Ho Chi Minh Trail history commemorated in Hanoi exhibition
An exhibition on the historic Ho Chi Minh Trail will open at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Hanoi on April 26 to mark National Reunification Day (April 30) and the 65th anniversary of the legendary route.
The exhibition Legendary Truong Son Trail - Ho Chi Minh Trail will be open from April 26 to May 31 at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel in Hanoi.
The event is organized by the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center to celebrate the 49th anniversary of the National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975-2024); the 65 years since the opening of the Truong Son Trail, also known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (May 19, 1959-2024).
The exhibition displays about 100 documents and pictures with the most condensed content about the construction of the Truong Son Trail, which symbolizes the willpower, courage and extraordinary creativity of the Vietnamese people.
The exhibition is divided into two thematic areas: Strategic Supply Route for the South and Legendary Road.
| The exhibition features 100 documents and pictures about the Ho Chi Minh Trail, also known as the Truong Son Trail. File photo |
According to the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, after the Geneva Accords (1954), Vietnam was divided into North and South. Traveling between the two regions was extremely challenging.
In order to maintain communication with the southern revolutionary movement and ensure timely guidance from the Party Central Committee, the Party set the task of paving the way for aid to the south as "a major issue of strategic significance directly related to the cause of liberating the south and reunifying the nation."
Corps 559 was established on May 19, 1959 with a "special military mission" to deploy engineering, logistics, medical, infantry, and air defense forces to ensure the operation of the Truong Son Trail, which stretched along the Truong Son mountain range in central Vietnam.
| US Air Force releases defoliants into Truong Son Forest to expose the Truong Son Trail. File Photo |
Throughout the war, Truong Son Trail always became the focus of the enemy's fierce attacks with all kinds of modern and advanced weapons. Hundreds of planes sprayed defoliants and dropped nearly 4 million tons of bombs and mines on Truong Son Trail.
However, soldiers, youth volunteers, frontline workers, transport workers, and ethnic minorities always stayed on the battlefield to keep traffic flowing smoothly on this artery.
The route was extended to a total length of 20,000 km from north to south and three Indochinese countries, reaching all the battlefields, carrying more than 1 million tons of materials and weapons, and taking more than 2 million troops from the great rear in the north to the great front in the south, making a particularly important contribution to the victory of the anti-US resistance war and the salvation of the country.
General Vo Nguyen Giap once said: "The Truong Son Trail-Ho Chi Minh Trail is a great project that expresses the will, courage and extraordinary creativity of the Vietnamese people, who are determined to bring the strength of the great rear to support the great front. This trail is one of the decisive factors in bringing the resistance war against the USA to a complete victory."
