The Vietnamese L-Shaped Fighting Hole

You couldn’t call it a foxhole, not really, although it is the ultimate architectural triumph of the concept of the foxhole. 

The idea is defilade (rhymes with lemonade), put something in between yourself and enemy fire.  Defilade is “the protection of a position, vehicle or troops against enemy observation or gunfire.”  This could be a building, a vehicle, a wall, or the earth itself, into which you have carefully crafted a hole. 

Defilade comes from the French word defiler, “to protect from the enemy.”  It is related to the English word defile, “a steep sided, narrow gorge (originally one requiring troops to march single file).” 

One of the true things about warfare is that as the conflict drags on the participants seek and create more and more defilade.  Experience teaches them that it is necessary.  They want all of the protection that they can get from the now familiar threats. 

In the beginning of a war, foxholes are barely scratched into the surface of the ground.  Digging is very hard work, and it must often be performed after other strenuous work, like marching long distances.   Take the war between the Russians and the Germans, for example.  The Germans managed to keep it a war of maneuver for the first two years.  Much of that time, digging in was not a priority.  Every soldier carried an entrenching tool, those simple little (usually) folding shovels that all soldiers carry.  After those initial successes the Germans were thrown back on their heels.  For the remainder of the war they were constantly falling back from one defensive position to another hastily constructed position.  In photographs from this period it seems like every other trooper is carrying a full-sized, long-handled shovel.  The impressive firepower of the Russians made them dig deeper and deeper trenches and foxholes. 

More firepower equals deeper holes. 

The Vietnamese L-Shaped Fighting Hole

The greatest excavators of earth in the history of warfare were the Vietnamese in the final phase of their war to expel the colonial powers.  (This conflict was known in America as “The Vietnam War.”)  They achieved this superlative position owing to the superlative quantities of firepower that were applied to them by the Americans.  The vast numbers of artillery shells of all varieties and sizes, and the profligate application of gravity bombs of all weights and types, was of an order of magnitude that the world had never seen before. 

The entire fighting area was covered by mutually supporting artillery bases, and generally there were tactical aircraft, loaded for bear, already on station somewhere, orbiting an area and waiting for a fire- mission that could be only a few minutes away.  There were high-explosive bombs, napalm bombs, and white-phosphorous bombs (and shells), technologies that were perfected during World War II.  There were also new innovations, such as cluster bombs, where the casing falls away to deploy a large number of small explosive devices.  Not to mention the new “concussion bombs,” which were designed specifically to kill opponents who had dug themselves deep into the earth.  Concussion bombs descend on a small parachute, and on the way down they release a mist of kerosene.  The mist creates a dome in the air which is then ignited, causing a neat little dome shaped explosion above ground level.  This detonation uses up all of the air in the dome.  The concussion part comes when the surrounding air crashes back into the dome.  The opponents in underground bunkers may then be discovered in their tunnels, stone dead but otherwise undamaged, with trickles of blood drying around their ears. 

The Vietnamese responded to this firepower with their shovels.  Their masterpiece was the L-shaped fighting hole, sometimes called the “spider hole.”   These were one man fighting positions. 

These ultra-foxholes were up to eight feet deep.  At that depth, it’s important to cut climbing steps into the sides.  You’d need a shelf or two near the top for grenades and ammunition.  The “L” element was cut horizontally near the bottom.  The fury of the incoming firepower was so vast that even at the bottom of a narrow, eight-foot deep hole, the occupant could be killed by shrapnel coming straight down.  A sheltering area was cut into the side of the hole to avoid this. 

For me, this thing takes the cake.  The Vietnamese troops fighting in these positions were very difficult to eliminate, short of making it right up to the hole and dropping in grenades.  And of course there were always a bunch of them, mutually supporting, and multiple AK-47’s could control a wide area by fire.  If the attacking force stepped back to allow an artillery interval, the defenders went down into the shelter area.  The artillery stops, and the gunners are back at the tops of the holes. 

Of course, the mere existence of the holes doesn't mean too much in the scheme of things.  Much more important was the quality of the troops that maned them.  I would say that the Vietnamese troops that opposed the Americans in that war, both Viet Cong and NVA, were among the best dough boys ever to fire a weapon in defense of their country.  Bar none.   

You could say that the vast tunnel complexes like Cu Chi were more impressive, and you’d probably be right.  For elegance and utility however, for shear design economy and military effectiveness, I’m giving the L-Shaped Fighting Hole the nod as “Best Soldier Created Defilade in the History of Warfare.”