Box of letters and syllables. Cu Chi Tunnels - an underground labyrinth and a landmark of Vietnam War in the underground tunnels of Vietnam

Deep in a black-black hole sits a black-black (from dust) “Charlie” and waits for his prey!
Similar legends circulated among American troops when they discovered a secret underground city of partisans in Vietnam and began to die in it.

In 1965, the 25th Infantry Division Q41A was stationed near the village of Cu Chi near Saigon. There was the main center of guerrilla resistance in South Vietnam, the main base of the communist North. The United States planned to quickly crush the resistance, thereby gaining final control over the southern part of Vietnam and demonstrating to the communists “Kuzkin’s mother.” But almost immediately strange, mystical things began to happen in the American camp. Despite the strengthened security of the perimeter, shots were heard in the tents at night, and the next morning officers were found dead in them. In the bushes right in the center of the camp, surreal shadows flashed, fired very real shots and disappeared to God knows where. The Americans strengthened security to the limit and began a large-scale operation to clear the surrounding area. Thousands of soldiers bulldozed the jungle and "cleared" the area with napalm, destroying all settlements as well as sources of water and food. The ghosts continued their attack.

It took four months to unravel the mystery: by coincidence, the base of the 25th division was located exactly above the underground partisan city! It was a network of tunnels with a total length of more than 250 kilometers, which was dug in the clayey Cu Chi soil, ideal for this, at the beginning of the 20th century, during the French occupation. However, the Americans did not rejoice at their discovery for long. Yes, they discovered “holes” (more precisely, at that moment the American command was only beginning to guess about their presence, without even close to imagining the scale of the tunnel system), but how to deal with them?

For several years, the destruction of the underground Cu Chi guerrillas in the so-called “Iron Triangle” was an American fix. To begin with, simply discovering the entrance to the tunnel was an almost impossible task: small holes, into which a person could hardly squeeze, were ideally masked by turf and leaves. However, sometimes the Americans managed to find an entrance, for example, by pursuing the Viet Cong.

However, what to do next? Smoke out partisans with poisonous gases? But this was useless, since a complex system of water plugs and sealed hatches that separated the levels perfectly protected the main tunnels from gas attack. Go inside? For this purpose, they created a specially trained unit of “tunnel rats” - puny, reckless soldiers equipped with headlamps, wire telephones, pistols with laser sights... The Viet Cong welcomed the “rats” with open arms and prepared for them such an underground quest, consisting of traps and ambushes that only half of those who went down into the “holes” managed to get out from under the Vietnamese soil alive. Meanwhile, full life was going on in the tunnels: there were hospitals, cinema halls, and canteens. Children were born there. Tactical meetings were held in the tunnels, from there reconnaissance was carried out and sabotage was planned in Saigon and throughout the South.

The Americans managed to destroy Cu Chi only in the late 60s. The region was hit by B-52 carpet bombing, against which the partisans were powerless: the shells left craters up to 20 meters deep, while the tunnel system most often went no more than five meters underground. However, this was already the final chord of the war. Exhausted Americans, weakened by internal anti-militarist sentiments and condemnation of the world community, were forced to withdraw their troops. The destroyed but not surrendered underground city, in which approximately 6 out of 16 thousand people survived, celebrated its victory.

Now that you have a theoretical basis, we offer you an unforgettable journey through the Cu Chi tunnels with all their traps, riddles and attractions, and in the midst of resistance!

Click on the picture to enlarge

This ends our fascinating tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. By the way, in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) any taxi driver will take you for $20 to allegedly see what remains of Cu Chi. Only, most likely, it will be an attraction specially dug for tourists.

But the real tunnels (or rather, what’s left of them) lie away from the tourist routes. The jungle has long grown above them, villages have been rebuilt in the neighborhood, and local boys go there to play partisans. On the one hand, innocent fun, but on the other... Who knows?

A network of underground tunnels known as Kuchi tunnels (Kuchi), is located near the village of the same name (it is located near the city of the Southern Province). It took a quarter of a century to build the tunnels. The work began at the end of the 40s of the last century. The fame of the Kuchi tunnels came in the 1960s, when they became the point of control of a large rural area located 30 kilometers from. At its height, the underground system extended from the main city of South to the Cambodian border. As for the village of Kuti, the length of the tunnels under it is approximately 250 kilometers. Branches extend from the main axis, which flow into other tunnels through underground shelters and entrances. The width of the passages varies from 50 centimeters to one meter, but this is quite enough for a small person to squeeze through. Some parts of the labyrinth have been expanded over time especially for tourists.

The layer of earth located above the tunnels is about 4 meters. It is capable of withstanding a 50-ton tank, bombardment and shell explosions from light guns. Being a serious shelter, the underground network represented an entire infrastructure:

warehouses;
recreation rooms;
hospitals;
weapons workshops;
control centers;
food points;
meeting rooms;
secret entrances, etc.

Kuchi Tunnels - photos

Despite large-scale actions, in which tens of thousands of soldiers took part, the Americans were never able to detect Cu Chi tunnels. But this is not surprising, because for many years of construction, craftsmen used simple and at the same time effective techniques that made it difficult to identify the object. Judge for yourself - wooden hidden entrances were masked with earth and branches, and booby traps were installed on top. Of course, life was not easy for the Viet Cong guerrillas, and their troops suffered huge losses. However, the labyrinth still fulfilled its purpose, because America came out of the war.

Kuchi Tunnels Tour

The program begins with an inspection of the passages, accompanied by a guide's story about their camouflage system. After getting acquainted with the above-ground part, tourists are invited to study the underground exhibition. The collection is represented by traps, weapons and household items of partisans living in difficult military conditions. The warriors even used shell fragments to make traps. Craftsmen were able to make shoes from damaged tires, and extract substances for explosives from unexploded bombs. A shooting range is open on the territory of the complex, where you can try out various firearms in action. Connoisseurs of oriental cuisine will be interested in visiting the culinary shop and seeing the process of making rice paper.

Cu Chi Tunnels - video

How to get to the tunnels, cost of visiting

There are currently two sections of tunnels available for inspection. One of them lies near the village of Bendin, the other - next to the town of Benzyok. The village of Kuti itself is surrounded by numerous military cemeteries. Group tours do not stop at these locations and are only available upon special request. You can get to Kucha by bus, and from there you should go by public transport. Entrance to the tunnel section for foreign tourists in Bendin is 3 dollars, in Benzyok - 4 dollars. Excursions are free for the local population.

The Cu Chi Tunnels, as a tourist attraction, are located in a suburban area of the world-famous Saigon, but what tourists are shown is only a small part of the stunning military installation built during the years of American expansion by Vietnamese resistance fighters. The underground shelters, whose labyrinths stretch from the Cambodian border to Saigon, began to be built back in the 50s, when the people of Vietnam resisted the French colonialists. But during the invasion of American troops into the territory of Vietnam, villagers dug their part of the underground shelter and, as a result, the passages dug at depth united into one grandiose underground network, which became the base of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnamese soil from the American aggressor. The true length of the tunnels is not advertised; according to some sources, the tunnels stretch underground for 187 kilometers, according to others – for 300. What is known for sure is that more than eighteen thousand partisans were hiding in the underground labyrinths with their families and that the area called by the Vietnamese “Iron triangle,” was built over fifteen years, one might say, with antediluvian means, under the very nose of the not particularly efficient American infantry. The efficiency of the Vietnamese can amaze even the Russians who built the White Sea Canal: not every nation is capable of processing tens of tons of clay without equipment, using hoes and shovels, destroying all traces of their work and digging hundreds of kilometers of tunnels.

Construction of the Cu Chi tunnels

The tunnels have a main axis, from which a system of intricate branches extends, connected to the entrances to other, parallel tunnels and underground shelters. The width of the passages is very small, the maximum width of which is only one meter, the height is also capable of allowing only a person of compact build to pass through - 90 centimeters. A four-meter brickwork is laid overhead, capable of supporting the weight of a 50-ton tank and the explosions of low-power bombs and light guns.

The underground system has several "floors", with countless entrances, corridors and exits. In the Cu Chi tunnels, sabotage, reconnaissance were planned and combat tactics were developed. It was through the tunnels that resistance fighters brought weapons, equipment and ammunition from Cambodia. There were living quarters, ammunition and food warehouses, hospitals, command centers, weapons workshops and even clubs with cinema halls. The design of underground kitchens is interesting, the air ducts of which on the surface were disguised as anthills, the smoke was filtered by special devices made from palm leaves.

A little history

In 1965, an American infantry division was stationed near the village of Cu Chi. The division's tasks included the complete suppression of resistance forces and gaining control over the south of Vietnam. But the American camp, despite the sound security of its perimeter, began to suffer, albeit insignificant, losses, mainly among officers. The Americans decided not to bother themselves much with reconnaissance activities and simply cleared the territory. Settlements, sources of food and water were destroyed, jungles were bulldozed, and napalm was actively used. But such barbaric methods did not give the American infantry the desired results; chance helped them uncover the secret of the underground tunnels of Cu Chi - the American base was located exactly above the partisan city. The bombardment of the ground began, under the surface of which there were tunnels. But the underground structure could withstand hundred-kilogram bombs, and the highly toxic dioxin mainly affected the jungle, which is still a sad remnant of that war, because the complex tunnel system was equipped with sealed hatches and water plugs. The use of napalm also did not produce results; the high temperatures of napalm, interacting with the humid air of the tropics, led to the formation of rain clouds and the rains successfully extinguished all the fires.

Then the American command ordered the Cu Chi tunnels to be cleared by infantry, but even here they met with failure, since the well-fed infantrymen could not squeeze into the compact entrances, which were not even an easy task to detect, since they were camouflaged. Even a specially created unit, into which fighters of a certain physique were selected, did not lead the Americans to victory over the partisans. The resistance fighters welcomed the American “tunnel rats” with “open” arms, arranging for them a real quest-action movie, where the puny Americans were awaited by ambushes and traps, which the Vietnamese people are great at! Only a few made it out of the dungeon alive from the once invincible elite squad. The Vietnamese partisans confused the dogs in various ingenious ways, and after so many shepherd dogs died in the tunnels, the trainers refused to provide their animals for underground operations.

When the Americans resorted to carpet bombing, the underground city suffered great destruction, but, fortunately, this was already the end of the war, and soon the United States withdrew its troops from Vietnam. Six thousand surviving resistance fighters celebrated the victory.

What is shown to tourists

Tourists in the Cu Chi tunnels are shown only a small, one can safely say that an insignificant part of the intricate multi-kilometer underground network. Information about the tunnels is carefully hidden just in case. The section of the tunnels that is open to tourists has undergone redevelopment, for example, the passages and hatches have been widened, since experience has shown that many tourists will not be able to get into the tunnels due to their fatness. For people with claustrophobia, visiting the Cu Chi tunnels is strongly not recommended, since you will have to crawl behind a guide through narrow passages in pitch darkness, when spatial orientation is completely lost.

In Ho Chi Minh City, travel agencies offer tours to explore Cu Chi. The tour lasts half a day and costs between 20 and 30 dollars. The tour includes watching a film made by the partisans. The film is shown in English. Also, during the inspection of the Cu Chi tunnels, tourists are invited to find the entrance to the dungeon, hidden in the jungle. No one manages to find the hatch, although it is hidden right under the feet of the tourists.

Near the tunnels there are small shops where you can buy souvenirs and ice cream. There is also a shooting range where tourists have the opportunity to shoot from MK-16 and AK-47.

The tunnels were first discussed in the late 1940s, when Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League) tried to expel the French from the country. The Kuchi tunnels are excavated on four levels. This work was unbearably hard. It was necessary not only to fight poisonous snakes, scorpions and insects, but also to constantly strengthen the tunnels so that they did not collapse. At first, the tunnels served only as hiding places for storing weapons and ammunition, but soon became a place where Viet Minh fighters were hiding. Patriot detachments regularly launched attacks from here on the rear of Saigon troops and interventionists. To protect themselves from the devastating American bombing, the guerrillas dug a network of underground shelters connected by tunnels in the jungle. These structures, created with bare hands, according to some sources, stretch for almost 200 km. One of the tunnels even passed under the American military base located here. The tunnels allowed many groups of Viet Cong fighters to communicate and even penetrate Saigon. For several years, neither special forces, nor napalm, nor heavy aerial bombs could do anything with the stubborn “children of the dungeon.” The holes leading into the depths did not exceed the size of the stove damper and were easily camouflaged. The underground galleries of Kuchi were also small - 80 cm wide and 120 cm high. It was this kind of tunnel that best withstood ground shaking during bombing. The partisans actually lived underground - they prepared food, repaired weapons, sewed clothes and treated the wounded, there were schools in the tunnels, there were even theaters and a small cinema. The chimneys from the kitchens extended parallel to the surface of the earth for several meters. As a result, the smoke had time to cool down and spread across the ground, indistinguishable from fog... Special adits led to streams and supplied the “children of the dungeon” with water. The meager diet of the partisans consisted of the fruits of plants that did not require special care and grew everywhere - tapioca, peanuts, etc.

Craters from 110-kilogram bombs overgrown with bushes are still found in abundance in the surrounding jungle. Some bombs and shells did not explode. The partisans neutralized them and used explosives to make homemade grenades and mines. The lack of weapons forced the Viet Cong to invent various kinds of traps. The gallery of such devices is one of the most impressive attractions of the Cu Chi Tunnel Museum. Infernal devices are laid out against the backdrop of paintings depicting GIs with signs of Down's disease, falling into wolf pits studded with stakes...

More than 12,000 people died here during the Vietnam War, but the Tet Offensive, the plans for which were discussed in these tunnels, may have made Americans realize that they would never win this war.

Now in Kuchi you can see the military inventions of the partisans, shoot with military weapons at the shooting range, and most importantly, go down to one of the underground galleries. Here you can fully understand what difficulties and hardships the Vietnamese patriots had to endure for the sake of victory. The shooting range features a variety of small arms, from pistols to heavy machine guns. Shooting will be quite expensive: at a price of 20,000 VND per shot, the owners do not sell less than 10 rounds of ammunition. Moreover, all weapons at the firing line are tightly attached to the parapet, designed for the height of the average Vietnamese. The galleries open to the public stretch for about 100 m. Pitch darkness and unbearable stuffiness reign underground. You can only crawl forward. On the way to the finish line, two “emergency exits” are made for those who cannot bear to stay in the depths. Not far from the exit there is a very thoughtful washbasin, and even further away tourists are offered to try the everyday dish of the Vietnamese partisans - boiled tapioca seasoned with crushed peanuts.

One-day excursion as part of a group (8.30-18.00) with a visit to the Cao Dai shrine and the Cu Chi guerrilla tunnels can be purchased at any travel agency in Ho Chi Minh City for 5 USD. In Tay Nin, the group is taken for lunch, which costs an additional 40-50 thousand dong.

When planning our trip to Vietnam, we decided to visit several very different, in my opinion, corners of this interesting country. We are on the island of Phu Quoc and the next stop was one of the largest cities in Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City is a very noisy and vibrant city with its own very interesting history, but I will tell you more about this in another article. And now I want to talk about the Kuti tunnels. For any traveler who wants to get to know the history of the country better, I advise you to definitely visit this place on your own or with a tour. This will be especially interesting for fans of military history.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are not just a landmark, they are part of Vietnam’s military past, and to this day many residents of the older generation remember with a shudder those terrible years of the war with the United States.

We planned to stay in Ho Chi Minh City for only a couple of days and therefore we had to immediately decide on the time - where and when we would go. As for travel agencies where you can buy tours, there are not so many of them here as in Nha Trang. We purchased a tour at the one closest to our hotel, so that later, if something happened, we wouldn’t have to run far for clarification. We negotiated the purchase of the tour practically on our fingers, because they did not understand our English, and we did not understand theirs.

The tour indicated to expect a bus at 8.00 near the hotel entrance. As a result, we waited for him for about an hour and didn’t know what to think. To our question to the tour sellers, we received only one answer: that the bus would arrive soon. There was nothing to do and we had to wait patiently. Having waited, we finally hit the road.

The tour cost us $20 per person. Duration: half a day.

How to get there

The Cu Chi Tunnels (some call them the Cu Chi Tunnels) are located in the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, at a distance of 50-55 km from the city center.

My advice to you: if you decide to get there on your own, it is better to do it by taxi. Agree on a fixed payment rather than by meter, it will be much cheaper.

There is no direct bus to your destination; you will have to make transfers and this will greatly lengthen your journey.

Sea transport is also long and problematic.

And in any case, it is better to plan your trip in the morning, there will be less traffic jams.

The journey takes about two hours one way.

Wear comfortable sportswear and sneakers. Do not take bags or heavy backpacks with you. Then you will have to carry all this with you.

Google coordinates: 11.144455, 106.464276

Entry price

We were taken to a forested area, then we got off the bus and waited while our guide purchased tickets for our group.

The prices are very cheap:

For an adult 3.5 dollars.
For a child 1 dollar.

What are these tunnels?

We then proceeded to the tent where we were shown a 20 minute documentary film telling the story of its creation. Everything on site is as close as possible to a real military atmosphere.

The Kuchi Tunnels are underground labyrinths dug by partisans during the war, 200 km long and up to 10 meters deep. Almost all residents took part in the construction of the tunnels, including women and children. They dug with the help of available materials, mainly with hoes. Thanks to this resourcefulness of the Vietnamese, thousands of lives were saved.

There is also a model of the entire multi-level tunnel system installed here. Now you will be surprised at the skill and hard work, as well as the love for your homeland. The first level is about 3 meters deep - these are various rooms (kitchen, hospital, rest room, etc.), on this level they practically lived, on the second level 6 meters - they hid during American bombings, and then went back up to the first level (on the second there was not enough oxygen and it was possible to hold out only for a short time) and the third, deepest level about 12 meters - here people hid from gas attacks.

Deep wells were dug to obtain water. The ventilation system is thought out thoroughly. For a long time, the Americans were unaware of the existence of partisan tunnels.

Start of the excursion

We were met by people in uniform and throughout the entire excursion there was a guy with us who showed and told us everything.

There is no one around and thinking that all this is not just models, but military history, you really feel uneasy and terribly interesting. Looking around, I realized that it was better not to lag behind. Otherwise it is very easy to get lost.

At first they tell how the tunnels were dug and strengthened, how difficult it all was, but still the Vietnamese are resourceful people and they succeeded.

Also on display were various military shells and bombs of that time.

Then we saw a real bomb crater. Of course, you can’t say for sure whether it’s true or whether they dug it specifically for tourists, but it’s still impressive.

We're inside

Having walked a little further, we were shown the descent into a tunnel, it was impossible to see anything there, complete darkness. It is so narrow that you simply don’t understand how it is possible for an adult to crawl through there. This was a version of a real military tunnel. Currently, all other tunnels have been specially expanded for tourists, otherwise it would be simply impossible.

Then we had to descend into the next tunnel. The guy who works there was the first to go and demonstrate. It was more like a short and very low underground passage. We bent down slightly and passed it in a few seconds. I was disappointed, so to speak, that all subsequent ones will be like that. As soon as I thought, we had a longer stay underground.

We went down underground and walked bent over. Here we were shown an underground well. Despite the fact that we were underground, there was no shortage of air.

I was overwhelmed with emotions, it was scary and interesting at the same time. The presence of bats and spiders adds to the reality of what is happening. A terrible and disgusting sight. Being in such a place really makes you perceive reality differently. Having climbed the steps and found yourself at the top, you catch yourself thinking how glad you are for the sunshine. It is impossible to imagine the nightmare these partisans experienced during the war. Having stayed below for only 5 minutes, you already want to quickly get to the surface.

Description of the tunnels

Everything is so carefully thought out to the smallest detail, everything is carefully disguised that an ignorant person will never really find where the beginning and where the end of the tunnel is. It turns out that some tunnels had exits to local reservoirs.

We were shown how the Vietnamese during the war watched the enemy, looking through a small crack that came out to the surface. The guy went down into the tunnel from one side and while we were wondering how long he would stay there, he, unnoticed by everyone, appeared behind our back and came out from the other side.

We were also shown a ditch for enemies with sharp iron tips; if the enemy got there, death would occur instantly. Then, after walking a few steps, we went down into the tunnel again, here we saw a very small room underground, with two beds and a table, very similar to a rest room, then we had to walk through the tunnel again in a half-bent state.

This time he was lower than the previous one and we had to walk with bent knees, after which we ended up in a military hospital. Here is a picture of the operation, all the models are made in life-size, and taking into account the weak lighting with small flashlights, it generally gives the impression that you are present at real events, it becomes even more creepy.

Yes, I forgot to say, the Vietnamese equipped all the tunnels with small flashlights for visitors, and even under such tourist conditions it is still not pleasant to be there. Now imagine that during the war the partisans crawled in complete darkness, and the tunnels were so narrow that they had to push off with their hands to crawl and they could not see the light for many days.

At the exit from the tunnel, there is a model of two partisans carrying a wounded man on a stretcher.

And of course, when you move forward, no one warns you what will happen next and the element of surprise makes the picture come alive.

For camouflage, all descents into the tunnels are hidden under a thatched roof.

The steepest narrow tunnel

And again we had to descend down, to make what was happening believable, speakers with the sounds of a military roar were built in in this tunnel, our legs were already aching quite a bit, but the most interesting thing was waiting for us ahead. The Vietnamese made the last tunnel the closest to reality for tourists, it was lower than all the previous ones, here we already had to walk in a half-squat, after a minute of travel (although time passes much slower underground than in reality) we found ourselves in a room with 4 partisans at a large long table, inside the tunnel was divided into two paths to the right and left. We were faced with a choice of where to go, people from our group were in both directions, but which one was correct was not clear. We chose the path to the left.

We walked half-squatted, then the tunnel narrowed even more and we had to crawl on our haunches. The air in the tunnel was humid and stuffy. Moving forward, we did not see the end of the tunnel and even from afar the light on the surface was not visible, and then two girls in front of us stop and ask if we are going the right way and where is the exit. And then I started to panic, it didn’t last long, a few seconds. But even knowing that there was a way back and that we were very close to the surface, I was overcome with fear, and I do not suffer from claustrophobia. We crawled back and took a different path and ended up on the surface.

During these 5-10 minutes underground, we really felt as close to reality as possible. When you are underground, and even in such a narrow space, it becomes really scary and your greatest desire is to leave this place quickly.

Having come to the surface, I no longer wanted to go underground.

We continue to be amazed at the skill of the Vietnamese

At the end of all the crawling, we were offered to try the food of the partisans. It was boiled cassava root and some kind of seasoning, poured separately into a plate. Some people tried, but we had no desire to try.

The next thing we saw was a small gazebo with various traps. The Vietnamese heroically defended their country without having special weapons for this.

One can only be amazed at their sophistication. Looking at them you understand that you shouldn’t get involved. The Vietnamese are a very proud and cheerful people.

On the way to the exit you can see the life of the partisans, various workshops are shown, how the partisans made shoes from tires and neutralized mines.