Villagers of Tan Phu Trung and Phuoc Vinh An communes were the first to dig short tunnels to shelter from the enemy and store confidential revolutionary documents in the resistance against French troops.

Each residential area had a tunnel system and the hamlet residents connected them to create a large, complicated network.

Only 60km from the center of HCMC, the Cu Chi Tunnels are one of the city’s most important historical tourist attractions.

More than 120 kilometers of the original complex built between 1946-1948 by Cu Chi residents has been preserved for tourists to view.

In 1965, during the war against US troops, the system was expanded, with three different layers and a total length of 200km.

The top, middle and bottom layers were 3m, 6m and 12m from the ground surface but were quite airy.

The construction is in two sections – Ben Dinh in the Nhuan Duc Commune, which was the base of the district Party committee between 1960 and 1975, and Ben Duoc, which was the Saigon-Gia Dinh military zone or the Saigon base of the Liberation Army.

Visitors are allowed to crawl into the tunnels at Ben Dinh.

Twenty kilometers away at Ben Duoc in Phu Hiep Hamlet in Phu My Hung Commune, visitors can enter the temple where dead soldiers are worshipped.

Above the tunnel system ramparts, mine fields and bamboo-stake pits served as defenses in the guerilla war.

Cu Chi people also built a system of trenches for traveling and fighting around the underground openings.

Visitors can enter the tunnels and take photos in there.

According to the guides, who dress as guerillas, some tunnels, which were only large enough for one 40 kilograms person to pass, have been widened to serve tourists.

All the three layers are lit by candles or torches around the clock.

In Ben Dinh, documentary films show the war against the US There are models of the tunnels, the general’s trench, health stations and wells.

Particularly interesting is a kind of kitchen that didn’t create smoke.

Outside the tunnels are statues of soldiers fighting, reading letters, and resting.

Photographs at Ben Duoc Temple show people making bombs, sharpening spikes and screening husked rice.

A classroom in the liberated area helps tourists understand more about the life and fighting of Cu Chi people before and during the war against US troops.

The Cu Chi Tunnel attracts many local and foreign tourists, including US veterans who fought or worked in Vietnam.

Reported by Diem Thu