The Steely Land & Bronze Citadel

Location:
Vietnam

Cu Chi Tunnels

By Peter Anderson

Cu Chi is situated 75 kilometres northwest of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. The Cu Chi tunnels were a network of tunnels extending more than 250 kilometres connecting numerous bunkers. These bunkers contained weapons factories, storage facilities, workshops, kitchens, lecture rooms, hospitals, living quarters and wells for drinking water.

To enter the tunnels there were camouflaged trapdoors covered with dirt and branches, some were booby-trapped and there were also hidden underwater entrances. The chimneys from the kitchens would exit many metres away and the smoke was filtered through brush. There were also watertight trapdoors so that the tunnels could not be flooded or tear gassed.

The Cu Chi tunnels came into existence in the late 1940’s when the Vietnamese were fighting for independence against the French. The Viet Minh started with dugouts in the hard red earth in the Cu Chi area. The earth proved ideal for tunneling and the soldiers began excavating escape tunnels. These tunnels enabled the peasant army to avoid capture as well as the helicopters, artillery and planes of the French army and air force.

In 1960 when the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) was attacked by the Americans the Cu Chi tunnels were repaired and extended. At their peak the tunnels extended from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The remarkable Tet Offensive, in 1968, on Saigon was planned and launched from Cu Chi.

At the beginning of 1963 the South Vietnamese Government under Diem began the ‘strategic hamlet’ programme. This programme was supposed to ‘de-communise’ the rural Vietnamese who were living in Communist controlled areas. The Diem Government would encompass the selected hamlets with sharpened bamboo stakes. The programme was an utter disaster to the anti-Communist government, they were incredibly barbarous, the programme was carried out with unthinkable incompetence and they completely alienated the locals. The ingenious Viet Cong just tunneled under the bamboo stakes and entered the hamlets. In less than ten months the first showpiece hamlet in Ben Cat District, close to Cu Chi, had been overwhelmed. The continued series of victories by the Viet Cong and their victory parade held in Cu Chi town appeared that the war would be over before Christmas 1965. The Johnson administration retaliated by sending combat troops to Cu Chi. They were concerned that the Viet Cong had established a stronghold so close to the South Vietnamese capital.

The Americans located the 25th Division in the Cu Chi District. Unknowingly they built their camp on top of the tunnels. It took them many months to fathom out how and why their troops were getting shot in their tents at night. Even with tens of thousands of troops they were unable to locate the tunnels. They finally resorted to completely defoliating the area and described by Tom Mangold and John Penycate, the authors of ‘The Tunnels of Cu Chi’, ‘the most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated and generally devastated area in the history of warfare’. When the vegetation became dry the Americans would soak it with gasoline and napalm. Another disaster for the Americans, in the wet tropical air the heat interacted in such a way that it created cloudbursts that extinguished the fires.

They decided that the only way to flush the Viet Cong from the area was to send men into the tunnels. The Viet Cong had built the tunnels so narrow and low that the average American could not enter the tunnels. The Americans brought in three hundred trained German Shepherds with the hope of bringing the Viet Cong to the surface. This tactic deeply concerned the Viet Cong, however once again their resourcefulness came to the fore. They simply placed American soldiers’ clothing at the entrances of the tunnels and the dogs became completely confused. They also began washing with American soap. Also the dogs could not spot the booby traps set by the Viet Cong and many were badly maimed. This horrified their handlers and they refused to send their dogs into the tunnels. The people of Cu Chi had won again and what made their victories more remarkable was the fact they were fighting against armies that had the most sophisticated arms and equipment in the world. These guerrillas only had ‘home-made’ weapons as the Russians and Chinese had stopped supplying them arms.

The Americans declared Cu Chi a free-fire zone; meaning that they could shoot at anything in the area. Cu Chi became a dumping area for B-52’s, returning from bombing raids, as they would unload all their remaining bombs on Cu Chi before landing. At night Cu Chi became an artillery target and thousands of shells rained down on the region.

In the late 1960’s the Americans carpet-bombed the area and destroyed much of this remarkable offensive system. However it was too late, the Americans were on their way out and the tunnels had served their purpose.

Those visiting Ho Chi Minh City should visit the War Crimes Museum at the intersection of Vo Van Tan and Le Qui Don Streets (hours 8:00am to 11:30am and 2:00pm to 5:00pm daily). While many might complain that the exhibits are one-sided please be reminded that many of the photographs depicting US atrocities are from American sources. The exhibits can very disturbing and it would take someone with either a very strong stomach or complete arrogance and stupidity not to admit that they were at least somewhat perturbed by what they saw.

The Viet Cong who served in the tunnels lived in extremely strenuous conditions and suffered incalculable casualties. There were 16,000 Cu Chi soldiers and over sixty percent of them lost their lives. Cu Chi tunnels represents the courage and resilience of the Vietnamese and thus Cu Chi has been given the honourable name of “The Steely Land and Bronze Citadel”. The perseverance and fortitude of the people of Cu Chi deserves this high praise as they and the rest of Vietnam had to ‘put up’ with colonial rule from 1859.

Further Information

Other helpful information: From Ho Chi Minh City allow one day to visit the tunnels and surrounding areas

Must see/do at this place: Take time to reflect when walking through the tunnels