Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam, 1954--1975 (review)

United States Secret War in Laos: Long-Term Environmental Impacts of the Use of Chemical Weapons

“…In 1961, U.S. intelligence analysts initially estimated that 5843 enemy infiltrators (actually 4000) had moved south on the trail; in 1962, 12,675 (actually 5300); in 1963, 7693 (actually 4700); and in 1964, 12,424 (actually 9000) [20]. The supply capacity of the trail reached 20 to 30 tn per day in 1964 and it was estimated by the U.S. that 9000 PAVN soldiers had reached South Vietnam [2]. By 1965, the U.S. command in Saigon estimated that communist supply requirements for their southern forces amounted to 234 tn of all supplies per day and that 195 tn were moving through Laos [20].…”

“…Agency France Presse (AFP) announced that a north-south trail had opened, and they named the corridor La Piste de Hồ Chí Minh, the "Hồ Chí Minh Trail" (Figure 2). The trail ran primarily in Laos (Figure 3) and (Figure 4), and was called by the communists, the Truong Son Strategic Supply Route, after the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range Mountains in central Vietnam [2]. They further identified the trail as either West Trường Sơn (Laos) or East Trường Sơn (Vietnam) [1].…”

“…By 1959, the 559th had 6000 personnel in two regiments alone, the 70th and 71st [2], not including combat troops in security roles or North Vietnamese and Laotian civilian laborers. In the early days of the conflict, the trail was used strictly for the infiltration of labor.…”

“…At the time, Hanoi could supply its southern allies [7] much more efficiently by sea (Figure 5). In 1959, the North Vietnamese created Transportation Group 759, which was equipped with 20 steel-hulled vessels to carry out such infiltration [2].…”