Trường Sơn money

Nguyễn Văn Mai, Vietnam Numismatics #3 (04-2018), p.3-8

After the Geneva Agreement of 1954, the Americans manipulated the government of Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm, abandoning the consultations for a general election to reunify North and South Vietnam.

After the government of the Republic of Vietnam was established, the revolutionary movement in South Vietnam was suppressed and suffered heavy losses. At this time, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN) resolved to supply aid to the southern revolution to restore and strengthen its forces. The overriding principle was to operate with utmost tact and absolute secrecy, preventing the United States from using the pretext of a DRVN "invasion" of the South to launch a military intervention in Vietnam. In early May 1959, Colonel Võ Bẩm was assigned the task of establishing a secret "Special Military Task Force" to open the Trường Sơn route to provide support to the Southern battlefield. The unit was established in May 1959, so it was designated Group 559. Khe Hỏ, located in a narrow valley southwest of Vĩnh Linh, was the starting point of the route crossing the Trường Sơn Range, in an extremely remote and rugged area.

The initial strength of Group 559 was 500 soldiers and officers, with Colonel Võ Bẩm serving as its commander. The group was organized into a foot transport battalion (Battalion 301, commonly referred to as Group 301) and support units responsible for warehouse construction, cargo packing, weapon repair, equipment maintenance, and other services. The ground transport force was mainly recruited from Division 305 of Interzone 5 troops, who had regrouped and were stationed in Phú Thọ. Most of the soldiers and officers were from Quảng Nam and Quảng Ngãi and were between 28 and 35 years old.

The "3 no" policy - "Move without traces, cook without smoke, speak without sound" - became an absolute rule of Group 559. On June 14, 1959, Group 301 was ordered to begin operations along the route. After two days of traveling by train to Hàm Rồng Station in Thanh Hóa, and continuing by transport truck, Group 559 arrived at the barracks of Division 325, southwest of Đồng Hới town. Here, the unit was "civilianized" and "localized" in all lifestyle aspects, by switching to local civilian clothing, wearing tire sandals, replacing backpacks with rattan baskets, and so on. To ensure maximum secrecy, all of the unit's weapons and essential gear were old models left over from the French colonial era. After reviewing all preparation steps and reinforcing determination, the commander of Group 301 ordered the advance into the Trường Sơn Range, opening a campaign to establish a supply route supporting the Southern battlefield. On August 20, 1959, soldiers of Group 301 carried supplies on their backs through forests and over mountains, successfully delivering the first shipment, consisting of 20 Thompson submachine guns, 20 MAT rifles, and 10 crates of ammunition for submachine guns and rifles, safely to Tà Riệp (Thừa Thiên - Huế), greatly encouraging the soldiers and officers of Interzone 5.

With the consent of the Lao side, in mid-1961, Group 559 expanded its operations from the Eastern Trường Sơn route by opening an additional supply route along the Western Trường Sơn, running along the Vietnam-Laos border. After this highly important special border route, the unit opened Route 129, the third corridor, which used motor transport and crossed two major rivers, the Xe Pangkong and Xe Pangkhiang, in Laos.

In addition to the three main transport corridors, from 1961 to 1964, Group 559 opened additional east-west routes to strengthen support for the Southern battlefield and to assist the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. At this point, the Trường Sơn route system had become a strategic supply network, growing significantly in both manpower and operational importance. The official strength of Group 559 at this time had increased to 24,000 men. In addition, there was support from reinforced engineer units participating in route construction, Vietnamese volunteer units coordinating with Pathet Lao forces to hold newly liberated key areas in Laos, youth volunteer forces, frontline laborers, and marching units passing through the route to reinforce the Southern battlefield. In total, the number of personnel operating along the entire route reached 60,000. At this time, logistics support work required improved and upgraded management measures to match the rapidly increasing number of personnel in operation.

In the early period, the troops had to take care of their own cooking and daily needs while on the move. Food supplies always had to be carried as personal reserves. Gradually, logistics support along the routes was organized into communication stations (later upgraded to military transport stations), with each station located about one day's march apart. Passing through each communication station, the troops could rest, turn in a meal coupon for a meal, and then receive packed rice to carry with them on the march to the next station.

Food supplies for the troops were very scarce, as they had to be transported by pack baskets and bicycles, and little remained by the time they reached the route. To comply with the "3 no" policy, the use of firearms to hunt wild animals for additional food was strictly limited. Conditions along the trail were incredibly harsh. The official meal allowance of 0.98 đồng per person per day in meal coupons was often little more than a formality. Sometimes, they had only a handful of rice for the whole day, and in some meals they ate only wild roots and forest bamboo shoots. In the later period, the supply of food rations and foodstuffs was relatively sufficient, but the route had been discovered by the enemy and was heavily attacked and destroyed. Some stations were bombed by the enemy before meals could be cooked, and because of mission requirements, the soldiers could not stop to wait for a meal at the station. When logistics stations were hit by bombs, soldiers were left with only roasted rice and dry rations carried with them.

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