Booby traps a speciality DPR/TV/662

Needle pointed panji stakes - primitive, but deadly - were featured in a lecture on captured Viet Cong booby traps given by Sergeant Brett Hogen of Tocumwal, NSW, in training members of his Engineer Squadron in Vietnam this week. The location and identification of the many deadly devices used by the Viet Cong is vitally important to the Australian troops, as the fleeing Viet Cong continually set these traps to catch the unwary. A favourite booby-trap is the Claymore mine, a steel outer-cover filled with high explosive and steel pellets which can cut men down like a scythe. Another is the booby-trapped hand grenade, which can be fitted with an anti-lift device, causing it to explode if tampered with. Other booby traps include canister bombs and many devices which can be exploded either by trip wire or by electrical contact sticks - often home-made and crude - but deadly just the same. Constant training such as this has helped to keep Australian booby trap casualities to a minimum on operations. [Also identified are: Sapper Dale Bailey of Highelere Tas; Sapper Ross Carbeen of Manly; L/Cpl Ray Lock of Monash S.A.]