Cu Chi tunnels – The Tunnel Belonging to Vietnam War

Cu Chi tunnels are the network of underground tunnels in Ho Chi Minh city, let’s see some interesting things and historical facts behind this tunnel,

The Cu Chi tunnels were built during the Vietnam War in the 1940s, originally it was 60 km in length and later it was extended up to 250km, it was first opened to the public in the year of 1988, there are tanks and Ammunition which are left behind during the Vietnam war, you can also get to visit some interesting traps set up by the locals to defend themselves during the war, you will also get a chance to visit the underground bunker in Vietnam.

Building the tunnel

As mentioned above Cu Chi tunnel was built in the year of 1940, this tunnel was built by the Communist force, back then they did not have any advanced tools or technology, with few primitive tools and mostly they used their hands to dig the tunnel, initially, it was built to commute between villages and to dodge the french army, later it was expanded when united States diffused their military to support a non-communist system

Tunnel system

There are four different levels in this tunnel for various purpose, the first level is for shooting leg, traps and for ventilation, at the second level you have dormitory and Kitchenette, the third level had the power generators, yes you hear it right, back then they used bicycles to generate power, it also had emergency assistance or first aid station, they used to store food and weapons in this level of tunnel, finally, the fourth level is used as a water reserve from a well and also it had connectivity to Saigon river, through which they can escape during the crucial times, each level had proper ventilation which was dispersed through holes which were connected to the surface  

Due to the lack of technology and advanced weapons they had to set up some different types of traps like tripwires, bamboo pit vipers, gravity trap door, folding chair trap, spike basket trap,  spinning armpit trap, swinging door trap, spiked falling trap, Spinning cylinder trap and the most iconic one, the ‘punji sticks’ made out of wood or bamboo and smeared by natural biological poison. US military had some tough time fighting out these guerrilla strategies, finally, US forces decided to send a special force which is called as “tunnel rats”, they were equipped enough to break through few traps, however, they couldn’t solve most of the U-turn traps and lost their lives, they also tried all possible ways like flooding the tunnels, used some chemical weapons and also tried using some explosives, unfortunately, it did not work out as per their expectation.

Role of the Tunnel

This tunnel played a major role in the life of Vietnamese, they had schools, hospitals and also it was the birthplace for many children, however, people suffered a lot due to infection, insufficiency of water, medicine, and food. Apart from this war, Malaria was one more reason for so many casualties during this time.

This is surely a must-visit place for all the historic place lovers, reach out to our travel consultant through our Pickyourtrail website to get more information about how to plan your Vietnam packages and also get the best packages which are customisable for your comfortability.