Ho Chi Minh Trail

1. Ho Chi Minh Trail By: Tom Todaro and Mike Alessi

2. Background Information • The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a network of roads developed by the North Vietnamese that clandestinely connected North and South Vietnam. • Main supply route used by the North Vietnamese to supply troops in the South who were preparing for the intense conflict Hanoi was staging against the hated South Vietnamese government. • In May of 1955, Major General Nguyen Can Vinh of Hanoi’s Central Military Committee began to act on the North’s need for a supply route in the aid foreseen conflict with South Vietnam. • Built from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. • In total the trail was about 1,000 kilometers in length and consisted of many parts.

3. Nature of Conflict • The American response to this was to use defoliants to kill off the greenery that gave cover to those using the trail. • Trail was used for the duration of the war against the Americans in South Vietnam. • Americans tried to counter the trail by building large bases near to it and from the bases patrols were set out to try and intercept anyone using the route.

4. Impact • The trail consisted of dummy routes that served the only purpose of confusing the Americans. • The natural environment gave the trail excellent cover. • Gave the North Vietnamese the advantage as they had the ability to disappear into the jungle.  

5. Additional Info • Trail was named by the Americans for the North Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh. • The Trail system was one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th century. • The area through which the system meandered was among the most challenging in Southeast Asia. • Trail consisted of a sparsely-populated region of rugged mountains, triple-canopy jungle and dense primeval rainforests.