A couple of weeks ago, I started a blog feature called “Sights on Saturday,” which reports on interesting sights and tourist attractions. This week I’m deviating from the pattern and posting on a Sunday.
The Tunnels’ Role In Post WWII Vietnam Wars
Located less than 50 miles to the northwest of central Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), the Cu Chi tunnel network is an extensive labyrinth of underground tunnels stretching all the way to the Cambodian border. They were built over a period of some 25 years and initial construction began in 1948 by the Viet Minh during the war against the French.

During the American involvement in the Vietnam War, the tunnels were extended over an area of approximately 250 kilometers. The tunnels assumed huge strategic value to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces and played an immense role in helping them survive repeated forays in the area by American troops and their allies.
The Cu Chi tunnels are a complicated structure consisting of numerous tunnels, trenches, bunkers, booby traps, bomb shelters, and an amazing air ventilation system. Soldiers cooked, ate, slept, worked, and even went to school in the tunnels. There were hospitals, theaters, schools, kitchens, all built into this extraordinary tunnel system. Cu Chi was also used as a base for hit-and-run attacks, sabotage teams, and intelligence agents to infiltrate Saigon.

There were numerous attempts to eliminate or degrade the Cu Chi tunnels as a base of operations for the Viet Cong forces including two operations involving thousands of troops supported by tanks and B-52 bombers.

In January 1966, some 8,000 U.S. and Australian troops swept the Cu Chi district in Operation Crimp. Tunnel entrances that were located were crimped or closed with explosives and bulldozers. After B-52 bombers dropped a large amount of explosives onto the jungle region, the troops searched the area for enemy activity but were largely unsuccessful. The bulk of Communist forces had disappeared into the network of underground tunnels.
Australian troops produced the best results in Operation Crimp. While the Americans preferred to remain on the surface, the Aussies sent men into the tunnels and explored them in great detail. Their discoveries revealed the importance of the tunnels to the Communists and the risks they posed to the American war effort.
A year later, around 30,000 U.S. soldiers took part in Operation Cedar Falls in the Iron Triangle, an area of Binh Dinh province near the Cambodian border. Following heavy bombing and defoliation of the jungle and rice paddies, troops backed by tanks and bulldozers moved in to sweep the tunnels. Taking a tip from the Australians, the Americans used “tunnel rats,” troops with small stature but outsized courage, who were sent in to search the tunnels armed only with a handgun, knife, and flashlight. Tunnel rats discovered the Viet Cong district headquarters and a treasure trove of important documents. Success was temporary as the VC later reoccupied the area and used it as a base of operations for attacks on Saigon during the 1968 Tet Offensive.
Chu Chi Tunnels Tourist Attraction
Visitors to Vietnam can now crawl through some of the safer areas of the tunnels, view command centers and booby traps, fire weapons on a rifle range and even eat a meal featuring typical foods that soldiers living in the tunnels would have eaten. Admission costs less than $5.
There are a variety of way to get to the tunnels. From Ho Chi Minh City there are multiple tours that vary in duration and activities. You can travel there on your own by car, motorbike, taxi, public bus, bicycle and even walking. I took a small group tour in a van.
Tourists can explore portions of the tunnels that have been deemed safe. The entrances look impossibly small, but there is a trick.


I went in via a small entrance equipped with steep stairs.


There are various artifacts from the war on display.

Various displays show how the soldiers and civilians lived underground.

Tourists can fire M-16s, AK-47s and M60 machine guns on the firing range.

This was the only time I’ve fired an assault rifle. I don’t get their popularity. The sights didn’t seem to work that well, and I couldn’t help thinking about a human as the target and said target shooting back at me.
Overall Impression
I very much enjoyed visiting the Cu Chi tunnels. The admission price and tour costs are very low. The site does a great job of explaining the tunnels’ historical and military relevance as well as how Vietnamese forces were able to withstand assaults by troops with vastly superior firepower. Their successful use of ingenuity and knowledge of the terrain reminded me of the exploits of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, during the American Revolution.
I highly recommend a visit if you get to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
I did those tunnels as well and took the longer one, remember my thighs burning and shoulders hitting the sides. Also had problems fitting down an original not enlarged tunnel and couldn’t move in total darkness. The American tunnel rats were a special breed of nutters, an absolutely horrific war for both sides.
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Being young, flexible and of small stature is definitely a big advantage in these tunnels.
It is amazing that the tunnels let the VC and NVA hold out against overwhelming firepower.
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Thanks for your like of my post, “Israel In Isaiah, 2:10-22, Notes.” I appreciate the articles that you put in your blog; please keep up your good work.
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Thank you for your encouragement.
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You are very welcome.
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Love all your posts and followed your blog for more such posts in future. I have started blogging recently and would be happy if you could visit my blog and give your genuine feedback on my content too. Thanks
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Thank you so much for following my blog, liking posts and commenting! 😄 I will definitely visit your blog.
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I visited Vietnam once, though on the Northern parts (Hanoi area) and I instantly loved how charming it was. It was too bad that my visit was just for two days. I am looking forward to visiting the country again, once this pandemic is over.
By the way, I have nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award: https://thetorogichronicles.com/2020/06/30/the-mystery-blogger-award-ii/
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Vietnam is a big country. It appears that differences in culture remain between north and south including disputes over pho.😋 I hope you are able to return soon to Vietnam. If you believe the government stats, Vietnam has done extremely well in controlling coronavirus. I think it is safer there than in the US.
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I met a guy who was one of those tunnel rats. He’d constructed a detailed diorama of the Chu Chi tunnels and had it on display at a Vietnam Veteran’s Day celebration in Raleigh, NC. It was a very impressive piece of work.
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A tunnel diorama would be something to see. I wonder why the US didn’t completely destroy the tunnel system once it was discovered or establish bases to prevent reoccupation. Maybe the tunnels were just too extensive to be destroyed, and troops were needed more elsewhere.
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Well i have put it into my bucket list!
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Very interesting. I now would like to see this place myself 🙂 Is it safe to go ?
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Cu Chi tunnels are safe to visit. You don’t have to go into the tunnels. And if you go in, you don’t have to go far or stay long. I hope you get to go.
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👍
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Thanks!
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To quote Haruki Murakami: “Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.”…
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I want to visit Vietnam, bit it is highly unlikely that I would go in one of those tunnels!
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Vietnam is a neat country. You wouldn’t know its communist unless you say the wrong thing to the wrong person.
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I’ve had a few students from Vietnam who have all been wonderful people. Smart, respectful, and ambitious. Not a bad combination…
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