Booby trap

Last updated
A booby trap with punji sticks Cu Chi Tunnel 1.JPG
A booby trap with punji sticks

A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap may be set to act upon trespassers that enter restricted areas, and it can be triggered when the victim performs an action (e.g., opening a door, picking something up, or switching something on). It can also be triggered by vehicles driving along a road, as in the case of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Contents

Booby traps should not be confused with mantraps which are designed to catch a person. Lethal booby traps are often used in warfare, particularly guerrilla warfare, and traps designed to cause injury or pain are also sometimes used by criminals wanting to protect drugs or other illicit property, and by some owners of legal property who wish to protect it from theft. Booby traps which merely cause discomfort or embarrassment are a popular form of practical joke.

Etymology

The Spanish word bobo translates to "stupid, daft, naïve, simple, fool, idiot, clown, funny man, one who is easily cheated" and similar pejorative terms. The slang of bobo, bubie, translates to "dunce". Variations of this word exist in other languages (such as Latin), with their meaning being "to stammer". [1]

In approximately 1590, the word began appearing in the English language as booby, meaning "stupid person, slow bird". [2] The seabird in question was the genus Sula , with their common name being boobies. These birds have large flat feet and wide wingspans for marine habitats but are clumsy and slow on shore making them easy to catch. [3] The birds are also known for landing aboard seagoing vessels, whereupon they have been eaten by the crew. [4]

The phrase booby trap originally applied to schoolboy pranks, but took on its more serious connotation during World War I. [2]

Military booby traps

Vietnam War: Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers show Vietnamese villagers types of People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong booby traps. KOREAN TROOPS USE CHART to show villagers types of Viet Cong booby traps.jpg
Vietnam War: Republic of Korea Armed Forces soldiers show Vietnamese villagers types of People's Army of Vietnam and Viet Cong booby traps.
A group of 105mm artillery shells with plastic explosive stuffed into their fuze pockets. Each of the 5 shells has been linked together with red detcord to make them detonate simultaneously. To turn this assembly into a booby trap, the final step would be to connect an M142 firing device to the detcord and hide everything under some form of cover e.g. newspapers or a bed-sheet. US Navy 101116-N-8546L-728 A Uruguayan army explosive ordnance disposal officer,.jpg
A group of 105mm artillery shells with plastic explosive stuffed into their fuze pockets. Each of the 5 shells has been linked together with red detcord to make them detonate simultaneously. To turn this assembly into a booby trap, the final step would be to connect an M142 firing device to the detcord and hide everything under some form of cover e.g. newspapers or a bed-sheet.
Booby-trap firing devices, c. 1941: press, pull and release switches; mass-produced components intended for the construction of booby traps. Press, Pull and release switches.jpg
Booby-trap firing devices, c. 1941: press, pull and release switches; mass-produced components intended for the construction of booby traps.
A Yugoslav POMZ anti-personnel mine that has been booby trapped with a hand grenade. A deminer could disable the stake mine, only to set off the hand-grenade when they remove the mine for disposal. (Balkans 1996) PMR-2A.JPEG
A Yugoslav POMZ anti-personnel mine that has been booby trapped with a hand grenade. A deminer could disable the stake mine, only to set off the hand-grenade when they remove the mine for disposal. (Balkans 1996)

A military booby trap is designed to kill or injure a person who activates its trigger, or employed to reveal the location of an enemy by setting off a signalling device. Most, but not all, military booby traps involve explosives. [6]

Part of the skill in placing booby traps lies in exploiting natural human behaviors such as habit, self–preservation, curiosity or acquisitiveness. A common trick is to provide victims with a simple solution to a problem, for example, leaving only one door open in an otherwise secure building, luring them straight toward the firing mechanism. [7]

An example that exploits an instinct for self–preservation was used in the Vietnam War. Spikes known as punji sticks were hidden in grassy areas. When fired upon, soldiers instinctively sought to take cover by throwing themselves down on the ground, impaling themselves on the spikes. [8]

Many purpose–built booby–trap firing devices exist such as the highly versatile M142 [9] [10] universal firing device (identical to the British L5A1 [11] or Australian F1A1 [12] ), or Yugoslavian UMNOP-1 [13] which allow a variety of different ways of triggering explosives e.g. via trip wire (either pulling it or releasing the tension on it), [14] direct pressure on an object (e.g. standing on it), or pressure release (lift/shift something) etc. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Most explosive booby traps use between 250 g and 1 kg of explosive. Since most booby traps are rigged to detonate within a metre of the victim's body, this is adequate to kill or severely wound. [19]

Effects

Booby traps are indiscriminate weapons. Like anti-personnel mines, they can harm civilians and noncombatants during and after the conflict. The use against civilians is prohibited by the Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices, and the protocol also prohibits boobytrapping e.g. the wounded or dead, medical equipment, food, and drink. [20]

History

A type of booby trap was referred to in an 1839 news story in The Times. [21]

During the Vietnam War, motorcycles were rigged with explosives by the National Liberation Front and abandoned. U.S. soldiers would be tempted to ride the motorcycle and thus trigger the explosives. In addition, NLF soldiers would rig rubber band grenades and place them in huts that US soldiers would likely burn. Another popular booby trap was the "Grenade in a Can", a grenade with the safety pin removed in a container and a string attached, sometimes with the grenade's fuse mechanism modified to give a much shorter delay than the four to seven seconds typical with grenade fuses. The NLF soldiers primarily used these on doors and attached them to tripwires on jungle paths. [22]

The CIA and Green Berets countered by booby trapping the enemy's ammunition supplies, in an operation code–named "Project Eldest Son". The propellant in a rifle or machine–gun cartridge was replaced with high explosive. Upon being fired, the sabotaged round would destroy the gun and kill or injure the shooter. Mortar shells were similarly rigged to explode when dropped down the tube, instead of launching properly. This ammunition was then carefully re–packed to eliminate any evidence of tampering, and planted in enemy munitions dumps by covert insertion teams. A sabotaged round might also be planted in a rifle magazine or machine–gun belt and left on the body of a dead NLF soldier, in anticipation that the deceased's ammo would be picked up and used by his comrades. No more than one sabotaged round would be planted in any case, magazine, or belt of ammunition, to reduce the chances of the enemy finding it no matter how diligently they inspected their supplies. False rumors and forged documents were circulated to make it appear that the Communist Chinese were supplying the NLF with defective weapons and ammunition. [23]

Northern Ireland

During the Troubles, an ethnonationalist conflict in Northern Ireland, booby traps were used by Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries to target British security forces and civilians. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was the most prolific user of the booby traps during the conflict; according to the Sutton Index of Deaths, 180 people were killed during the Troubles as the result of booby trap bombs, the vast majority of them laid by the IRA. A common type of booby trap was the car bomb, which involved attaching a bomb to a car so that starting or driving it would detonate the explosive. [24]

Middle East

Lebanese media reported on the phenomenon of intentionally concealed bombs in children's toys in 1997, citing a number of examples. [25] Israel occupied southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000 and during that period planted hundreds of thousands of landmines and bomblets. [26] A report by the UK Foreign Affairs Committee in 2000 warned of the dangers of unexploded bombs in southern Lebanon, mentioning the use of "booby-trapped toys, allegedly dropped by the Israeli air force near Lebanese villages adjacent to the so-called security zone". [27] [28] [29]

During the Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000—2005), some Arab–Palestinian groups made wide use of booby traps to prevent the Israeli army from entering their cities on Palestinian territories. The largest use of booby traps was in the Battle of Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield where a large number (1000–2000 bombs and booby traps according to a Palestinian militant who surrendered to Israeli forces in Jenin [30] ) of explosive devices were planted by insurgents. Booby traps had been laid in the streets of both the camp and the town, ready to be triggered if a foot snagged a tripwire or a vehicle rolled over a mine. Some of the bombs were huge, containing as much as 250 lb (110 kg) of explosives. [31] To counter the booby traps, anti–tank and anti–personnel mines the Israeli army sent armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to clear the area out of any explosive device and booby trap planted. Eventually, a dozen D9 bulldozers went into action, razing the center of the refugee camp and forcing the Palestinian militants inside to surrender.

In the Israel–Hamas war, Israel's use of pagers and walkie-talkies detonations to target the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that killed 42 people and injured 3,500 more, was condemned by some as illegal. [32] [33]

Booby traps have been applied as defensive weapons against non-military trespassers, but most jurisdictions consider the practice illegal.[ citation needed ]

Practical jokes

Instead of being used to kill, maim or injure people, booby traps can also be used for entertainment. Practical joke booby traps are typically disguised as everyday items such as cigars or packets of chewing gum, nuts or other snack items. When the victims attempts to use the item, the trap is triggered. Two of the best known examples of this are the exploding cigar and dribble glass; others include the snake nut can and shocking gum. Booby traps can also be constructed out of household or workplace items and be triggered when the victim performs a common action. Examples of this include loosening the bolts in a chair so that it collapses when sat upon, or placing a bucket of water on top of a partly open door so that when the door is fully opened, the bucket tips onto the victim. [34]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land mine</span> Explosive weapon, concealed under or on the ground

A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percussion cap</span> Ignition source in a type of firearm mechanism

The percussion cap, percussion primer, or caplock, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. Its invention gave rise to the caplock mechanism or percussion lock system which used percussion caps struck by the hammer to set off the gunpowder charge in rifles and cap and ball firearms. Any firearm using a caplock mechanism is a percussion gun. Any long gun with a cap-lock mechanism and rifled barrel is a percussion rifle. Cap and ball describes cap-lock firearms discharging a single bore-diameter spherical bullet with each shot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Improvised explosive device</span> Unconventionally produced bomb

An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, or homemade bombs.

An explosive booster is a sensitive explosive charge that acts as a bridge between a conventional detonator and a low-sensitivity explosive such as TNT. By itself, the initiating detonator would not deliver sufficient energy to set off the low-sensitivity charge. However, it detonates the primary charge, which then delivers an explosive shockwave that is sufficient to detonate the secondary, main, high-energy charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fuse (explosives)</span> Device that initiates sudden release of heat and gas

In an explosive, pyrotechnic device, or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately. However, when being specific, the term fuse describes a simple pyrotechnic initiating device, like the cord on a firecracker whereas the term fuze is used when referring to a more sophisticated ignition device incorporating mechanical and/or electronic components, such as a proximity fuze for an M107 artillery shell, magnetic or acoustic fuze on a sea mine, spring-loaded grenade fuze, pencil detonator, or anti-handling device.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firing pin</span> Part of the firing mechanism in a firearm

A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed spring acts directly on the firing pin to provide the impact force rather than it being struck by a hammer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli Combat Engineering Corps</span> Military unit

The Israeli Combat Engineering Corps is part of the Israel Defense Forces with responsibility for mobility assurance, road breaching, defense and fortifications, counter-mobility of enemy forces, construction and destruction under fire, sabotage, explosives, bomb disposal, counter-weapons of mass destruction (NBC) and special engineering missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-tank mine</span> Type of land mine designed to destroy tanks

In anti-tank warfare, an anti-tank mine is a type of land mine designed to damage or destroy vehicles including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tripwire</span> Passive triggering mechanism

A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to a device for detecting or reacting to physical movement.

<i>TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook</i> United States Army manual

The TM 31-210 Improvised Munitions Handbook is a 256-page United States Army technical manual intended for the United States Army Special Forces. It was first published in 1969 by the Department of the Army. Like many other U.S. military manuals dealing with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and unconventional warfare, it was declassified and released into the public domain as a result of provisions such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and is now freely available to the public in both electronic and printed formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M16 mine</span> Bounding anti-personnel mine

The M16 mine is a United States-made bounding anti-personnel mine. It was based on captured plans of the World War II era German S-mine and has similar performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-personnel mine</span> Form of land mine designed for use against humans

An anti-personnel mine or anti-personnel landmine (APL) is a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to an anti-tank mine, which target vehicles. APLs are classified into: blast mines and fragmentation mines; the latter may or may not be a bounding mine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OZM</span>

The OZM-3, OZM-4 and OZM-72 are Soviet manufactured bounding type anti-personnel mines. (fragmentation-barrier mine, in the Russian and other post-Soviet armies as informally called "frog mine" or "witch" )

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PMN mine</span> Series of Soviet anti-personnel mines

The PMN series of blast anti-personnel mines were designed and manufactured in the Soviet Union. They are one of the most widely used and commonly found devices during demining operations. They are sometimes nicknamed "black widow" because of their dark casings.

The M7 is a small, metal-cased United States anti-tank blast mine that was used during the Second World War. It was based on the British Hawkins grenade. Approximately 2.5 million were produced before production ceased, and although it has long since been withdrawn from U.S. service, it can be found in Angola, Burma, Cambodia, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Korea, Lebanon, Myanmar, Somalia, Thailand, and Zambia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-handling device</span> Component of a munition

An anti-handling device is an attachment to or an integral part of a landmine or other munition such as some fuze types found in general-purpose air-dropped bombs, cluster bombs and sea mines. It is designed to prevent tampering or disabling, or to target bomb disposal personnel. When the protected device is disturbed, it detonates, killing or injuring anyone within the blast area. There is a strong functional overlap of booby traps and anti-handling devices.

In military munitions, a fuze is the part of the device that initiates its function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze designs can be seen in cutaway diagrams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenade</span> Small explosive weapon that typically is thrown by hand

A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand, but can also refer to a shell shot from the muzzle of a rifle or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade generally consists of an explosive charge ("filler"), a detonator mechanism, an internal striker to trigger the detonator, an arming safety secured by a transport safety. The user removes the transport safety before throwing, and once the grenade leaves the hand the arming safety gets released, allowing the striker to trigger a primer that ignites a fuze, which burns down to the detonator and explodes the main charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lance Grenades de 50 mm modèle 37</span> Infantry mortar

The Lance Grenades de 50 mm modèle 37 was a French light infantry mortar designed and produced shortly before the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A.P. Shrapnel Mine</span> Bounding mine

The A.P. (anti-personnel) Shrapnel Mine is a British bounding mine of World War II.

References

  1. ↑ "Bobo English Spanish Translation | Traductor ingles español". Spanishdict.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-05. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  2. 1 2 "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  3. ↑ "Blue-Footed Boobies, Blue-Footed Booby Pictures, Blue-Footed Booby Facts - National Geographic". Animals.nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  4. ↑ Bligh, William (1792). A voyage to the South sea ... Retrieved 2011-09-15– via Google Books.
  5. ↑ HM Government (1941). Military Training Pamphlet No 36 Part IV: Booby Traps. War Office.
  6. ↑ The Handbook Of The SAS And Elite Forces. How The Professionals Fight And Win. Edited by Jon E. Lewis. p.334-Tactics And Techniques, Personal Skills And Techniques. Robinson Publishing Ltd 1997. ISBN 1-85487-675-9
  7. ↑ John Pike. "FM 20-32 CHAPTER 13". Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Tactical and Materiel Innovations". History.army.mil. Archived from the original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  9. ↑ "M142_Firing_Device_Dem_Comb" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  10. ↑ LEXPEV. "M142 Multipurpose Firing Device". Lexpev.nl. Archived from the original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  11. ↑ LEXPEV. "Firing device demolition combination L5A1". Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  12. ↑ LEXPEV. "F1A1 Firing Device". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  13. ↑ LEXPEV. "UMNOP-1". Archived from the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "British Demolition Equipment". Archived from the original on 24 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  15. ↑ LEXPEV. "UMNOP-1". Lexpev.nl. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  16. ↑ LEXPEV. "Switch, No6 Release Mk1". Lexpev.nl. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  17. ↑ LEXPEV. "Switch, No3 Release Mk1". Lexpev.nl. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  18. ↑ LEXPEV. "Release firing device M5". Lexpev.nl. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  19. ↑ "Department of the Army Field Manual: Boobytraps" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  20. ↑ "Customary IHL - Practice Relating to Rule 80. Booby-Traps". ihl-databases.icrc.org. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
  21. ↑ Allegedly made to injure an actress, Mrs. Charles Mathews, a parcel left for her at the Olympic Theatre contained a mahogany box, within which was an apparent explosive device: 'On the interior of the lid was fastened a small parcel, neatly made up, supposed to contain detonating powder, ... beneath which was attached a piece of sand–paper, which was so placed as to act upon several matches, and thus set fire to a quantity of gunpowder ... the strings, which were attached to the piece of twine fastened to the cover ... were so contrived as to act as a trigger, so that the moment the lid should be raised the whole ... would instantly explode.' Although the newspaper carried the story, it did so sceptically and described it as a 'hoax'. The Times (London, England), 6 March 1839, p. 6.
  22. ↑ "In Its Own Words". Hrw.org. Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  23. ↑ "Project Eldest Son". Jcs-group.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  24. ↑ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths - menu page". Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  25. ↑ Mariam, rescapée d'un jouet piégé espère retourner à l'école (photo), L'Orient-Le Jour, 29 April 1997
  26. ↑ Israeli Bomblets Plague Lebanon, The New York Times. 6 October 2006
  27. ↑ Memorandum submitted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on landmines in South Lebanon, UK Foreign Affairs Committee, 29 September 2000
  28. ↑ Israel Blamed as Pager Explosions in Lebanon Kill 12 & Injure 2,800; Hezbollah Vows to Respond, Democracy Now!, 18 September 2024
  29. ↑ Bombs in toys: A brief history of Israeli booby traps in Lebanon, Middle East Eye, 19 September 2024
  30. ↑ "Palestinian fighter describes 'hard fight' in Jenin". CNN . April 23, 2002. Archived from the original on January 9, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  31. ↑ Rees, Matt. "Inside the Battle of Jenin". Time . Archived from the original on December 7, 2008. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
  32. ↑ O'Connell, Mary Ellen. "Was the pager attack sophisticated targeting, a war crime or both? - The Jewish Independent". thejewishindependent.com.au. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  33. ↑ O'Connell, Mary Ellen (2024-09-19). "Pager attack on Hezbollah was a sophisticated 'booby-trap' operation − it was also illegal". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  34. ↑ Koneazny, John J. (2001). Behind Friendly Lines. GeneralStore PublishingHouse. ISBN   9781894263481 . Retrieved 23 February 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.