“The Ho Chi Minh Trail became advantageous to Vietnamese in the war against U.S.” Support the statement with arguments. (CBSE 2016)

1. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was an immense network of footpaths and roads, which was used to transport men and material from the North to South Vietnam.

2. The trail was improved from the late 1950s, and from 1967 about 20,000 North Vietnamese troops came south each month on this trail. The trail also has support bases and hospitals along the way. The supplies were mostly carried by porters who were women, who would carry about 25 kilos on their backs or about 70 kilos on their bicycles.

3. Most part of the trail was outside Vietnam (in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia) with branch lines extending into South Vietnam. The U.S regularly bombed this trail, in an attempt to disrupt the supplies, but these efforts eventually failed every time because they were rebuilt very quickly.

NOTE – The Ho chi Minh Trail symbolized the way Vietnamese used their limited resources to a great advantage. Although, the U.S used to regularly bomb the trail so that the important passage could be shut down, but its attempts failed every single time because of the fast and smooth pace with which it was built again and again.