Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [228]
Nor could massive, conventional bombing by artillery and aircraft contain the North Vietnamese, who finally stormed the DMZ in 1972 and pushed the border 20km further south. Exceptionally bitter fighting in the territory south of the Ben Hai River (I Corps Military Region) claimed more American lives in the five years leading up to 1972 than any other battle zone in Vietnam. Figures for North Vietnamese losses during that period are not known, but it’s estimated that up to thirty percent of ordnance dropped in the DMZ failed to detonate on impact and that these have, since 1975, been responsible for up to ten thousand deaths and injuries. So much fire power was unleashed over this area, including napalm and herbicides, that for years nothing would grow in the impacted, chemical-laden soil, but the region’s low, rolling hills are now almost entirely reforested with a green sea of pine, eucalyptus, coffee and acacia.
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The central provinces - Part 2 | The DMZ and around |
Quang Tri
American troops weren’t the first to suffer heavy losses in this region: during the 1950s French soldiers dubbed the stretch of Highway 1 north of Hué as la rue sans joie, or “street without joy”, after they came under constant attack from elusive Viet Minh units operating out of heavily fortified villages along the coast. Later, in the 1972 Easter Offensive, Communist forces overran the whole area, capturing QUANG TRI town, some 60km from Hué, from the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) and holding it for four months while American B-52s pounded the township and surrounding countryside, before it was retaken at huge cost to both sides as well as to hapless civilians caught up in the battle. Quang Tri was simply wiped off the map, and though a town of sorts has risen in its stead, known officially as Trieu Hai, you could be forgiven for missing it. Keep your eyes peeled for one of its few identifying features, the small, pockmarked shell of Long Hung Church to the east of the road, 55km from Hué, kept as a memorial to victims of 1972. Soon after, a track on the opposite side of the highway leads 4km southwest to the more impressive ruin of La Vang Church, beside which stands an extraordinary monument of Alice in Wonderland mushrooms supposedly representing the apparition of the Virgin Mary to persecuted Catholics on this spot in 1798.
The town itself lies off to the right of the highway down Tran Hung Dao, the last surfaced road before you reach the Quang Tri River. There’s not a lot to see, but if you’ve got your own transport the remains of Quang Tri Citadel (daily 7am–5pm; 12,000đ) are worth a look. To find the citadel, continue on Tran Hung Dao for 2km, passing a market on your left, then turn right down a dirt road, Ly Thai To, which leads to the entrance. The square, walled structure, resembling a smaller version of the citadel in Hué, was originally built from earth in 1806 by the Nguyen Dynasty, fortified with bricks in 1827, and served in turn as a base for the French and the ARVN before being overrun and destroyed in 1972. Parts of the wall and moat remain, and the south gate, through which visitors enter, has been rebuilt. Inside is a war memorial, the remains of a nineteenth-century French prison consisting of fourteen tiny cells measuring 1m by 2m, and a small war museum with English captions (included in entrance fee). The museum houses some excellent photos of the fierce hand-to-hand fighting that took place towards the end of 1972 as ARVN troops eventually retook the city after 81 days. Stick to established paths, as unexploded ordnance may still lurk.
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