The Ho Chi Minh historical trail was initiated in early 1945 opening for the 9-year anti-French Resistance. It’s chosen thanks to the natural geographic position of the Truong Son mountain range and thickly primeval forests. The Truong Son Range lies in West Vietnam starting from the Western part of Nghe An province. It runs along Central Vietnam down as far as to the South and ends at the Lam Vien plateau of Daklak province. This range comprises thousands of mountain peaks running parallel to the Eastern Sea and even spread to the Central Laos, lower Laos and to the Northeast area of Cambodia as well. Truong Son occupies as much as half of the length of Vietnam, being over 1,000 km long.
In September 1959, the first congress of the Party Organization of Army Corp 559 was held in Kim Lữ village, Đại Kim commune, Thanh Trì district, Hanoi to grasp the task to open supply routes for the front.
The asymmetry of the two flanks of Truong Son causes a great different between the East and the West part of this range. The Eastern flank falls abruptly towards the sea with many long rivers and mountains with the over 2,000 m high peaks as well as unfathomably deep abysses. Otherwise the Western flank gently slopes down forming plateaus spread South-wards to the Mekong River in South Vietnam. The geographic features of East and West Truong Son are the cause of the quite different climate: the Eastern benefits heavy rain from the sea, whereas the Western is under the influence of the Laos hot and dry winds.
Vanguard youths opening the way for motorises cargo transportation
Innumerable resistance zones were established in the Truong Son Range during different historical periods such as feudalism, colonialism, imperialism… They offered us a great deal of experience in relying on the topographical conditions (rivers, mountains, grottos, and water streams, etc.) to build military bases, to organize long-lasting resistance forces and to open a supply line for the anti-American war in the South of Vietnam. The HoChiMinh trail has a fairly long history of development. In early August 1945, President Ho Chi Minh had paid much attention to the importantly strategic position of the Truong Son trail for the resistance war throughout the country.
The Trường Sơn liaison line
He decided to organize the construction of the Truong Son line for the transportation of troops, provisions and war material to the Southern battlefield. Soever since December 1946 when the war against the French Colonialists started, the Truong Son line had been continuously operating from the Viet Bac resistance zone to the U Minh forests in the South. During the 9-years anti-French war, strategic instructions and crucial policies were conveyed through the Truong Son line by means of motor vehicles, bicycles, and even on foot. From 1954 to 1959, the Truong Son line temporarily stopped its operation, in accordance with the Geneva Agreement.
The pipeline running through the Cổng Trời (Heaven Gate) (1969)
After 1959, Ngo Dinh Diem ( temporary Leader of the South ) hadnot respected the Geneva Agreement, the line was restored to prepare for the resistance war against the US Government and the Vietnam Puppet Southern Government. On May 20th, 1959, Truong Son Military Corps No 559 was set up. Those combatants had departed from “Khe Co”, Nghe An province and continued the lengthening and widening of the paths while advancing in Indian file, inclined heads, rushing forwards bodies, shouldering weapons and ammunitions, backing clothes and personal things. The man marching ahead gently separated the leaves and branches with a stick, lest they be torn. The second man followed suit…, then the last man walked backwards to restore the original state of the leaves and branches by his stick.
A petroleum station in Bản Đông (Road 9) constructed after the victorious Road 9 - Southern Laos Campaign
In 1959 there was only a battalion of 600 soldiers who silently marched in this trail making sure “to avoid contact with anyone and the sight of the enemy, and to keep absolutely secrecy of the mission”. Groping their way with great effort, they could advance only 20 km per day. The Ho Chi Minh Trail had begun to take sharp in this primitive way. At the time of the anti-US resistance war, it was associated with the image of the groups of “Road-Builder”. Each group was composed at most of 15 strong, sturdy, well-trained and absolutely loyal youngsters of 18 to 20 years of age. Many of these men had great experience in operating in the area where the supply line would pass through or they were the native people of the Truong Son area. Enthusiastic, brave, and intelligent, they did not fear sacrifices and hardships though their lives were fraught with dangers.
Two workers of the Trường Sơn military medical service carry a wounded soldier across the Sê Pôn River during the Road 9 - Southern Laos Campaign (1971)
The Truong Son small pathway, also called “Quyet Thang road No 20”. Is the first and the most important road accessible to motor vehicles in the Ho Chi Minh Trail in West Truong Son. Quyet Thang Road No 20 is a system of four roads respectively named A, B, C, K. Even during the fiercest days of the war combined by the continuous spying and bombing by enemy planes, roads A, B, C had succeeded in ensuring the transport of supplies and troops as well as for large-scale military campaigns. Only road K, running through forests, could allow transporting in the day-time. It can be said that all the roads of the Ho Chi Minh Trail system were kept in secret during the war against US aggression for national salvation.
However, road K was the most secret of all. It was used for motor vehicles and had a total length of about 2,000 km. This was a narrow road, and wide enough for only one truck, running through perennial forests and therefore covered by foliages.We havenot mentioned the branch roads, roads with round-about for avoiding air raids or hiding the vehicles, roads leading to stores, even roads constructed with a great deal of blood and sweat, then camouflaged for diverse purposes. We also havenot mentioned the rivers and streams which were important transport lines in the Truong Son Range. They contributed to perfecting the multi-form and multi-direction “Ho Chi Minh Trail” system.
A military clinic in Trường Sơn
Counting only the motorways, the Ho Chi Minh Trail is 13,645 km long including 260 km of macadam roads. It is composed of 5 systems of longitudinal trunk roads (total length 5,530 km), 21 transversal trunks roads (total length 4,019 km), 05 systems of entry-point roads (total length 700 km), Round-about avoiding places (total length 4,700 km) and a system of covered “K” road running all the length of Vietnam (total length 3,140 km). The last construction of the trail was mainly carried out from 1973 to 1975. Before 1965, to supply gasoline to the South Vietnam battlefields, the Truong Son troops had to put it in nylon bags, carried these bags in their knapsacks and walked. Gradually they invented the way to put gasoline in bamboo stems and in barrels, then floated them on the river currents to the destinations.
This way of conveyance was dispersed but less risky than by tankers because of the feverish attacks by enemy planes along the Truong Son. A machine gun’s bullet or a pellet could set the whole tanker in flames. For the large-scale military campaigns, gasoline was one of the important requirements. Therefore the construction of the fuel pipe was deeply pondered not only by the leaders of North Vietnam but also by all officers and men of Truong Son battlefields.By these reasons, the operation of the oil pipeline was organized; qualified technicians all over the North were recruited and the first army unit of Truong Son oil-and-gasoline workers came into being. They went to Truong Son to explore the terrain, not following the trail opened by the Army Corp 559.
Transporting cargoes across Văng Mu, a pivot fiercely attacked by the enemy in the dry season of 1967
They found the track for the line by themselves, carrying out a new exploration and the topographical surveys and maps for the laying of pipes were sent to the North for approval. Then the production of pipes and prime pumps were stepped up. Through many of miserably hard years, on August 25th, 1968 the pipeline actually began operating. Since 1968 until February 1974, a 5,000km-pipeline starting from Nam Dan District, Nghe An province in the North to Song Be province in the South was completed and ready to supply fuel oil to the Ho Chi Minh Military Campaign. Moreover hundreds of gasoline stores and pumping stations were also completed.
Transportation Regiment 11 (Division 571) carrying troops to the front during Hồ Chí Minh Campaign (1975)
Within 30 years, the strategic Ho Chi Minh Trail had included three systems: the motorway system, the pathway system for the movement of troops and the oil-pipeline system.After the war, the Vietnamese Government has projected the reconstruction of the Truong Son Motorway to run from the North to the South of Vietnam. This project had been postponed for a while just because of a horrible storm happened in 1997 and devastated thousands of houses, farm products as well as means of survival of tens of thousand people. On April 05th, 2000 Ho Chi Minh Trail has been initiated. It is started from “Khe Co”, Nghe An province to Binh Phuoc intersection, Song Be province. Non stop at there, the project will be expanded up North to Pac Bo, Cao Bang province and down South to the most ended point of the country – Ca Mau cape.
The general plan of the project is as follow: Name of project: Ho Chi Minh Trail Direction and position: From Pac Bo to Ca Mau cape. Technical standard and scale:
* Lanes: from 2 to 8 lanes
* Bridges: 30 tons loading capacity The phases:
* Phase 1 (2000 – 2005): From Hoa Lac, Xuan Mai, Ha Tay province to Binh Phuoc
intersection, Song Be province ( 02 lanes road only )
* Phase 2 (2005 – 2010): Expand up North to Cao Bang and down South to Ca Mau cape.
* Phase 3 (after 2010 to…): Expand from 02 lanes to 08 lanes for the section of phase 1.
At the moment, 80% of the road construction from Khe Co to Ngoc Hoi – Kontum province (total 962 km in length) has been completed basically.
Name of project: Ho Chi Minh Trail