?

A very sharp bamboo stake that is concealed at an angle in high grass, in a hole, or in deep mud, often coated with excrement, and planted to wound and infect the feet of enemy soldiers. Also called punji stake.

Why are punji sticks banned?

To make the Punji sticks more dangerous and poisonous, the Vietnamese army laced sharpened tips of sticks with toxic plants, animal urine, frogs, or even human faeces, to cause infection.

How do punji pits work?

Punji Sticks The VC would dig a hole and put the sticks in the bottom, then cover it with a thin frame. The victim would put his foot through the cover and fall on the spikes below. A more insidious trap featured spears pointed downward so victims would be injured only when they tried to pull out of the trap.

Did they use snake pits in Vietnam?

Snake Pits Viet Cong guerrillas would often carried Bamboo Pit Vipers in their packs to (hopefully) kill anyone who searches through them. They would also tie the deadly snakes to bamboo and hide them throughout their tunnel complexes. When the Bamboo was released, so was the snake – right onto the enemy.

What was the worst booby trap?

A cartridge trap is a type of booby trap devised by the Viet Cong and subsequently used against American and other anti-Communist forces supporting South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Who invented punji sticks?

First to coin the term for the weapon were 19th century British Indian Army troops in the Punjab, in reference to native hunting traps. But it was the Viet Cong, the South Vietnamese communist guerrillas, who used punjis to their greatest notoriety a century later.

How many punji stick wounds are there in 324 patients?

This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn’t claimed this research yet. This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn’t claimed this research yet. . Regional Distribution of 342 Punji Stick Wounds in 324 Patients … Through and through punji stick wound of leg.

What is a punji stick?

The Punji stick or Punji stake is a type of booby trapped stake. It is a simple spike, made out of wood or bamboo, generally placed upright in the ground. Punji sticks are usually deployed in substantial numbers.

Why did the Viet Cong use punji sticks in Vietnam?

In the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong would also use this method to force the wounded soldier to be transported by helicopter to a medical hospital for treatment, which was viewed as being more damaging to the enemy’s cause than death. Punji sticks were also used in Vietnam to complement various defenses, such as barbed wire.

How did the punji stick take down the helicopter?

Large in construction, when a man or group of men stepped on the camouflaged board it would teeter then drop them onto the spikes below. Although it was rare, extra long punji sticks were constructed to take out helicopters when they came close to high grass.