Editing Ho Chi Minh trail (section)

==Origins (1959–1965)==
{{further|topic=Viet Minh operations in Laos|First Indochina War}}
{{further|topic=|North Vietnamese invasion of Laos}}
Parts of what became the trail had existed for centuries as primitive footpaths that enabled trade. The area through which the system meandered was among the most challenging in Southeast Asia: a sparsely populated region of rugged mountains {{convert|1500|–|8,000|ft|m|-2|order=flip}} in elevation, [[Canopy (biology)|triple-canopy jungle]] and dense [[tropical rainforest]]s. Pre-First Indochina War, the routes were known as the "Southward March", "Eastward March", "Westward March", and "Northward March".<ref name=Morris/>{{RP|74}} During the First Indochina War the Việt Minh maintained north–south communications and logistics by expanding on this system of trails and paths, and called the routes the "Trans-West Supply Line" (running in south Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand) and the "Trans-Indochina Link" (running in north Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand).<ref name=Morris/>{{RP|108, 133}}

[[File:Ho chi minh trail.jpg|thumb|left|In the early days of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, bicycles were often used to transport arms and equipment from North to South Vietnam.]]
In May 1958 PAVN and [[Pathet Lao]] forces seized the transportation hub at [[Tchepone]], on Laotian Route 9.<ref name=Prados>{{cite book |last1=Prados |first1=John |title=The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War |date=1999 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471254652 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDluAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref>{{RP|24}} Laotian elections in May brought a right-wing government to power in Laos, increasing dependence on U.S. military and economic aid and an increasingly antagonistic attitude toward North Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Isaacs |first1=Arnold |last2=Hardy |first2=Gordon |title=Pawns of War: Cambodia and Laos |date=1987 |series=Vietnam Experience, Volume 22|publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=9780939526246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2lduAAAAMAAJ&q=Pawns%20of%20War%20Isaacs |access-date=27 May 2020}}</ref>{{RP|8-70}}

PAVN forces, alongside the Pathet Lao, [[North Vietnamese invasion of Laos|invaded Laos]] on 28 July 1959, with fighting all along the border with North Vietnam against the [[Royal Lao Army]] (RLA). In September 1959, [[Hanoi]] established the [[Group 559|559th Transportation Group]], headquartered at Na Kai, [[Houaphan]] province in northeast Laos close to the border. It was under the command of Colonel (later General) Võ Bẩm and established to improve and maintain a transportation system to supply the VC insurgency against the South Vietnamese government.<ref name=Morrocco>{{cite book |last1=Morrocco |first1=John |title=Rain of Fire: Air War, 1969–1973 |date=1985 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=9780939526147 |series=Volume 14 of Vietnam Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dEhuAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref>{{RP|26}} Initially, the North Vietnamese effort concentrated on infiltration across and immediately below the [[Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone]] (DMZ) that separated the two Vietnams.<ref name=Nalty>{{cite book|last=Nalty|first=Bernard|title=The War Against Trucks: Aerial Interdiction in Southern Laos, 1968–1972|publisher=Air Force History and Museums Program|year=2005|url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/Oct/06/2001329752/-1/-1/0/AFD-101006-027.pdf}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>{{rp|3–4}} The 559th Group "flipped" its line of communications to the west side of the Trường Sơn mountains.<ref name=Prados/>{{RP|15}}

By 1959, the 559th had 6,000 personnel in two regiments alone, the 70th and 71st,<ref name=Pribbenow/>{{RP|88}} not including combat troops in security roles or North Vietnamese and Laotian civilian laborers. In the early days of the conflict the trail was used strictly for the infiltration of manpower. At the time, Hanoi could supply its southern allies much more efficiently by sea. In 1959 the North Vietnamese created Transportation Group 759, which was equipped with 20 steel-hulled vessels to carry out such infiltration.<ref name=Pribbenow/>{{RP|88}}

After the initiation of U.S. naval [[interdiction]] efforts in coastal waters, known as [[Operation Market Time]], the trail had to do double duty. Materiel sent from the north was stored in caches in the border regions that were soon retitled "Base Areas" (BA), which, in turn, became sanctuaries for VC and PAVN forces seeking respite and resupply after conducting operations in South Vietnam.<ref name=Vongsavanh>{{cite book|last=Vongsavanh|first=Soutchay|title=Indochina Monographs RLG Operations and Activities in the Laotian Panhandle|publisher=United States Army Center of Military History|year=1980|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA132062.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125072308/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA132062.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=25 January 2022|page=12}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

=== Base areas ===
There were five large base areas in the panhandle of Laos (see map). BA 604 was the main logistical center during the war. From there, the coordination and distribution of men and supplies into South Vietnam's [[I Corps (South Vietnam)|Military Region (MR) I]] and BAs further south was accomplished.<ref name=Vongsavanh/>

* BA 611 facilitated transport from BA 604 to BA 609. Supply convoys moved in both directions. It also fed fuel and ammunition to BA 607 and on into South Vietnam's [[A Shau Valley]].<ref name=Vongsavanh/>
* BA 612 was used for support of the B-3 Front in the [[Central Highlands (Vietnam)|Central Highlands]] of South Vietnam.<ref name=Vongsavanh/>
* BA 614, between [[Savannakhet|Savannakhet, Laos]] and [[Battle of Kham Duc|Kham Duc, South Vietnam]] was used primarily for moving men and materiel into [[II Corps (South Vietnam)|MR 2]] and to the B-3 Front.<ref name=Vongsavanh/>
* BA 609 was important due to a fine road network that made it possible to transport supplies during the rainy season.<ref name=Vongsavanh/>

Human labour, pushing heavily laden bicycles, driving oxcarts, or acting as human pack animals, moving hundreds of [[tonne]]s of supplies in this fashion was quickly supplanted by truck transport—using Soviet, Chinese, or Eastern Bloc models—which quickly became the chief means of moving supplies and troops. As early as December 1961, the 3rd Truck Transportation Group of PAVN's General Rear Services Department had become the first motor transport unit fielded by North Vietnamese to work the trail and the use of motor transport escalated.<ref name=Pribbenow/>{{RP|127}}

Two types of units served under the 559th Group: "Binh Trams" (BT) and commo-liaison units. A "Binh Tram" was the equivalent of a regimental logistical headquarters and was responsible for securing a particular section of the network. While separate units were tasked with security, engineering, and communications functions, a "Binh Tram" provided the logistical necessities. Usually located one day's march from one another, communication-liaison units were responsible for providing food, housing, medical care and guides to the next way-station. By April 1965, command of the 559th Group devolved upon General Phan Trọng Tuệ, who assumed command of 24,000 men in six truck transportation battalions, two bicycle transportation battalions, a boat transportation battalion, eight engineer battalions, and 45 commo-liaison stations. The motto of the 559th became "Build roads to advance, fight the enemy to travel."<ref name=Pribbenow/>{{RP|170}}

There were nine Binh Trams between the dry season of 1967 to August 1968. An example is Binh Tram 31: 

{{blockquote|They took responsibility from the Mu Gia Pass to Lum Bum (Route 128) and all the roads from Route 12 to [[Kontum]], Route 129 from Ca Vat to Na Phi Lang. Within this BT there were: 25th and 27th Engineer Battalions; 101st and 53rd Truck Transport Battalions; 14th AAA Battalion; two infantry companies; 8th Guide Battalion (soldiers to take troops and trucks from one station to the next); three stores companies; a communications company; a medical care unit; three teams of surgeons; a quarantine unit; and a workshop to repair trucks.<ref name=Morris2006>{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Virginia|last2=Hills|first2=Clive A |title=A History of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, The Road to Freedom|date=2006|publisher=Orchid Press|isbn=9789745240766|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXluAAAAMAAJ|access-date=26 May 2020}}</ref>{{RP|164}}}}

[[File:Bike used in the Ho Chi Minh Trail.jpg|thumb|upright|Bicycle used by communist forces on the Ho Chi Minh Trail to transport supplies. [[National Museum of American History]], Washington, D.C.]]

The system developed into an intricate maze of {{convert|18|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide|order=flip}} dirt roads (paved with gravel and [[Corduroy road|corduroyed]] in some areas), foot and bicycle paths and truck parks. There were numerous supply bunkers, storage areas, barracks, hospitals, and command and control facilities, all concealed from aerial observation by an intricate system of natural and man-made camouflage that was constantly improved. By 1973, trucks could drive the entire length of the trail without emerging from the canopy except to ford streams or cross them on crude bridges built beneath the water's surface.<ref name=Nalty/>{{RP|295}}

The weather in southeastern Laos came to play a large role both in the supply effort and in U.S. and South Vietnamese efforts to interdict it. The southwest [[monsoon]] (commonly called the rainy season) from mid-May to mid-September, brought heavy precipitation (70% of {{convert|150|in|mm|order=flip|abbr=on}} per year). The sky was usually overcast with high temperatures. The northwest monsoon (the dry season), from mid-October to mid-March was relatively dry with lower temperatures. Since the road network in the trail system was generally dirt, the bulk of supply transport, and the military efforts that they supported, were conducted during the dry season. Eventually, the bulk of the trail was either asphalted or hard packed, thus allowing large quantities of supplies to be moved even during the rainy season.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}