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Cu Chi Tunnel (Year 2000)

In Cu Chi (pronounce Kootshee), about fourty kilometers west of Saigon starts a system of tunnels from the time of the French war until the "American" war -yes that is how the Vietnam war is called there. The tunnels expanded over 240 km and reached until the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail south of Cambodia. On the ground the Americans searched the Vietcong but he was sitting exactly under them. The tunnels are so narrow that a non-Vietnamese can't move forward. See the picture. There are some parts of the system widened to allow tourist visits. That is interesting, you can see sleeping rooms, hospitalrooms, weapon production facilities and a bunker kitchen. We tried there "Guerillafood", maniok with salt and pepper dipped in chopped peanuts. Not too bad but I would not put it on a menu list.

Everywhere in the jungle were camouflaged entries to the system, sometimes also under water. I creeped in a tunnel for about 30 meter, ist is really hot like a sauna, narrow and stuffy.


 

In a war museum nearby all sorts of traps and hand made weapons can be seen. One trap was named souvenirtrap, the second lower one in the picture at the bottom of this page. Why? After stepping into it, the soldier could not pull out his foot without the trap. So he had to take it with him, that is why. Traps were made mostly out of bamboo or steel from American shells, very effective, saved lots of ammunition, which was rare for the Vietcong. They waited in ambush until the comrades of a wounded soldier would come to rescue him. Then they opened fire.  (See also the Danang Ho Chi Minh Museum)
Only few areas in South Vietnam had been under control of the South Vietnamese and it's government plus the American ally. The Vietcong looked like farmers. So it was impossible to separate them from the population. A museum in Cu Chi gives detailed explanations clearly representing the official Vietnamese view.