Spider hole

According to United States Marine Corps historian Major Chuck Melson, the term originated in the American Civil War, when it meant a hastily dug foxhole.

[citation needed] Following the capture of Saddam Hussein, the American columnist William Safire claimed in the December 15, 2003, issue of the New York Times that the term originated in the Vietnam War.

Spider holes were used during World War II by Japanese forces on many Pacific battlefields, including Leyte in the Philippines and Iwo Jima.

[4] Spider holes were also used by fighters of the Viet Cong and soldiers of the People's Army of Vietnam during the Vietnam War as both defensive and offensive fortifications, where VC/PAVN fighters could either seek shelter from combat with ARVN, US or other allied forces, or could conceal themselves in preparation for a surprise attack.

On December 13, 2003, during the Iraq War, American forces in Operation Red Dawn captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein hiding in what was characterized as a "spider hole" outside an Ad-Dawr farmhouse (near his hometown of Tikrit).