If the boys dropped them after they fired them, the VC would pick them up and a grenade would fit quite nice in them.
They’d pull the pins on the grenade’s’ and slide them up in the tube and hook up a trap door with a trip wire. Hang it in a bush or tree with the trip wire cross the path. Once the trap door was tripped, the grenades would spill out and the spoons would fall free and the grenades would go off.
Happened. Believe me. You smashed those GD things to smithereens after you fired them.
I suppose quite a few VC died from making that booby trap. But, they didnt care as long as they got more of us.
They could have done the same with bamboo with the right ID -- and it wouldn't have looked as out of place.
But, I agree: you troops were smart to deprive them of that specific parts supply!