Road 10 important fishbone roads in the Ho Chi Minh road system

Road 10starts from km 0 at Ang Son intersection, in Van Ninh commune, Quang Ninh district, Quang Binh province. During the resistance war against the US, saving the country, with its location near the temporary military demarcation line (17th Parallel), Road 10 was almost the shortest route to directly support the battlefield.

The place of sacrifice of 16 Youth Volunteers at Long Dai Ferry Terminal 2

Although it was established later than Road 12, Road 15 and Road 20 Quyet Thang, Road 10 also contributed greatly to the transportation of goods and weapons to serve the battlefields in the South and Laos. That is why Road 10 was one of the routes that the US imperialists tried to focus on attacking most fiercely and fiercely to prevent the support of our army and people through this route during the times they waged destructive wars in the North.

History of Road 10

In 1966, when our nation’s war against the US to save the country began to enter a fierce phase, in order to prevent all support from the Northern rear to the Southern battlefield and the battlefields of Laos and Cambodia, the US imperialists focused on fierce attacks, focusing on Quang Binh province because this place was considered a bridge, a strategic node of the transportation system throughout the country. If they only focused on attacking this land, all support would be almost completely paralyzed. To attack the narrow strip of land in Quang Binh, the enemy launched 330 sorties of planes every day, sometimes up to 440 sorties. In 1967 alone, the enemy launched 6 times more sorties than in 1966.

With such a fierce level of destruction, the cross-roads across Truong Son, namely Road 12 and Road 20 Quyet Thang, were blocked and severely prevented, causing all our activities to stagnate, affecting strategic support to the battlefields. In that situation, in April 1967, the Central Government decided to open a third border gate across Truong Son, Road 10 (also known as Road 20/7). Road 10 started from Ang Son intersection (Van Ninh, Quang Ninh) and ran west, crossed Truong Son peak, and met Road 129 (the road connecting Road 12 and Road 9) in Laos.

Road 10 is a route that is opened through extremely complex terrain. The Ministry of Transport assigned this task to the Department of Construction I, in which comrade Dang Ngoc Hoan (later Minister of Transport) was assigned to find and open the route; comrade Le Duc An – Director of the Department of Construction I was in charge of the technical part and the construction site.

The road was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War.

To open this route, the Ministry of Transport mobilized a large force, mostly youth volunteers from all over the country such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ha Nam, Thai Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An… up to more than 6,000 people. It is impossible to tell all the difficulties, hardships, hardships and deprivations of the forces participating in the construction of this route. They had to fight and work in difficult and deprived conditions, in the midst of the fierce war, the enemy attacked day and night, while all our activities had to be extremely secret to keep the road – the vital transportation route ensuring the survival of the revolution in the South.

Entering the years 1967, 1968, the intensity of the US imperialists’ attacks became even more frantic, especially after the failure of the 1968 Tet Offensive and Uprising of the army and people of the South, the US imperialists were even more determined to destroy our transportation corridors. Therefore, even though we tried our best to hide it, the enemy still discovered it and organized the attacks. Moreover, Road 10 was only about 7km south of Long Dai ferry. This was one of the fierce fire coordinates that the US imperialists always tried to attack. Their purpose was to prevent goods from reaching Road 10 from the beginning so that they could cross the border to support the front line.

Therefore, they focused on attacking Long Dai wharf as much as they tried to destroy Route 10. 406mm cannons fired from the sea, 175mm cannons fired from the southern bank of the border, turning this place into a “hot spot” in the “big fire pot” of Quang Binh. It can be said that, throughout the process of opening the road and fighting against the enemy, Road 10 was “the pinnacle of the fierce, sacrificial confrontation, facing the enemy’s evil bombs and bullets of the Construction Department I”.

The extremely fierce key points on Road 10 are km 0, km 5, the Democracy intersection, also known as the “Hell intersection”. On each kilometer of the road, countless people have fallen to open the road to the front line. From the early days, more than 6,000 youth volunteers from all over the country gathered here, fighting and working under the enemy’s fire and bombs in extremely difficult and deprived conditions. It is true that ” If you haven’t gone, you don’t know the way 10. Only after going will you know your own strength and other people’s strength. ”.

Despite the fierce hardships, our forces still worked day and night, overcoming everything, determined to open the road and clear the route at all costs. By mid-1968, more than 40km of road had been completed. In the following years, Road 10 was upgraded and expanded to meet the demands of the frontline.

Since its opening, Road 10 has contributed to “sharing the burden” for Routes 12, 15, and 20, not only reducing the level of enemy attacks but also increasing the volume of goods transported to the battlefields. “In 1971 alone, the volume of transport on Road 16 and 18 increased 1.7 times in February, 2.1 times in March, and 3.3 times in April compared to January.” In particular, during the Road 9 Southern Laos campaign in 1971, Road 10 and 18 were the main axes for transporting heavy weapons and equipment to the battlefield.

“The troops and technical weapons deployed in combat formation on three axes: Highways 10, 16 and 18. Highway 10 is 72km long and Highway 18 is 60km long for heavy technical weapons. Highway 16 is 140km long for infantry, light weapons and logistics.” During the 1972 Tri Thien campaign, Highway 10 was where the Air Defense – Air Force Service placed the Forward Command Headquarters at km5 (Rao Da area) to command the air defense fire network to fight back against enemy aircraft and protect the rear.

Thus, although it was born later than road 12, 15, and 20, road 10 played an important role in the transportation work to support the front line and at the same time was one of the traffic routes in Quang Binh that was most fiercely attacked by the US imperialists. Km 0 and route 10 – “The place that recorded the will and determination to open a route to support the southern front line of 13,000 people for 5 consecutive years; and to have this road, 200 young men fell, 700 people had to suffer lifelong disabilities”.

Monuments on Road 20 Quyet Thang

Our people’s resistance war against the American imperialists ended in victory. Road 10 Along with other support transport routes in the province, it played an extremely important role, contributing to the final victory of the resistance war. The US imperialists, despite mobilizing all their strength and using most of the most modern and sophisticated means of war, still could not destroy the routes – those were the routes opened with all the strength, intelligence and determination of the 20-year-olds “Splitting Truong Son to save the country”.

Therefore, they could not stop the human and material support from the Northern rear to the beloved South, to the Tri-Thien. The American empire had to be horrified and terrified by the “Thousand Dragons encircling and growing again”, the “Eight Trigrams Formation through the jungle” and finally had to admit: “We can slow down their transportation, make them pay the price but we certainly cannot stop them”.

Today, Road 10 has been upgraded to suit the goals of economic, cultural and social development, especially contributing to the development of tourism in Quang Binh. The road has become more beautiful and modern. However, in the heroic history of the nation as well as in the subconscious of each generation, Road 10 is a place that marks a glorious and glorious time of our army and people on the path of fighting against invaders, for the cause of national unification.

Currently, Netin Travel operates the tourist road10 connecting with the A72 Information Station along with the Cha Loi cave system and many other places here.