# Boobytraps > What does a 1965 Army manual on boobytraps have to do with tracking? Its detection chapter is a lesson in reading human sign: disturbed ground, broken vegetation, odd imprints, and anything that breaks the natural continuity of a scene. It also shows how soldiers were taught to hide their own signs, and how careful, continuous observation builds a sense of danger. Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1965-headquarters-army-boobytraps/ ## Citation and access - **Authors:** Headquarters, Department of the Army - **Year published:** 1965 - **Journal or source:** Department of the Army Field Manual FM 5-31 - **Full citation:** Headquarters, Department of the Army. 1965. Boobytraps. Field Manual FM 5-31. Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Department of the Army. - **Access status:** Hosted: U.S. government work, not subject to copyright in the United States - **PDF:** https://www.originalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1965_US-Army_boobytraps.pdf ## Tags - **Region:** Europe; Asia > Russia; North America > United States - **Tracking:** Tracking; Tracks; Tracks and signs identification - **Data type:** Protocol or guidelines - **Observer qualification:** Not needed - **Discipline:** Awareness; Human tracking - **Year published:** 1965 ## Detailed keywords - **Species:** Humans only (soldiers laying and searching for boobytraps). No animals are studied. The only animal mentioned is an imitation frog: the manual lists “earth-grey colored frogs” among the dummy objects the Soviets used as boobytraps in World War II. - **Location and habitat:** No study site. A United States Army manual from Washington, D.C., with comments to be sent to the United States Army Engineer School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It describes boobytraps used in World War II and later by Germany, the Soviet Union (Russia), France, Czechoslovakia, Britain, Japan, Italy, China and North Korea, and in guerrilla warfare. Settings covered: roads, trails and paths, wooded areas, minefields, abandoned vehicles and equipment, and buildings and their surroundings. - **Topics:** boobytraps; detecting and avoiding boobytraps; reading signs of human activity (disturbed ground, broken vegetation, imprints and marks on roads, evidence of former camouflage, breaks in the continuity of objects); covering tracks after laying a boobytrap (“obliterate footprints”); trip wires; situational awareness and developing a “sense of danger”; outdoor and indoor searching; mine detectors and probes; neutralization and disposal; guerrilla warfare and improvised devices; reconnaissance; studying the habits of enemy soldiers; avoiding predictable patterns. - **Statistics or models:** None - **Data type:** Military field manual (instructions and procedures), September 1965. It supersedes FM 5-31 of 31 January 1956 and its changes of 16 December 1957 and 20 August 1959. No study data. ## Synopsis ### 1. What they did This is a United States Army field manual that teaches soldiers how boobytraps work, how they are used in combat, and how to detect and remove them. It has six chapters: - Characteristics of boobytraps: what a boobytrap is (“an explosive charge cunningly contrived to be fired by an unsuspecting person who disturbs an apparently harmless object or performs a presumably safe act”) and how the firing chain works. - Use of boobytraps: doctrine, planning, the basic principles of placing and concealing them, installation, reporting, recording and marking. - Boobytrapping equipment: firing devices, explosives and accessories, and munitions. - Installation: in minefields, in and around buildings, and on roads, trails, paths and other terrain. - Miscellaneous boobytraps: factory-made devices used by armies in World War II, and devices improvised in guerrilla warfare. - Detection and removal: clearance teams, tools, detection, outdoor and indoor searching, and disarming. Most of the manual is technical instruction on explosives and firing devices. This entry focuses on what it teaches about reading signs, awareness and searching ground. ### 2. What they found Hiding the signs of the work - The manual’s first principle is concealment: “All litter and other evidences of boobytraping must be removed.” - After laying boobytraps, teams are told to leave the area clean, carrying away “loose dirt, empty boxes, tape, and broken vegetation” that might betray the work, and to “obliterate footprints.” - Boobytrap teams are told to study the personal habits of enemy soldiers, and to keep changing their methods, because repetition “may soon become a pattern easily detected by an alert enemy.” - Trails, paths, defiles, obstacles, gathering places and objects that appeal to curiosity are described as likely places for boobytraps. An obvious firing device may distract attention from a hidden one. Detection is careful observation - “The most careful observation is required for the detection of boobytraps.” Every soldier, whether or not they are assigned to clear boobytraps, must be alert “for any sign that may indicate their presence,” especially in areas the enemy held before. - Prisoners of war and local people often give useful information. Searching parties are briefed on everything known about enemy activity in the area before they go out. Signs to be suspicious of outdoors - Movable and apparently valuable or useful property. - Disturbed ground, and litter from explosive containers. - Marks left on purpose to attract or divert attention, and unusual marks that may be an enemy warning of danger. - Evidence of former camouflage. - Abrupt changes or breaks in the continuity of any object, such as unnatural appearances of fences, paint, vegetation and dust. - Things that do not belong, such as nails, wire or cord. - Obstructions: search before lifting a stone, moving a low-hanging limb or pushing aside an object. - “Queer imprints or marks on a road, which may lead a curious person to danger.” - Abandoned vehicles, dugouts, wells, bridges, gullies and defiles. - Areas where nothing has yet been found, and areas with one obvious trip wire: there may be others. Searching indoors One searcher per room; examine both sides of a door before touching it; check furniture, drawers, switches and repaired areas; work from the basement upward; and guard buildings until they are occupied. Tools and fatigue Mine detectors can give false signals from scrap metal, air pockets, roots or disturbed soil, and operating time should not exceed 20 minutes because “tired operators often become careless operators.” Searching parties must rest often: “A tired man, or one whose attention is attracted elsewhere, is a danger to himself and others.” ### 3. What they concluded - Clearing every charge is “almost impossible,” so careful, disciplined observation and thorough searching are essential. Never assume an area is clear without further investigation. - “A soldier by training can develop his sense of danger. Also by experience and careful continuous observation of his surroundings while in a combat area, he can develop an acute instinct that warns him of danger.” - Rules of conduct include constant practice, patience, letting only one person deal with a boobytrap, and being “suspicious of every unusual object.” ### 4. How tracking was or was not used The manual does not use the word tracking, but its detection chapter is about reading signs of human activity on the ground: disturbed soil, broken vegetation, imprints and marks on roads, traces of camouflage, and anything out of place or breaking the natural continuity of a scene. From the other side, it tells soldiers laying boobytraps to remove litter, loose dirt and broken vegetation and to wipe out their footprints, so that no signs remain. No trailing is described. ### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations - Metal and nonmetallic mine detectors (AN/PRS-3 “Polly Smith”, a transistorized model, and AN/PRS-4). - Probes (metal rods, stiff wire or bayonets), with sleeves rolled up to feel for trip wires. - Grapnels and long ropes to pull objects from a safe distance. - A hand mirror and flashlight for looking into cavities; a light and line of sight for checking flues and shafts. - In World War II, a hidden delayed charge and its clockwork fuze in a building were found with a stethoscope. ### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations) _These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._ - The list of suspicious signs reads like a tracker’s checklist for human sign: disturbed ground, broken vegetation, imprints, and “abrupt changes or breaks in the continuity” of the scene. Spotting what does not fit the natural background is the same skill trackers use to find tracks and signs. - The instruction to “obliterate footprints” and carry away loose dirt and broken vegetation shows that the manual expects an alert enemy to read such signs. - The manual’s note that a soldier can develop “an acute instinct that warns him of danger” through “careful continuous observation of his surroundings” describes situational awareness, an aspect of tracking. - Its warnings about fatigue and distraction apply to anyone searching for subtle signs over long periods. ## Cite this summary Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Boobytraps (Headquarters and Army, 1965). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1965-headquarters-army-boobytraps/