Củ Chi tunnels

thumb|right|Entrance sign at the tunnels.

thumb|right|Part of the tunnel complex at Củ Chi, this tunnel has been made wider and taller to accommodate tourists.

The tunnels of Củ Chi () are an immense network of connecting tunnels located in the Củ Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American and ARVN forces, and helped to counter the growing American military presence.

The tunnels contained various bamboo traps made by the Viet Cong to injure and potentially kill American's Tunnel Rats if they breached the tunnels. The tunnels also contained ventilation shafts to release smoke from fire and any poisonous gases pumped into the tunnels by the American troops.

Life in tunnels

American soldiers used the term "Black Echo" to describe the conditions within the tunnels. For the Viet Cong, life in the tunnels was difficult. Air, food, and water were scarce, and the tunnels were infested with ants, venomous centipedes, snakes, scorpions, spiders, and rodents. Most of the time, soldiers would spend the day in the tunnels working or resting and come out only at night to scavenge for supplies, tend their crops, or engage the enemy in battle. Sometimes, during periods of heavy bombing or American troop movement, they would be forced to remain underground for many days at a time. In the 1991 movie documentary The Cu Chi Tunnels Vietcong survivors who hid in the tunnels during Operation Crimp named the artillery bombardments above them "The New Zealand Dong Dun Orchestra." Sickness was rampant among the people living in the tunnels, especially malaria, which was the second largest cause of death next to battle wounds. A captured Viet Cong report suggests that at any given time, half of a unit of the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF) unit had malaria and that "one-hundred percent had intestinal parasites of significance."

U.S. campaigns against tunnels

thumb|left|A trap door on the jungle floor leads down into the Củ Chi tunnels. Closed and camouflaged, it is almost undetectable.

thumb|The camouflaged trap door, now open.

The tunnels of Củ Chi were noticed by U.S. officials, who recognized the advantages that the Viet Cong held with the tunnels and so launched several major campaigns to search out and destroy the tunnel system. Among the most important were Operation Crimp and Operation Cedar Falls.

Operation Crimp began on January 7, 1966, with B-52 bombers dropping 30-ton loads of high explosive onto the region of Củ Chi, effectively turning the once lush jungle into a pockmarked moonscape. Eight thousand troops from the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team (including an artillery battery of the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery), and the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment combed the region looking for any clues of PLAF activity.

thumb|A [[booby trap with punji sticks.]]

The operation did not bring about the desired success. For instance, when troops found a tunnel, they would often underestimate its size. No one was usually sent in to search the tunnels, as it was so hazardous. The tunnels were often rigged with explosive booby traps or punji stick pits. The two most common responses in dealing with a tunnel opening would be to flush the entrance with gas, water or hot tar to force the Viet Cong soldiers into the open or to toss a few grenades down the hole and "crimp" off the opening. One of their number, Corporal Robert "Bob" Bowtell, died when he became trapped in a tunnel that turned out to be a dead end. However, the Australians pressed on and revealed for the first time the immense military significance of the tunnels. At an international press conference in Saigon shortly after Operation Crimp, MacGregor referred to his men as "tunnel ferrets." An American journalist who had never heard of ferrets, used the term "tunnel rat," and it stuck. After his troop's discoveries in Củ Chi, MacGregor was awarded a Military Cross. and turned into a war memorial park with two different tunnel display sites, Bến Đình and Bến Dược. The tunnels are a popular tourist attraction in Vietnam, and visitors are invited to crawl around in the safer parts of the tunnel system. The Bến Dược site contains part of the original tunnel system, and the Bến Đình site, closer to Ho Chi Minh City, has tunnel reconstructions and some tunnels have been made larger to accommodate tourists. In both sites, low-power lights have been installed in the tunnels to make traveling through them easier, and both sites have displays of the different types of booby traps that were used. Underground conference rooms in which campaigns such as the Tết Offensive were planned in 1968 have been restored.

Above-ground attractions include caged monkeys, vendors selling souvenirs, and a shooting range. There is a film shown to tourists which praises Viet Cong fighters as "American Killer Heroes".

In popular culture

' – 2025 film set in the Củ Chi Tunnels during the Vietnam War.

References

Sources

The Tunnels of Cu Chi, Tom Mangold & John Penycate, Berkley Books, New York, 1986,
Tunnel Rats by Jimmy Thomson with Sandy MacGregor (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2011)(Website)
A Sappers War by Jimmy Thomson with Sandy MacGregor (Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2012)

External links

Photos of Củ Chi and Vietnamese Tunnels from mondesouterrain.fr