Why the Cu Chi site?

Cu Chi has a huge system of underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi area, one of the 5 suburban districts of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. They are located about forty kilometers northwest of the city center and only 25 km from Tân Sơn Nhất airport

It is an immense network of underground galleries and narrow trenches dug by hand by the Viêt-Cong to take refuge and defend themselves against the American war machine, these tunnels were considerably developed during the American – Vietnamese to reach about 250 km. The Củ Chi tunnels were the site of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War and were the base of operations of the Viet Công during the Tết offensive in 1968.

Photo of Cu Chi Tunnel

A recognizable site

Known to be one of the arrival points of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as a hiding place, communication, and supply routes, hospitals, food reserves, that armory and represented real neighborhoods where they lived in appalling conditions.

Declared by the American General Staff as a “deathly zone”, all armed attempts to neutralize the tunnels have failed and no technique implemented will overcome this network (bombings, defoliants, napalm, use of dogs and rats tunnels: commandos specialized in “search and destroy” operations in tunnels).

The importance of this system of underground tunnels should not be underestimated in the resistance that the Viet Cong has offered to American operations. Their role in stopping the war is not negligible.