A complex network of underground battle tunnels is found some 70 kilometres north-west of Ho Chi Minh City. This impressive yet simple innovation in the form of hand-dugged tunnels has intrigued not just many a visitors, but also the American & Southern Vietnamese soldiers battling during the 1960s & 1970s. 

The tunnels, first constructed in 1948 with a range of 17 kilometres in length, was part of North Vietnam’s efforts in resisting the French occupation in the south. Subsequently, the Cu Chi network was further expanded into an intricate system comprising of an underground maze and matrix spanning a total of 250 kilometres in the form of multi-level, multi-function and multi-prong attack channels during the American war in the 1960s.

Today, most of the former tunnels have been destroyed by the war with some of the remaining portions being reconstructed for purposes of education and tourism. Cu Chi tunnels remains as an extraordinary testimony of a people’s will and innovation in making use of the easily available tools to counter a much larger and sophisticated adversary.