Army tunnel rats, who tried to explore and clear the underground cities. Nick wright is the detective trying to solve the mystery of the double killing. The tunnel rats encounter on reddit, a terminallyill vietnam veteran recounted a story of his time in vietnam that he was going to take to his grave but opted to put it on rnosleep instead. His hunt for a motive takes him to the vietnam, where the american tunnel rats fought the dirtiest battle of the war against the viet cong. Tunnel rats ofvietnam vietnams littleknown underground war and the men and women who fought it sgt. Atlantic books independent publisher of literary fiction and nonfiction. In their 1985 book, the tunnels of cu chi, bbc reporters tom mangold and john penycate told the story of the american tunnel rats, a saga they learned about for the first time from the viet cong, who admired the tunnel rats as the best soldiers among the american forces.
They were the 1st to find the secret viet cong tunnels. This is the powerful story of the sappers, the army engineers in afghanistan whose raw courage and skills were inspired by the original australian tunnel rats of the war in vietnam. Wikipedia commons in 1946, the viet minh were the viet cong resistance fighters who began digging the tunnels and bunkers to combat the french, whom they would eventually defeat. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read tunnel rat in vietnam.
They traveled light, carrying only a pistol, a knife and a flashlight. For the bulk of the war there were three troops, each of around 40 men, a total of 120 tunnel rats in vietnam per year, for around five years, making 600, plus the first year when 3 field troop alone was there, with about 70 men. This network connected villages, cities, and districts. These tunnel rats of afghanistan have rooted out the enemy. These were the terrifying dangers of being a tunnel rat. Ultimately, shooting underground was a last resort. Named after the tunnel rats in the vietnam war, the mixedgender, multiracial collective consists of some seventeen individual members and incorporates four affiliated groups, lpg, future shock, foundation, and new breed, which have recorded both within tunnel rats and independently. The author was a graduate of the royal military college, duntroon, as a young captain sandy macgregor commanded 3 field troop in vietnam, where he won the military cross.
American officers in vietnam viewed the short, wiry combat engineers as. Some civilian handguns worked their way into the mix, but for most of the tunnel rats the big. These unsung heroes of the vietnam war were american, australian, and new zealand soldiers specially trained as combat engineers, who carefully crawled through the cramped viet cong underground to perform perilous covert search and destroy missions. Tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet congvc tunnels to kill any vc inside, gather any intel, recover arms and finally demolish the tunnels by planting. Sappers war aussie tunnel rats vietnam war books on war. In 1965, soon after the first us combat troops had arrived in vietnam, it was realized that in some areas the viet cong had developed vast tunnel complexes in which to hide from the enemy. American soldier using a knife to probe the floor of a viet cong tunnel in the iron triangle north of saigon, south vietnam. Its a great story about the vietnam war and a group of veterans who are getting killed off one by one in a vicious style, ending up in thailand and bangkok searching the old tunnels created by the vietcong. Tunnel rats were usually soldiers who were physically smallable to fit inside the tight spaces of the viet cong tunnels. Pete rejoruiz, a cubanborn tunnel rat, is shown popping out of a north vietnamese tunnel. Today, the vc honor the tunnel rats who fought them mantoman as. Rottman, served in vietnam with the 1st cavalry division in the late1960s, and witnessed some of what tunnel rats did personally. Military slang during the vietnam war some of the photos can be harsh or unpleasant. Tom mangold and john penycate, authors of one of the definitive accounts of tunnel warfare in the vietnam war, reported that u.
The training of tunnel rats is also covered from basic training boot camp, advance individual training as infantrymen or engineers, followed by tunnel warfare selection and training in demolitions, boobytrap awareness, chemical employment, countermine warfare and tunnel exploitation. Troops nicknamed tunnel rats cleared vc and nva tunnels for enemy soldiers and booby traps. It was long known that such complexes existed, but it was not realized just how extensive they were in some areas, how important they were to the viet cong, and how difficult it was to detect and neutralize. A harrowing account of americas tunnel rats in the underground battlefields of vietnam 9780891418696. First of all, those ops were certainly not off the book. During the vietnam war, tunnel rat became an unofficial.
War underground, chu chi district, operation crimp, the guerillas of the viet cong, the tunnels, survival underground, born in a tunnel, the tunnel rats, not worth a rats ass, stop the americans. Chops and i were some of the original tunnel rats and all our training was ojt. They were both the backyard builders and the frontline troops in australias war against the taliban. This vietnam war book records the operations of sappers in the 3 field troop royal australian engineers 1rar. Payne, a tunnel rat, bravely searches a tunnels entrance during vietnam war. During the vietnam war, tunnel rat became an unofficial specialty for volunteer combat engineers and infantrymen from australia and the united states who cleared and destroyed enemy tunnel complexes. I must apologize, as it isnt about tunnel rats, but since you seemed to accept recommendations on interesting books with unique perspectives on the vietnam war, i highly recommend. The so called tunnel rats had to explore, destroy, and hopefully not find the enemy and. About it removed a lot of movies and have written hundreds of books, but the truth about the war will remain only in. A few silenced pistols made their way to vietnam and some of them were used by the tunnel rats. One of the ways they did that was by using creative methods to rig booby traps to injure or kill u. Corvus atlantics commercial fiction list which includes womens, historical, romance, scifi, crime and thriller. American, australian, and new zealander soldiers who performed underground search missions.
A graduate of the royal military college, duntroon, as a young captain sandy macgregor commanded 3 field troop in vietnam, where he won the military cross. Read online tunnel rat in vietnam pdf book by on juggernaut books. Those were the guys who wriggled their way through the ridiculously narrow tunnels the viet cong used to transport personnel and weapons, set boobytraps, and all that. The job was time consuming, difficult the tunnels were a tight squeeze for a typical vietname. Most of us who served as tunnel rats during the vietnam war quickly realized that crawling through. A harrowing account of americas tunnel rats in the underground battlefields of vietnam by tom mangold due to covid19, orders may be delayed. Their unofficial motto was non gratum anus rodentum. In 1965, soon after the first us combat troops had arrived in vietnam, it was realized that in some areas the viet cong. Here is another good book by osprey publishing, tunnel rat in vietnam. Have a look around this website and the books this is a great slice of genuine australian history featuring 67 forgotten heroes of the vietnam war. Tunnel rats were generally men of smaller stature 56 and under, who were able to maneuver more comfortably in the narrow tunnels.
What was it like to be an american tunnel rat in vietnam. His hunt for a motive takes him to the tunnels in vietnam, where the american tunnel rats fought the dirtiest battle of the war against the viet cong. Tunnel rats in vietnam cherrieswriter vietnam war website. Each chapter was about a different aspect of tunnel. During the vietnam war, if a us tunnel rat got injured. But his search places him in grave danger with a killer determined to protect the secrets of the tunnels. The tunnel rats were not spies or saboteur sent to north vietnam or neutral cambodia.
Carlos garza was an american tunnel rat during the. By the way this is not the official website of the vietnam tunnel rats association which is au. Living up to their motto of we make and we break, they created the legend of the tunnel rats. They were infantrymen who volunteered to go down the tunnels of south vi. Sapper jim marett outside the ruins of a rubber plantation mansion in vietnam in 1970. Buy tunnel rat in vietnam warrior by gordon l rottman isbn.
The authors, bbc journalists, discuss the vietcong who lived, worked and fought in tunnelsparticularly the ones in cu chi, a district just north of saigonas well as the u. These brave soldiersmarines were called tunnel rats. During the vietnam war our government never anticipated that tunnel warfare would. The tunnels also hosted armament workshops, training depots, headquarters, and a variety of other facilities.
Their motto was the tongueincheek latin phrase non gratus anus rodentum not worth a rat s arse in the early stages of the war against the french colonial forces, the viet minh created an. We believe our total number is somewhere around 700. Jimmy thomson is a journalist, author and screenwriter whose credits include the abctv series rain shadow. During the vietnam war our government never anticipated that tunnel warfare would be so prominent or important in waging ground combat. For a soldier during the vietnam war, one of the most dangerous of obstacles was faced by a select few soldiers known as tunnel rats. Account of americas tunnel rats in the underground battlefields of vietnam. Crooked cops and kings cross crims by the man who saw it all. Why we didnt win in vietnam, is what i would have titled this book. Tunnel rats, as american soldiers who worked in the cu chi tunnels during the vietnam war were known, used the evocative term black echo to describe the experience of being in the tunnels. In 1965, soon after the first us combat troops had arrived in.
Opinion my life as a tunnel rat the new york times. Tunnel rats is a west coast underground hip hop collective founded in 1993 in whittier, california. War is a disgrace, is cruelty, misery, tears and death. This book is about the tunnels that the vietnamese dug and used during the war in the 1960s. Tunnel rats were all volunteers as they soon realized that if a person really didnt want to do the job, he would just report the tunnel as a dead end. Tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet cong vc tunnels to kill any vc inside, gather any intel, recover arms and finally demolish the tunnels by planting explosives. War underground, chu chi district, operation crimp, the guerillas of the viet cong, the tunnels, survival underground, born in a tunnel, the tunnel rats, not worth a rat s ass, stop the americans. If the tunnels were the secret weapon of the viet cong, the tunnel rats were the unsung heroes of the american forces. One of the american tunnel rats in vietnam, garza was chosen, because of his slight stature, to venture into the narrow, pitchblack passageways of the tunnels. We would like to thank all for their support whilst we transition to virtual operations. Another short osprey book that i read quickly for a section of my dissertation. A second murder in bangkok links the deaths to a group of vietnam veterans who worked as tunnel rats, one of whom is about to become vicepresident of the usa and cannot have their secret revealed, so he sends a mercenary to take care of any revelations.