Rubber Band Grenade

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The rubber band grenade was a type of booby trap devised by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.

To make this device, a Viet Cong guerilla would remove the safety pin of a hand grenade and wrap a strong rubber band around the spring-loaded safety lever, holding it in place. The grenade was then hidden in a hut.

American and South Vietnamese soldiers would burn huts regularly to prevent them from being inhabited again, or to expose foxholes and tunnel entrances, which were frequently concealed within these structures. When a hut with the booby trap was torched, the rubber band on the grenade would melt, releasing the safety lever and blowing up the hut. This would often wound the soldiers with burning bamboo and metal fragments.

This booby trap was also used to destroy vehicles when the modified grenade was placed in the fuel tank. The device would be triggered when the rubber band would be eaten away by the chemical action of the fuel, releasing the safety lever and detonating the grenade.