by Lucky Lucan » Fri Mar 24, 2017 1:07 am
The US certainly did use mines, but not the ones we are generally concerned with in terms of casualties in Cambodia.
Most of the larger UXOs in Cambodia are of US origin, the Khmer Air Force also dropped a huge number of US supplied munitions.
However, most of the mines in Cambodia were laid down post 1979 along the Thai border. They were cheap and could serve a number of purposes. China/ USSR/ Vietnam/ Yugoslavia and various other eastern bloc countries supplied the mines. The PRK/ PAVN tried to build a huge barrier through the jungle, with giant berms, ditches, punji traps and 100 meters of minefield on either side.
Some factions, the PDK for example, used mines as much as a terror weapon than to defend any perimeter. So they would place a mine on a path where they new a farmer would tread on his daily rounds. Once this happens one time everyone else becomes terrified just to farm their land.
There has been a huge decline in the number of UXO/Mine related deaths in recent years. Many of the more tragic ones used to involve misadventure, because people would try to recover the metal or extract the TNT from the UXOs, or other times they would do stupid things like throw the thing around, put it in the fire, etc. So nowadays there is a better understanding of why you shouldn't play with these devices. There have also been issues with heavy vehicles/ tractors etc driving through mud and hitting off anti-tank mines, but these again seem much less prevalent, probably because of an improved road system but also due to the efforts of CMAC and all the other agencies working to make the ground safer.
sounds_never_seen wrote:
So, is there a statistic available that distinguishes between the countries of origin of UXO and related casualties?
Let's just say it's a delicate topic.
The US certainly did use mines, but not the ones we are generally concerned with in terms of casualties in Cambodia.
Most of the larger UXOs in Cambodia are of US origin, the Khmer Air Force also dropped a huge number of US supplied munitions.
However, most of the mines in Cambodia were laid down post 1979 along the Thai border. They were cheap and could serve a number of purposes. China/ USSR/ Vietnam/ Yugoslavia and various other eastern bloc countries supplied the mines. The PRK/ PAVN tried to build a huge barrier through the jungle, with giant berms, ditches, punji traps and 100 meters of minefield on either side.
Some factions, the PDK for example, used mines as much as a terror weapon than to defend any perimeter. So they would place a mine on a path where they new a farmer would tread on his daily rounds. Once this happens one time everyone else becomes terrified just to farm their land.
There has been a huge decline in the number of UXO/Mine related deaths in recent years. Many of the more tragic ones used to involve misadventure, because people would try to recover the metal or extract the TNT from the UXOs, or other times they would do stupid things like throw the thing around, put it in the fire, etc. So nowadays there is a better understanding of why you shouldn't play with these devices. There have also been issues with heavy vehicles/ tractors etc driving through mud and hitting off anti-tank mines, but these again seem much less prevalent, probably because of an improved road system but also due to the efforts of CMAC and all the other agencies working to make the ground safer.
[quote="sounds_never_seen"]
So, is there a statistic available that distinguishes between the countries of origin of UXO and related casualties?[/quote]
Let's just say it's a delicate topic.