The tunnel rats were American, Australian, and New Zealander soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War.
Later, similar teams were used by the Soviet Army during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the Israel Defense Forces.
During the Vietnam War "tunnel rat" became a more or less official specialty for volunteer infantrymen, primarily from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Their motto was the Latin phrase "Non Gratus Rodentum"—"not worth a rat".[1] Since the 1940s, during the war against the French colonial forces, the Viet Cong had created an extensive underground system of complexes. By the 1960s, there were underground hospitals, training grounds, storage facilities, headquarters and more. The Viet Cong, who were skilled at guerrilla warfare, might stay underground for several months at a time.
Whenever troops would uncover a tunnel, tunnel rats were sent in to kill any hiding enemy soldiers and to plant explosives to destroy the tunnels. A tunnel rat was equipped with only a standard issue .45 caliber pistol, a bayonet and a flashlight, although most tunnel rats were allowed to choose another pistol with which to arm themselves. The tunnels were very dangerous, with numerous booby traps and Viet Cong lying in wait.
The tunnels presented many potential threats: defending soldiers manned holes on the sides of tunnels through which spears could be thrust, impaling a crawling intruder. There were also dangerous creatures, such as snakes (including venomous ones, sometimes placed there as living booby traps), rats, spiders, scorpions and ants. Black-Bearded Tomb Bats (Taphozous melanopogon) and Lesser Dawn Bats (Eonycteris spelaea) also roosted in the tunnels, though they were a harmless nuisance if awakened. Often there were flooded U-bends in the tunnels to trap poison gas. Underground, gas could be a very deadly weapon, and a tunnel rat might choose to go into the tunnels wearing a gas mask as it would be impossible to put one on in a narrow tunnel. More often than not, however, a tunnel rat would take his chances without a gas mask, as wearing one made it even harder to see, hear and breathe in the narrow, dark tunnels.
Tunel fareleri-"Cuchi tunnels" olarak da geçer. 1945-1970 arasinda toplam onyedi bin kisinin gerilla savasi için * yeraltina inmesi hadisesidir. oldukça kapsamli bir mühendislik harikasi olup mutfaktan banyoya her sey mevcuttur içlerinde. tüneller ufak tefek yapili vietnamlilar için dizayn edilmistir. fransizlar ülkeden ayrilirken yeni isgalci amerikali arkadaslarini uyarmayi bir borç bilmisler ve onlara tünellerin varligini bildirmislerdir. ancak iri yari, obez wasp amerikali askerler bu dar, karanlik ve havasiz tünellere girememis zorla askere alinmis gariban minnak meksika asilli, çin asilli, zenci askerleri bu tünellere sokmuslar. ve fakat, tünellerin labirentimsi, havasiz ve mekan olarak yabanci olmasindan dolayi bu askerler de basarisiz olmus, ya yaralanmis ya da ölmüs gitmisler. kendilerine de tünel fareleri ismi verilmis. tünellerden sag çikan askerlerin genel savas sonrasi travmasina ek olarak yasadigi zaman ve mekandan kopma hadisesini konu alan bir de kurgu bir seyler okumak isteyen aç dimaglar için, micheal connelly 'nin edgar ödüllü tünel fareleri isimli kitabi tavsiye edilebilir. yine karsi tarafin tünel deneyimleri ile ilgili tom mangold tarafindan yazilan the tunnels of cu chidaha belgesel ve biyografik ögeler tasimasi açisindan ilginç olabilir. ama kuskusuz savasin asil galipleri vietnamlilarin deneyimlerini anlamak için de tünellere bizzat girip hayatin kaç bucak oldugunu görmekte fayda vardir. tünelerin girisine ayak basmak bile kurtulus savaslarina kendi yöntemlerini katan bu canim halka hayranlik uyanmasi için yeterlidir.
vietnam'da yasal olarak kalashnikov tüfegi kullanmak ise bu tünellerin çikisindaki arazide, gözetim altinda mümkündür. bu ilginç, zira hala amerikali turistlerin 'dur surdan iki mermi ativeriyorum, son küfürümü savuruveriyim' anlayisi bizi derin utançlara sevk etmistir. bu turist eglencesini son derece yersiz, manasiz hatta saygisiz buldugumu da eklemeden edemeyecegim.
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