The Ho Chi Minh Trail photographed from a US reconnaissance plane. The legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail. The unexpected meeting on the Ho Chi Minh Trail between Nguyen Thi Hang and her old classmate, Cu, who was a member of the Truong Son Corps. The trail over Sepon River in Laos. The US bombings and shellings heavily damaged the Ho Chi Minh Trail with the forests being burnt. Despite all these, trucks continued to march Southwards. Some sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail were paved on the mountain sides and made with forest plants.   The world's war historians will repeatedly talk about “The Ho Chi Minh Trail”, which for one side is an immortal symbol of a great war against the aggressors for national salvation, but for the other side, is not only an embarrassment of defeat, but also a large question containing many unsolved mysteries.    High-ranking officials of the Truong Son Corps include Commander, Lieutenant- General Dong Si Nguyen (in black vest) and Deputy Commanders (from left): Major-Generals Vo So, Nguyen Quang Bich and Do Xuan Dien. On February 15, 1971, in an article published in the US Armed Forces Journal, correspondent George Weiss commented on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, saying that in the initial period, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was only a path with hundreds of alleys created by walks of people and animals and later was a road for trucks. More fearfully, it was not only a transport route but also a complex network of winding paths running in hundreds of directions. This network was turned into a labyrinthine battle array laid out in an eight-sign figure’s pattern in the jungle by Vietnamese communists who had a high organizing level. This remark showed that the high-ranking officials of the US and Southern Vietnam armed forces began to reveal their incompetence in dealing with the strong, unpreventable development of the transport network through the Truong Son Range of the Vietnamese army. They exerted nearly all their war equipment, the most advanced and ferocious, to destroy this path with the aim of stopping the important transport route of the North to implement their so-called plan “stopping the stomach of the rivals”. However, all of their efforts were useless because regardless of the millions of tonnes of bombs and shells as well as toxic chemicals dropped over the area plus many raids undertaken by troops and activities of spies, the Ho Chi Minh Trail still stretched out as a string tightening around the necks of the troops of the US and Saigon puppet regime in the Southern battlefield. On May 19, 1959 – President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday - to reinforce the combating capacity of the southern battlefield, the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau made a bold decision to open a special trail running from the North to the South through the Truong Son Range . The fierceness as well as the strong vitality of the military transport route named “Ho Chi Minh Trail” in the war, has been recorded through people’s stories, memories, diaries and research documents from both sides. It was also reflected in thousands of photographs taken by war reporters. After the war, it was reported that between 1959 and 1972, the US army had 678,000 planes dropping 7,526,700 high explosive and anti-personnel bombs, B.52 bombers undertaking about 20,000 air strikes and thousands of planes dropping toxic chemicals over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. These actions prompted the mass media to call the trail the most terrible “firing line” in the Vietnam War. Talking about the fierceness on the path, Lieutenant-General Dong Si Nguyen, former Commander of the Truong Son Corps, said jokingly: “The US air force provided many explosives for us to pierce the mountains and open a path to the South”. Over 16 years (1959-1975), nearly 20,000 people including soldiers, voluntary youth and conscripted labourers laid down their lives in the Truong Son Range on route to a complete victory of the country in 1975. Talking about the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Lieutenant-General Dong Si Nguyen, whose life was closely connected with the historic path said: “The words ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’ still haunts US troops because this small path, has helped force them to accept defeat on the Vietnamese battlefield”. Over 30 years have passed since the Vietnam War ended in 1975 but the truth and stories about the Ho Chi Minh Trail will be continually mentioned and discussed by people. But a truth that nobody can deny is the vitality and existence of a trail that endured nearly 6,000 days and nights of violent bombings.   Now the trail has experienced great changes. It has a new image with a new historical mission of contributing to the cause of national construction and development, in the way of industrialization and modernization. Dien, a commissar of Company 6, Regiment 8, Huong Giang Division of Tri Thien-Hue Military Zone, feeds water to a wounded Southern Vietnam soldier right at Height 550 of the Route 9 – Southern Laosbattlefield.. Ta Le submerged path in Quang Binh Province, one of the three main targets for US air strikes, is on the most important front line of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. With rudimentary pack-bikes, young volunteers transport through the trail thousands of tonnes of food and weapons to the South. The ATP firing line with a sharp switch-back across Ta Le submerged path and Phu La Nhich Pass in Quang Binh Province is the main point for US air strikes. The US bombings and shellings heavily damaged the Ho Chi Minh Trail with the forests being burnt. Despite of all these, trucks continued to march  Southwards. Conscript labourers carry on their back packs of goods, which is almost doubled to their  weight, to walk through the trail to the Southern battlefields. During the war, the Ho Chi Minh Trail has a total length of 20,330km, including five systems of lengthwise axis paths totalling 6,810km, 21 systems of horizontal axis paths totalling 4,980km, 3,000km of liaison paths, 1,300km of information lines, 14,000km of landlines, 4,700km of bypasses to avoid important points, 3,140km of concealed paths under the shade of forest trees, 500km of river routes and 3,000km of petrol pipes… Over 16 years (1959-1975), to protect the trail, the guarding forces fought against 111,135 air strikes by the US air force, shot down 2,455 planes, drove back more than 1,260 invasions, transported over 1,349,000 tonnes of goods and weapons, 5.5 million m3 of gasoline and over 3,613,000 soldiers and cadres to the South to join the battles. About 19,800 soldiers and voluntary youth died on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, 40,000 were injured and 14,500 vehicles, 700 guns and over 90,000 tonnes of goods were destroyed. Story by Thanh Hoa - Photos: Files of late photographic artist Trong Thanh