Jose Granados
Prof. Johnson
U.S. History- 1960’s
Cu Chi Tunnels While researching facts and the history of the Vietnam War, I came across something very interesting. During the war the Vietnamese soldiers, known as the Viet Cong, dug many tunnels under ground in the jungle. And for a long time during the war the Vietnamese kept them secret. They used them not only to move troops unknowingly from American soldiers. They also used the tunnels to move arms and ammo, medical supplies and equipment, and as a refuge to live.
The tunnels were originally dug during the independence from French colonial power in the 1940’s. It wasn’t until the 1960’s though, that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops extensively expand the tunnels from Saigon to the Cambodian border. Because the American soldiers were much better supplied, the Viet Cong used these tunnels effectively to mount surprise attacks on American soldiers. These tunnels were tens of thousands of miles long, and included a network of tunnels that ran underneath the Cu Chi district northwest of Saigon. The U.S. and South Vietnamese forces trained soldiers that were known as “tunnels rats” to go into these tunnels to disarm booby traps and detects enemy troops.
Because of the U.S. heavy aerial bombardments, many of the Vietnamese people spent their time underground in the tunnels. They housed complete villages, with living quarters that had kitchens. They also housed factories and hospitals were they helped cure the injured soldiers. There were also bomb shelters were soldiers and civilians hid during the bomb