Vinh Moc Tunnels is the system of a typical construction of the tunnel village in Vinh Linh, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam.
In 1976, the Ministry of Culture and Communication approved that Vinh Moc tunnels are the national remains and put in the list of special importance. Local authorities and relevant agencies have maintained and restored the tunnels for its value.
More and more tourists from the whole country and foreign countries come here to admire the miraculous symbol. Tourists show their admiration to the strong spirit of the local people and the talents of Vietnamese people.
At the present, this is an important tourist site in the famous tour DMZ, the Vinh Moc village tunnels will be considered as a good place to educate the future generations to develop the country.
Location:
Vinh Moc (Vinh Linh, Quang Tri, Vietnam) is a village located on a basaltic-soil hill by the sea. It is about 14 kilometers from Ho Xa town to the East and about 6 kilometers from Cua Tung to the North.
Structure:
Originally, this system got three main tunnels: the tunnels of the border-guard force 140, the tunnel of the Vinh Moc guerrillas and the tunnels of the Son Ha guerrillas.
Then, due to the mission for fights and cooperation, the three tunnels were connected to be one big inter-linked system. The system is 1701 meters long with 13 entrances and exit (7 to the sea and 6 to the top of the hill).
The tunnel system has family rooms, drainage system, meeting rooms, kitchen area, and storage places.
For safety and long usage, the architecture of the tunnels is rather properly scientific. Along the tunnels, there are shelters for families of 2-4 people. The floor of the tunnels was done in a slope of 2-3’ for water drainage. The whole tunnel system consists of 3 floors connected by the main tunnel (the 1st floor is 8-10 meters deep; the 2nd floor is 12-15 meters deep and the 3rd floor is 23 meters deep).
Addition, in the tunnels, there is the meeting hall (for about 60 people for meeting and move showing), the operating room, Hoang Cam kitchen, food storehouse, and the telephone post.
The main use of the tunnels:
During the fight against American for the national reunification, Vinh Moc was the front place of the North, the food storage site, and supplier for Con Co Island. This island gets a strategic location for the protection of Vinh Linh (28 kilometers from Vinh Moc).
The time of tunnels:
Duration to build: The people of Vinh Moc build the system of the tunnels from the beginning of 1965 to Feb 1966.
The tunnels takes more than 18.000 labor days, and the people here must move over 6000m3 of soil and rock.
Duration to live:The people had lived in the tunnels for nearly 2,000 days (from 1966 to 1972).
Especially, during that duration, there were 17 babies who were born in the tunnels.
Although the local people lived in the tunnels, they did not passively suffer the bombing. They organized to fight against the enemy, to transport supplies of food, ammunition, medicine and rescue injuries.
They organized hundreds of the boats of the transportation supplying to Con Co Island under the range of bomb and artillery. Con Co stood firmly and was awarded two heroic rewards by the Government partly thanks to the precious contribution from people and the tunnels of Vinh Moc.
Check the tour to come to Vinh Moc Tunnels: Hue to DMZ – one day tour