PANO – The Ho Chi Minh-Truong Son Path is an exploit of the Vietnamese People’s Army in the war against the American invaders. It has symbolized the Vietnamese people’s and army’s steel will, resolve to fight and win, and bravery, become a legendary road since it was not only a large-scale strategic route of reinforcement from the North to the South, and functioned as a real battlefield, a competition between the United States of America, a superpower with the most modern and powerful engine of war, and Vietnam, a poor, backward nation.
Lines of vehicles and troops in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975 on Truong Son path. A filed photo of the Vietnam Museum of Military History
The decision to open Truong Son path to link the Northern rear to the Southern front came from the whole nation’s will and resolve to liberate the South and unite the country, and displayed a talented strategy of the Politburo, Party Central Committee led by President Ho Chi Minh. Via the route, the North sent humans and assets to the South fighting the enemy in the aim to liberate the land on one hand, and to deny the enemy’s attempt to expand war to the North, firmly protecting the rear, on the other hand.
On May 19th, 1959, the Politburo and President Ho Chi Minh decided to open a strategic transportation route along the Truong Song range, called Ho Chi Minh Path. That was a historic decision, reflecting the steel will and uttermost resolve of the whole Party and people:”Splitting the Truong Son range to salvage the nation,” “All for the front to win over the American invaders.”Along small path skirted mountains of the imposing range of Truong Son, columns of troops secretly walked to the South from the North. During 16 years (1959-1075) of operation, the strategic Ho Chi Minh-Truong Son Path became a life-line linking between the North and South; it was not only a military transportation and strategic logistics route, but also a comprehensive battlefield, witnessing fierce fighting between our forces and the enemy.
The construction of the path was kick-started in June 1959. Starting from Khe Ho, Vinh Linh, Quang Tri province, it continued to develop during the war and at the end of the war, it totaled nearly 1,700 km of road for humans and vehicles. The system consisted of horizontal and vertical axes in both East and West of Truong Son, and key points, such as Letter A turning, Ta Le tunnel, Phu La Nhich pass, Lum Bum, Vang Mu, Tha Me and Xieng Phan. Additionally, internal communication roads from Bai Ha, Quang Tri to Eastern South, which was used for walk and bike transportation. Meanwhile, the fuel pipe system that started to be built in June 1968 from Khe Ho to Loc Ninh was nearly 1,400 km and had 46 stores with a capacity of 27,050 tons, 113 pumping and filling stations. Our forces also used the Xe Bang, Hieng, Xe Cong and Mekong rivers to transport logistics by simply letting packages of logistics drifting along the rivers and/or freighting logistics by boats and canoes. Along the transport routes, there were also repair, maintenance, stock, medical and communication stations (the total length of the communication line was some 14,000 km). Corps 559 mainly comprising volunteer youths was basically responsible for the construction and maintenance. During the construction and maintenance of the road system, volunteer youths had to dig about 21 million square meters of soil and rock, built 13,418 m of bridge, more than 10,000 drains and spent 9,520 million labor days. During 16 years, the road system was used to transport more than 1 million tons of weapons and logistics, and more than 2 million people, 10 divisions, 3 army corps and 90 groups of technical and weaponry specialists.
During the war, the American Army with advanced weapons and equipment mobilized numerous forces to cut the strategic transportation route. They used its air force, including B52, to continuously strike the road system and other targets on and along the road, such as bases, stores, parking areas, technical stations and headquarters of our units. They even used AC.130 all nights along the route to detect our forces. In order to find and annihilate our forces moving along the route, they used various hi-tech sensors, and man-made rain, to detect our troops or prevent our forces from moving on the route; especially, they cast chemicals, known as agent orange onto forests to destroy all plants in an attempt to cut off the transportation line.
Van Kieu ethnic minority people supplying food for troops along the path. A filed photo by the Vietnam Museum of Military History
In fact, the American Army turned the Ho Chi Minh-Truong Son Path area into a battlefield, where they applied various military tactics and tested hi-tech warfare with the use of chemical weapons. Over 16 years, they conducted more than 15,000 air-strikes, using modern bombers, including the strategic one, B52, to drop more than 4 million tons of bombs of various kinds, and carried out over 120 large-scale ground force operations and 1,235 ranger operations.
Nevertheless, our forces, including the Truong Son military unit, volunteer youths, frontline conscripted labors, local people of different ethnic groups as well as Laotians and Cambodians, with bravery, wisdom, creativity overcame numerous difficulties and hardship to defeat every attempt and scheme of the enemy, and succeeded in maintaining the transportation route. They successfully protected the life line, helping transport the great numbers of people, weapons, logistics and materials to the front from the rear, making a great contribution to the final victory. During the 16 years of fighting, our military forces and people along the path shot down 2,455 aircraft, annihilated one regiment, 4 battalions, caused heavy losses to 5 infantry regiments, destroyed 100 military vehicles and captured 1,190 enemy troops.
However, more than 20,000 soldiers and volunteer youths laid down their lives there, 30,000 others were wounded, 14,500 vehicles, 400 artilleries and 90,000 tons of goods were either destroyed or damaged.
The Ho Chi Minh-Truong Son Path has been noted in the national history as a legendary road and an exploit of the 20th century. The path has demonstrated the talent, creativity, excellent military art and great strategy of the Party, and firm political will, high resolve of the whole nation in the struggle for national independence, freedom and unification. This has also embodied Vietnamese revolutionary heroism and vividly symbolized unity and friendship of the three Indo-China nations. As time passes by, the Ho Chi Minh-Truong Son Path paves way to more modern roads, but its great historical meaning will never fade in the minds of the Vietnamese.
Written by Nguyen Ngoc Toan Translated by Thu Nguyen
Đăng ký: VietNam News
