Ho Chi Minh Trail

Ho Chi Minh Trail, routes through eastern Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam that were used by the National Liberation Front (NLF) and troops of the Communist government of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Named by United States news media after Ho Chi Minh, the Communist leader of North Vietnam from 1954 to 1969, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was in fact a network of trails encompassing over 20,000 km (12,500 mi). Originally footpaths only a few feet wide, many of the trails were widened and paved with gravel to facilitate the movement of troops and supplies. They ran through the rugged and sparsely settled central highlands of Indochina to various points in the strategic effort to supply both North Vietnamese troops and the local NLF guerrillas spread out over South Vietnam.

At the height of its use the Ho Chi Minh Trail was maintained by 500,000 laborers, who constructed skillfully engineered bridges and tunnels. They were able to quickly repair even the most extensive damage from highly destructive American air raids. Equipment was carried at first by foot and bicycle and could take up to three months to reach the southernmost points, but eventually truck convoys moved most supplies, despite intense efforts by the United States to disrupt the flow by bombing. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) estimated that North Vietnam moved 630,000 soldiers, 400,000 weapons, 50,000 tons of ammunition, and 100,000 tons of food along the trail between 1966 and 1971. North Vietnamese forces also were able to build and maintain a fuel pipeline from the Lao border deep into South Vietnam.

After U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam in March 1973, the South Vietnamese army quickly collapsed. The North Vietnamese troops had no further need of the trail and came right across the demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Today much of the Ho Chi Minh Trail has been incorporated into the road systems of Laos and Cambodia.