Is the U.S. military term IED (Improvised Explosive Device) a general updating of the old WW II term “booby trap,” or is a distinction still made between these two things in better ordinance disposal circles?
It seems to me that a “booby trap” is a more limited device, something like a grenade, with the fuse trimmed back and the pin pulled, being left in a tin can to fall out or be pulled out by a wire and then to detonate nearly instantaneously.
In WW II the Germans were expert at booby trapping all sorts of things, one writer with experience of them saying they had the grim quality of an ingenious practical joke.
An IED would seem to be a more ambitious device, more carefully crafted, of greater power, and more strategically located, like an artillery shell in a roadway.
There must be someone who can answer this with authority.