The Cu Chi Tunnels ...Vietnam

If you are ever in Vietnam, there are a couple of things you cannot afford to miss.
One of those things that you must do is to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels and see for yourself
how the Vietcong and NVA soldiers survived the non-stop carpet bombing and attacks
by American forces during the Vietnam conflict.
You'll probably need half a day to do this as the Tunnels are located about 70 kms away
from HCMC ( Saigon ).
But it is a journey worth the time and expense.

In the years gone by, I have read much about these tunnels...of how American GIs and other combat troops went on "search and destroy" missions of these tunnels. They found some here and there but did not really go all the way in for fear of "booby traps" and such things.
Many of those who ventured inside did not come out alive!
The strategic opening/ entrance of each tunnel is kept very small, tiny enough for a VC soldier
to get in or out but not for the bigger size of an American generally.
These tunnels are linked underground to others in a vast and complex network that stretch from
North to South, East to West.

It's truly mindbloggling when you sit through the introductory presentation in an actual underground dugout lecture room.
No electricity nor modern heavy equipment were used to dig these tunnels.
So what were the basic tools used by these resourceful peasants?
Not surprising at all.
I had used them myself when I helped my late father in the early 60's to construct an
underground room for me as a study cum simple bedroom, under our Siang Lim Park
home.
The main tools, still useful today anywhere, are the changkol and the "punki".

At last, we arrived at the entrance to the Cu Chi Tunnels. It is vast.

We orientate ourselves to see where we should explore using the Site Map.

Our "NVA" Cu Chi guide led us into this lecture room where

we watched a historical ( propaganda ) film in mainly black and

white format depicting the history of the Vietnam conflicts.

It was a very hot day on the surface. I can't imagine how the

Vietcong cope with the burning sun, the heat, the humidity, the

mosquitoes, leeches and terror raining from the sky daily.

A diorama showing the cross-section of a typical underground tunnel system

complete with different facilities such as kitchen, sleeping quarters, hospital,

meeting room, store room etc..all connected by tunnels over separate levels.

After a bombing raid, the VC emerged to scour for unexploded bombs.

There were many.

They took these back to their underground workshops, saw them open

to extract the gunpowder for making their own explosives and bullets.

Resourceful and ingenious!

These are the 2 basic tools they used to dig these famous tunnels...

the changkol and the "punki" ( rattan basket ).
It just go to show that in this case of the Cu Chi Tunnels as well as all

other tunnels elsewhere in Vietnam...the indomitable spirit of a people

willing to survive at all costs can unite together, struggle against all odds,

do the almost impossible and defeat the vastly superior might of America...

the world's leading super power.

Vietnam...The Sorrow of WAR and other books.

My recent trip to Vietnam In June was hugely meaningful for me personally.
I have had so much contact and connection with Vietnam through the books I've read
over several decades.
As Professor Higgins confessed in the movie musical My Fair Lady ...." I've grown accustomed
to her face. " Me too, except this is the face of Vietnam that I've grown familiar with.
Here in this blogpost, I would like to share a brief insight about 3 books from my Vietnam section.


First published in 1972, Devil's Guard by George Robert Elford tells about the life story
of an ex- German Waffen SS officer who, after the end of World War 2, who escaped the
war crime trials in Europe and joined the French Foreign Legion.
His name: Hans Josef Wagemueller. He and other escaped Germans like him were then
sent to Indo-china ( Vietnam ) to fight against the Viet Minh. Their battalion was nicknamed
the "DEVILS GUARD ".
Of all the factual books about Vietnam and the wars connected with it which I have in my library
or have read, I would rate the account in this book as the most brutal and raw that I have come across to date. The degenerate and totally inhuman violence that both sides perpetrated on each other is so shocking that you need to have strong nerves and a steady hand to hold the book while reading it. If you can somehow set aside the brutality and gruesome descriptions of some of the most inhuman acts against a human being...you will learn much about the brilliant German mind at work and the equally fascinating response from their formidable foes.
It is my belief that reading this book and learning from the Devils Guard concept of jungle warfare would have been of a super great help to all those greenhorn GIs and fresh college kids from America who were sent to Vietnam....many of whom did not survive.


[A beautiful Vietnam Rose of pink variety ]


Navy SEALS are the highly trained specialised units of American fighting forces that operated
effectively by air, sea or land. In Vietnam, they had much success against the NVA or Vietcong
as they carried out ambushes and other mainly covert missions.
First published in 1995 by Lt. Cmdr. Michael J Walsh.
I have many of such books.


[ A beautiful pure white Vietnamese Rose ]



Of all the books on and about Vietnam in my modest Library, this book
" The Sorrow of WAR " by Bao Ninh a former North Vietnamese Army veteran is my top favourite.
It won the Independent Foreign Fiction Award. It was first published in 1991 in Hanoi.
In 1994, the translated version in English first appeared in the UK.
The book received numerous accolades and excellent reviews around the world.
Humbly, Unk Dicko adds his confirmation.
The language and imagery used by Bao Ninh is most poetic and sublime.
This was his very first book and what an achievement!
To me, reading this book is best done when you are truly relaxed...just like finding the time
to enjoy a beautiful masterpiece of painting by Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci or Rembrandt.
He writes as though he is painting the landscape with precision, with words and phrases that
help the reader see what he actually saw or went through.
That's definitely not an easy thing to do.
But he does it so well.

[ Wow! Wow! So pretty this Vietnam red Rose ]