- Iron Triangle (Vietnam)
The Iron Triangle was a 60 square mile (155 km²) area in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam, so named due to it being a stronghold of Viet Minh activity during the war. The region under control of the
Viet Minh throughout the French war in Vietnam and continued to be so throughout the American war, despite concerted efforts on the part of US and South Vietnamese forces to destabilize the region as a power base for their enemy.Geography
The Location of the Iron Triangle was between the
Saigon River on the west and the Tinh River on the east and bordering Route 13 about 25 miles (40 km) north ofSaigon . The southern apex of the "triangle" was seven miles (11 km) fromPhu Cong , the capital ofBinh Duong Province. It is close proximity to Saigon was both a reason for American and South Vietnamese efforts to eradicate it, as well as why it remained a crucial area for Communist forces to maintain control over.History
The French War
During the French war in Indochina, from 1946-1954, the Vietminh elaborated on a network of hidden fortifications and tunnels throughout the region to defend themselves against the superior military power of the French. These tunnel networks had begun as early as the 1880s to resist French occupation. The network afforded communist fighters the ability to "disappear" into the countryside. This became especially important during the
Vichy Regime , when Vietnam was dually occupied by French and Japanese forces, so as to remain undetected by not one but two occupying enemies.The American War
The tunnels were expanded further after the war with the French as a base for underground operations against the
Diem Regime and later US-backed South Vietnamese governments. The tunnel system at its height was said to have over convert|30000|mi|km of tunnels throughout North and South Vietnam, with hundreds of miles of these located in the Iron Triangle, especially concentrated in the area around the town ofCu Chi . Due to the threat that this undergroundViet Cong support network posed to the Saigon Government, the United States stepped up its military offensive on the region in the fall of 1966 and 1967. They launched three operations during this time:Operation Attleborough ,Operation Cedar Falls andOperation Junction City . Operation Cedar Falls was an especially intensive attack involving nearly 16,000 American troops and 14,000 soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army. The Operation took nineteen days and seventy-two Americans and 720Viet Cong were killed. Despite their massive attack with B-52 bombers, tanks with bulldozer blades and efforts to destroy the tunnel system by explosives, flooding and "tunnel rat s"(specially trained soldiers who would infiltrate the tunnels armed only with a flashlight and a handgun), the Americans failed to totally destroy the Viet Cong support system that had been built for over two decades.The Iron Triangle at the end of the Vietnam War
The area remained an active organizing center for the Viet Cong right through to the end of the war, due to both its undeniable strategic importance, as well as support from local populations who had been negatively impacted by the American bombing campaign. In April, 1975, General
Van Tien Dung , political bureau membersPham Hung andLe Duc Tho and southern military commanderTran Van Tra all joined together in the Iron Triangle region to orchestrate the final, decisive attack on Saigon. The area had remained allied with the nationalist communist forces from the beginning of the French war in 1946 to the fall of Saigon in 1975: an exception in a country often torn region by region between control by American forces and control by the Viet Cong.References
* Harrison, James Pickney.(1982). "The Endless War: Fifty Years of Struggle in Vietnam", New York: The Free Press.
* Morisson, Wilbur H.(1990). "The Elephant and the Tiger: The Full Story of the Vietnam War", New York: Hippocrene Books.
* Schulzinger, Robert D.(1997). "A Time for War: The United Stated and Vietnam 1941-1975". New York: Oxford University Press.
* Tang, Truong Nhu.(1985). "A Vietcong Memoir". Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
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