In Vietnam's defence

Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground village connected by a network of tunnels, became a haven for the Vietnamese during adversity, writes  Tanushree Podder

A group of tourists followed their guide down a narrow entry that ended many feet under the ground, in a dark and deep hole. Soon, they were on their fours, crawling through a claustrophobic labyrinthine passage. They crowded the tunnel, lit up by the torch of the guide. The only sound that reached their ears was their laboured breathing. Slowly and painstakingly they crawled, wishing the journey would end. Suddenly there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and everyone gasped with relief.

Descending the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground network of tunnels, had been a horrifying experience for many  Vietcong guerrillas and their families. They had stayed there for many years, living a life fraught with risk, deprivation and sickness, as they fought the foreign invaders on their land.

It was a proverbial David-and-Goliath war where the poor, ill-armed peasantry fought the superpower soldiers armed with sophisticated weaponry. Like David, the Vietnamese trounced the American Goliath, turning the American War (as Vietnamese call it) into the biggest US blunder. The statistics are staggering — 1.5 million dead, 3.50 million acres devastated, 8 million bombs used (more than double the number used in WWII.)

Around 18.5 million tonnes of Agent Orange sprayed over 31,00,000 hectares of farmland by the US Military ruined most of Vietnam’s fields. It maimed 4,00,000. It affected the future generations, resulting in about 5,00,000 babies with birth defects. Even today, a visitor to Vietnam is likely to come across visually and hearing-impaired children; and deformed children with cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and extra fingers and toes.
The horrors of American War are visible in several museums across the country. The pictures and stories send shivers down the spine. Sadly, most of the information about war has come to the world only through the Western media. One can hardly find reports written by the other side. One is exposed to the truth only after a visit to the place. For a country that has fought foreign intruders for close to 1,000 years, Vietnam has been strangely reticent about its struggle. The Cu Chi Tunnels is but one witness to their struggle.

The digging of the tunnels began in 1948, during the French occupation. In the 1960s, digging was revived and continued for over 25 years. This time the tunnels were used to fight the US soldiers. It was tedious work, but it paid off in the end. The struggle to win back their freedom sent the locals deeper into the womb of earth so they could escape the bombing of an economically powerful enemy.

In an amazing feat, they managed to create a complex system of tunnels that stretched for 220 km. They laid it at various levels, ranging from 6 m to 10 m under the surface, and took it right up to the enemy territory, to the outskirts of Saigon. The tunnel could withstand aerial bombardments, including the lethally powerful B-52 bombs.

Running in a zigzag pattern with angled walls, the tunnels passed under villages and water sources. They were a masterpiece of design engineered to prevent detection. With well-camouflaged entry points & air shafts, booby traps, and an underground complex of hospital, kitchens, living & dining areas, storage facilities, weapon workshops and command posts, the Cu Chi Tunnels was an ingenious hideout for Vietcongs. A series of booby traps to pin down the American soldiers made the tunnels impenetrable. The US army launched large-scale ground attacks, ravaged the fields, bulldozed the jungles, demolished the villages, but to no avail.

Against all odds

Frustrated, the US soldiers dropped Agent Orange and napalm bombs to raze the fields and villages that supplied rice to the fighters. When chemical warfare failed, the US army trained their soldiers as ‘tunnel rats’, who went down the tunnels and engaged in hand-to-hand battle with Vietcongs. This had little impact, as did the use of German Shepherd dogs trained to locate the revolutionaries who began using American soaps and uniforms to mislead the dogs.

Life inside the tunnels was horrendous. Of the 16,000 Vietcongs, only 6,000 remained to see the end of the war. Some statistics put that number at 45,000 Vietnamese men and women. Snakes, scorpions, vermin and diseases killed most of them. Malaria and scarcity of food and water were rampant.

In the final push, Americans carpet-bombed the area with B-52 bombs, which destroyed most of the tunnels, leaving death and destruction in its wake.

The one picture that changed the course of this war was that of a napalm-stricken naked girl, crying and running away from her napalm-strafed village. In the background were a few other children and some US soldiers. The iconic photo taken by a Vietnamese lensman provoked outrage and spelt out the horrors of the war more than any written word. The girl, Kim Phuc, was 9 years old, and the date was June 8, 1972.

Indomitable spirit

The Vietnamese, today, are determined to wipe the slate clean to move ahead. The attitude of forgiveness is best quoted by a survivor, Phan Thi Nhanh, who was a 14-year-old girl at the time of My Lai Massacre: “We don’t say we forget. We just try not to think about the past, but in our hearts we keep a place to think about that.”
A visit to the tunnels illustrates the determination of the Vietnamese and the extent to which they were willing to suffer in order to throw out the foreign powers. It’s impossible to come away without being affected by the spirit and willpower of the Cu Chi guerrillas. Today, the remnants of Cu Chi Tunnels serve as a tourist attraction. The Ben Duoc and Ben Dinh tunnel sites are located about 50 km from Ho Chi Minh City. The tunnels in these two areas have been renovated and widened to allow visitors.

Guides lead groups of tourists into the tunnels, some of which are so constricted that the hefty ones find themselves unable to squeeze through. The Ben Duoc area has a makeshift hall where a short film on the struggle is shown while the tourists wait for their turn to enter the tunnels. There is also a firing range, close to both the locations, where tourists can shoot at targets with M16 rifles or AK-47s.