Follow the Ho Chi Min Trail!

[Jon_in_london]

Reading some other thread has got me wondering- why didnt the US just block the HoChiMin trail during vietnam? cant have been that difficult. A brigade of infantry a few artillery batteries all backed up by an ariel firepower "O" rama should have done the trick. Why not?

If the NVA had sent a large force to try an dislodge the US troops, helicopter in a few more battalions. After all, the whole difficulty the US had in Vietnam was not winning major battles it was trying to engineer any sort of reasonably large battle at all.

Wouldnt this have been a good way to bring about such a battle.

edited for a rather critical typo.

[Malachi151]

Umm... hehe Well, I don't want to be condesending, but its obvious that you have not studied the Vietnam War very much from these comments. I would suggest you do some basic reading first. Essentially the whole Vietnam war was an attempt to stop the trail, that was one of the primarly focuses from as soon as they realized what was going on.

[Doubt]

Malachi is half right this time. A good chunk of what was being done by the US was an attempt to block the trail. But it was a network of many different routes, not a single one. There was no one choke point that could be used to stop the flow of supplies. Then there was that little matter of Cambodia being part of the route.

It was very difficult to monitor what was happening under the jungle canopy along the trail. Special sensors called “people sniffers” were dropped in an attempt to see where the traffic was being routed. The Viet Cong took to urinating on them when they found them, this caused the sensor to send out a heavy reading that drew in the air force. In the mean time the guerillas would be long gone and know to stay away from that area for a few days.

[Mike B.]

At times they did shut down the Ho Chi Minh trail. Nixon essentially did that by bombing Cambodia where most of the supplies were coming through.

BTW,
By the end of 1968 after the Tet offensive the Vietcong were just about annihilated as a miltarty force. From that point on, the war became less guerilla as the US pulled troops out and the North used their regulars to attack the south.

[corplinx]

I recommend reading the vietnam chapters from Tom Clancy and Gen. Steiner's nonfiction book "Shadow Ops". I found its analysis of the trail succinct and pretty accurate.

[jj]

The "trail" wasn't a "trail" per se, it was a collection of paths spread over miles in the lateral direction. It was a diffuse, mobile entity, not a road.

[CapelDodger]

Something that I've been wondering about is : if the US could plant listening devices along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the 60's, why haven't they got all the passes between Pakistan and Afghanistan covered today? Or perhaps they have? In that case Afghanistan becomes a trap for jihadists - wait until enough have come through to make it worthwhile, then obliterate them. I hope that's the case.

[a_unique_person]

Originally posted by CapelDodger
Something that I've been wondering about is : if the US could plant listening devices along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the 60's, why haven't they got all the passes between Pakistan and Afghanistan covered today? Or perhaps they have? In that case Afghanistan becomes a trap for jihadists - wait until enough have come through to make it worthwhile, then obliterate them. I hope that's the case.

How would you know that 'they' is not a family passing through for some reason. Also, the trail was jungle, so it was pretty easy to have things hidden there.

[Jon_in_london]

Originally posted by Doubt
But it was a network of many different routes, not a single one. There was no one choke point that could be used to stop the flow of supplies. Then there was that little matter of Cambodia being part of the route.

Aha. {groowwl}

[Clancie]

Coincidentally, Ho Chi Minh died thirty four years ago, Sept. 4.

The NY Times has his obituary up for a few days. It's very good reading, including aspects of the Vietnam War that should not be just "lost to history":
Ho Chi Minh obit (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0519.html)

[CapelDodger]

From a_unique_person:
How would you know that 'they' is not a family passing through for some reason. Also, the trail was jungle, so it was pretty easy to have things hidden there.
Analysis of sounds should be able to give you a good idea of numbers, mode of transport and any conversation that goes on. With a number of them along the trails you could also calculate speed and direction of travel. There's also the possibility of including video and/or sending over drones to identify what's been picked up. Hiding them amongst the rocks wouldn't be that difficult.

[Charlie Monoxide]

Vietnam was a good example of what happens when you INVADE a country. The NVA were great jungle fighters, especially when you consider their equipment versus the Americans (advisers?). They knew the land and showed great expertise at traps and tunneling. The American solution of "Agent Orange" in retrospect seems a bit overkill but nonetheless unsuccessful.

Since we're "living in interesting times" this does seems somewhat "deja view all over again" (with props to Yogi Berra).

Charlie (wars are good fodder for the arts) Monoxide