Critical Analysis of "The Tunnels of Cu Chi"
Critical Analysis of "The Tunnels of Cu Chi"
The book that I read for my book report was The Tunnels of Cu Chi by Tom Mangold and John Penycate. The reason that I chose this book was because I am very interested in various aspects of certain wars and I definitely am intrigued by tunnel warfare of the Vietnam Conflict. Imagine being in a war and coming across a tunnel in the middle of the jungle. You have no idea what is in the tunnel but you think it may be the enemy. Your commander asks for volunteers to go in and investigate. Do you volunteer or not? That is the question that some U.S. Servicemen were faced with in the heat of the moment. They had no idea what they were getting into but with the adrenaline pumping many went for it. They are now known as “tunnel rats” and this book is the story of what they went through during their time in Vietnam.
This book is one of the best books that I have ever read on Tunnel Warfare ever. Every war has something that was unique to it, WWI it was trench warfare, WWII was the German Blitzkrieg and the atom bomb, and in Vietnam it would have to be the tunnel warfare. The U.S. Special Forces units, trained in above ground combat, had to basically start from scratch when it came to the tunnels, all of their manuals had to basically be rewritten with this new found combat style. “Tunnel Rats” were a breed of their own. These were men who needed a sense of adventure in a land of many unknowns and these men, no matter their rank, were highly regarded among their comrades. The tunnels themselves, even though very simple looking, were quite effective in their construction. The tunnels were designed to withstand direct 500 lb. bomb hits, CS riot gas, water flooding and destruction from above ground vehicles moving overhead and had the ability to detect by sound incoming aircraft from many miles away. The tunnels were cities under the ground; they had everything that you can imagine, makeshift hospitals where doctors did everything from delivering babies to amputating limbs and performing brain surgery with such tools as handsaws and home made drills. They also...