The Cu Chi tunnels are located in Tay Ninh
province next to the Saigon River, about half-way between Ho Chi Minh
City and the Cao Dai Holy See - the journey usually takes around 1½ hrs
from either end, depending on the traffic.
The original tunnels were dug long ago by the
Viet Minh to provide hiding places from which to attack French
soldiers. During the 1960s, the Viet Cong reopened them and greatly
extended them both horizontally and vertically. At their peak, an
integrated 200km network of passages, on five or more levels in places,
stretched to within thirty kilometres of the centre of Saigon. Their
total length was somewhere between 200km and 300km, and the deepest
levels were more than 30m underground. The complex included entire
underground 'villages' - accommodation, canteens, and even schools and
hospitals.
The tunnel entrances, exits, ventilation
pipes, chimneys, and waste channels were all ingeniously camouflaged
and guarded by an array of vicious booby traps designed to maim
intruders (there are many examples in the War Remnants Museum). Blast
screens and water traps protected inhabitants from grenades and gas,
and the passages could be quickly sealed off to prevent flooding.
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