Relentless bombing devasted the Laotian countryside. Check out part 4 of our gallery of images of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, taken before and after the war.
To keep the trucks running, the NVA built a 1,400-km-long pipeline supported by 33 fuel distributions stations and 113 pump stations.
Local people use sections of old pipe to hold up their houses.
The entire network was installed by hand.
The sections of straight pipe were linked by couplings.
There were numerous fuel depots along the length of the Trail.
Early in the war, porters carried bladders full of petrol; an effort quickly realised to be highly inefficient.
Enormous 500,000 litre storage tanks in a cave north of Sepon.
Blast walls protected the tanks from US bombs, which hit the Trail only 50 metres away from the cave.
Barrels
The NVA also stored fuel and supplies inside 44-gallon steel barrels.
Local people dig up the barrels to sell as scrap metal.
During the monsoon season, the NVA floated supplies down streams and rivers, especially the Sekong River.
Bullet holes pockmark these rusting barrels.
River Crossings and US Black Ops Bases
The Trail crossed numerous rivers where the NVA built fords.
A river ford north of Bualapha.
Deep rivers were crossed by ferries.
A remnant of which still exists by the Sekong River at Ban Bak.
In southern Laos near the border with Vietnam and Cambodia, US MAC-SOG special forces set up a relay post named "Leghorn".
Its imposing location can still be seen while riding the Trail near the Cambodian border.
Leghorn proved unassailable due to its location on top of a steep limestone cliff.
Local villages cut a trail to the former site in the late 90s and removed most of the scrap metal left behind.
AK-47s and Communication Systems
The iconic AK-47.
Sometimes we find AK-47s while riding the Trail.
AK-47s were simple, tough and effective.
An old AK-47 in a scrap yard near Paksan.
The NVA installed a wire-based communication system, some 13,000 km in length.
An old pole north of Villabury still has the original insulators attached to it.
The wired network was installed by hand.
Discarded wire reels north of Ban Bak.
SAAMs, Aircraft and Gatling Guns
SAAM missiles were not used extensively on the Trail, as they were used primarily to defend North Vietnam.
They were, however, stationed at Mu Gia Pass and Ban Laboy Ford, to deter B-52s, and a number were abandoned at the war's conclusion while on the way to south Vietnam.
SAAMs proved effective at forcing US planes to fly lower, thereby bringing them within range of smaller AA guns.
A SAAM at the base of the Mu Gia Pass.
SAAMs were transported in large cigar-like tubes.
This front section of the cigar-like tube that protected SAAMs during transportation lies discarded in a village north of Villabury.
All told some US 205 planes were shot down by SAAMs.
The explosive warhead was located at the front of the SAAM.
The A1 Skyraider proved a real workhorse due to its ability to soak up fire, carry a wide range of ordinance and ability to stay in the air for a long time.
These triangular shaped tubes, as seen in the photo to the left, carried a primitive type of cluster bomb.
The cluster bombs dropped from these triangular shaped tubes were converted into lamps, as seen in the bottom-centre of this photo.
Such cluster bomb lamps can still be found in villages along the Trail.
Trail workers fill their water bottles at the centre bottom of this photo.
The same type of water bottle used as a cow bell.
The US emplyed scores of different kinds of fuses to make their ordinace explode, such as timed, impact and chemical fuses.
Local people often use them to make cow bells.
A fuse was located at the front of ordinance, but there was typically a backup fuse attached to the tail as well.
Another cow bell made from a discarded fuse.
The multi-barrel M-61 Gatling gun was very lethal.
It was attached to helicopters, jets and gun ships.
When mounted to the left side of an AC-130 Spectre gunship, the M-61 Gatling gun proved lethal to trucks on the Trail.
The AC-130 Spectre gunships were equipped with infrared, night vision, two Gatling guns and one 105 mm cannon. They were were highly effective at destroying Vietnamese trucks.
The M-61 Gatling gun could shoot an astonishing 6,000 rounds per minute.
An unspent M-61 shell south of the Mu Gia Pass.
By Digby Greenhalgh
Digby Greenhalgh is the founder of Explore Indochina, and a recognized expert on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. All motorcycle tours are designed and guided by Digby.
