Ho Chi Minh Trail

Ho Chi Minh Trail

The starting point of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" is in the mountains across Vietnam and Laos. Here, most of the Changshan mountains are covered by tropical forests. In the shelter of Chongshan, highway 12 enters central Vietnam from Laos, and Highway 9 enters Liaobao in Guangzhi province of central Vietnam through Bandong of Laos. From Liaobao to the East, it is Xishan, an important base of the US Marine Corps.

introduce

The name "Ho Chi Minh Trail" was called by Western media at that time, and Vietnam called it "central corridor", which sounds mysterious. People only know that it is a transportation line between Vietnam and Laos and between Vietnam and Cambodia. The beginning, length and specific route of the trail are unknown to the outside world. At that time, the Americans spent a lot of money to find the specific location of the trail and tried to block the supply of personnel and materials from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. But until they failed and withdrew from Vietnam, they also failed to understand the true face and mystery of the trail.

On the 30th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam, many foreign journalists covered the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Vietnam has also listed the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" as one of its tourism projects, making use of its special history and people's curiosity to attract tourists. Tourists can ride motorcycles, bicycles or walk along the footprints of the then "Vietcong" guerrillas to find the remains of the South Vietnam War. However, they only took a certain section of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", and today's "Ho Chi Minh Trail" is no longer as winding and rugged as it used to be, and its main road has become a national highway.

trend

On May 5, 1959, according to the needs of the anti American struggle, the Central Military Commission of Vietnam decided to officially open up a road for transportation to the south, which is a secret supply line called "Ho Chi Minh Trail" by the United States. Southern Vietnam is called the "central corridor", which is a "strategic road" to support the south. All the arms and materials from the north and the outside to support the south of Vietnam were sent to the war-torn south by means of people's backs, shoulders, ox carts and self-propelled vehicles. It can be said that it is a "big artery" between the South and the north of Vietnam and a "lifeline" constantly exploding.

The "central corridor" starts from the border of Vietnam and Laos in the southwest mountainous area of Guangzhi Province in the north, crosses the 17 degree line of bianhai River in the south, enters Laos, passes through the liberated areas of zhongtliao and qintliao, crosses No.9 highway and chebang River, and extends southward along the West foot of Changshan mountains. Through the area of shanawan to the northeast of azoupo, we enter the Boluofen plateau, cross the Changshan mountains and enter the junction of kunsong and Guangnan in Vietnam.

From here, it can be divided into two routes, one from kunsong plateau to Kalai in Xiyuan, and the other from the west of duole to Xining. One is to cross the Changshan mountains eastward from the junction of kunsong and Guangnan, cross the No.14 highway to the southwest mountainous area of Guangnan Province, and then to the south, through Guangyi, Pingding, Fu'an, Qinghe and Lintong plateau to the D war zone (in Dole) and to the west to Xining. Each province has its own path connecting the central corridor. It takes three months to walk from the 17 degree line of the Vietnam border to Xining. It takes one and a half months from the 17 degree line of the Vietnam Laos border to the central leading organ (near Sanqi, Guangnan province). It takes two and a half months to walk from Guangnan Province in the central region of China to the South headquarters of Xining via Guangyi, Calais, Dole, Bianhe and tulongmu.

However, even the Vietnamese themselves rarely know how to go along this path. In fact, it does not have a fixed specific route. The Vietnamese went to the South Bureau, the headquarters in the dense forest near Xining.

Administration

Vietnam's management of this mysterious "Ho Chi Minh Trail" is very strict and methodical. On May 9, 1959, under the instruction of President Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese people's Army established the "559 unit", also known as the "Changshan passage unit" and the "559 headquarters", which are specially responsible for the logistics supply to the south. It has a traffic liaison group and security, communication, engineering and transportation teams, and is specially equipped with "phoenix" and "permanent" bicycles, elephants and mules Horses, carts and other means of transport. All the personnel wear the uniform of Pat Laos, and the station and unit number of the unit are usually named after XX production base or XX construction site. The whole "Ho Chi Minh Trail" stretches thousands of kilometers from the line of 17 degrees north latitude to the vicinity of Xining, and numerous reception stations (hereinafter referred to as stations) are set up along the way. These stations are set up in the jungle which is more hidden and difficult to be found by the enemy.

In addition, the "759 brigade" was set up in July 1959 to take charge of maritime transportation, and the "959 brigade" was set up in September to take charge of transportation from left to right in northern Laos.

In October 1965, after the Chinese support forces entered the northern part of Vietnam, the Vietnamese army spared no effort to transport a large number of combat forces to the south, organized hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to expand the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" and carry out the transportation task of supporting the south, and gradually built the sheep intestine trail which could only be carried by people on their back into a strategic transportation network through heavy weapons.

For many military experts who invaded the US Army and even the world, this supply line is a "battlefield mystery" that cannot be explained by normal concepts. The Pentagon used a computer system to study the network structure of the entire Ho Chi Minh Trail, including every intersection and valley. They used all the high-tech means available at that time: airdrop special forces to provide transportation information to the U.S. military bases and indicate bombing targets; set up mines on the traffic lines, as well as human trace sniffers and sound sensors; to destroy the roads Forest vegetation, a large number of spraying chemical defoliant; B-52 bombers carried out more than a year on these trails, a total of 3630 bombing. The coordinate controlled bombing of B-52 can deliver more than 100 750 pound bombs in 30 seconds, cutting a mile long and quarter mile wide open space in the jungle. However, the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" is not only unimpeded, but also has more and more traffic.

In the 16 years since the completion of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", more than 1 million Vietnamese soldiers, cadres, and a large number of military supplies and logistics supplies have been transported to the South Vietnam battlefield through this trail.

history

20000 km maze

During the Vietnam War, "Ho Chi Minh Trail" became the most important channel for Ho Chi Minh troops to secretly support the southern guerrillas. According to a recent US publication, the US military has racked its brains for many years to carry out strangulation, including using powerful aviation forces to bombard indiscriminately and dropping a large number of advanced sensors to pursue and kill, but it finally failed.

The "Ho Chi Minh Trail" is a channel for Ho Chi Minh troops to secretly transport troops and weapons to the southern guerrillas. It has multiple routes from Rongshi in the north through the central demilitarized zone to many regions in the south. As a matter of fact, the US military has not been clear about how many roads there are in the "Ho Chi Minh Trail". According to military historian Prados, the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" should have five main roads, 29 minor roads, as well as shortcuts and "side roads", with a total length of nearly 20000 kilometers.

In early 1959, Ho Chi Minh ordered the opening of a "special channel" to support Southern operations. This is the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Subsequently, Ho Chi Minh troops set up the 559th transport brigade. On June 10, Ho Chi Minh troops transported weapons and equipment to the south through the "special channel" for the first time. Each transport worker transported four rifles or about 20 kg of ammunition. In 1960, the "special passage" was discovered by accident. At the beginning of 1961, Ho Chi Minh's troops had to adjust their routes to transport combat materials by way of Laos. Transport workers used modified bicycles to carry about 200 kilograms of combat materials southward, and more than 100000 people took part in it. In 1964, with the needs of the Southern War, Ho Chi Minh troops used Chinese and Soviet machinery to expand the "special passage" so that it could drive trucks to improve the speed and quantity of the delivery of combat materials. Not only that, the new "special passage" also secretly built underground barracks, warehouses, workshops, oil depots and other facilities.

Secret sabotage

After the US military discovered the "Ho Chi Minh Trail" with "winding paths leading to seclusion", it was very angry and first launched a secret war. In early 1964, the United States put pressure on Laos to destroy the "special passage" in Laos. In August, with the consent of Laos, US reconnaissance aircraft began to fly to Laos section of "special passage" for aerial reconnaissance. On October 14, Laos dispatched T-28 trainer aircraft for aerial reconnaissance. In December, US warplanes attacked the "special passage" in Laos alone, attempting to block the waist and blow up the transportation line of the "Ho Chi Minh Trail". In April 1965, US warplanes began to launch frequent air strikes. As a result, almost every day, US planes flew to Laos for bombing. However, in order not to cause diplomatic trouble, the action of US aircraft flying to other countries during the Vietnam War was not announced. American pilots also have strict regulations: once shot down over Laos and killed or captured, their families can only get the notice that "he is missing in Southeast Asia".

In February 1965, the "unconventional warfare" South Vietnam mercenary ground team led by the commander of the special forces of the US army went to Laos. These groups are nominally called "learning observation group", but they are actually dedicated to destroying the "Ho Chi Minh Trail". Over a period of six years, these groups have carried out hundreds of secret missions. As soon as they've set a goal, immediately

Chinese PinYin : Hu Zhi Ming Xiao Dao