Iron Triangle (Vietnam)

The Iron Triangle, an area of ​​activity for Vietnamese partisans, was located about 40 km northwest of Saigon . The conventional vertices of the triangle were the villages of Bensuk, Benko and Benkat. These villages formed an almost rectangular triangle , the hypotenuse of which passed approximately along the Saigon River ( Song-Saigon ). The main element of this partisan district was a complex of underground structures ( Kuti tunnels ) created by Vietnamese partisans. It was located next to the American base of Kuti, a kilometer from it, through a rubber plantation and the Saigon River.

The tunnel system was started during the war with the French and was significantly expanded in the 1960s. According to the regulations, each peasant participating in the construction had to walk at least 3 feet a day, digging with simple shovels and carrying them out in baskets, usually digging in the rainy season. In its final version, the three-story underground complex was equipped even with a small cinema and an operating room. The total length of its tunnels, according to various estimates, is from 75 to 250 kilometers. The tunnels were made not straight, but with turns of 60-120 degrees. The complex had an air exchange system, in the form of a tiny size of tubes brought to the surface, bent in different directions to avoid flooding during monsoon rains, some of them intentionally turned in the direction of prevailing winds in order to provide cooling.

In the area of ​​the Iron Triangle, there was a large complex of underground tunnels used by the NFOYuV guerrillas as a rear base for conducting armed actions in Saigon and its environs.

By 1965, the territory of the Iron Triangle was not controlled by the government army of South Vietnam . After the full-scale participation of the United States in the Vietnam War in the “iron triangle” began in September 1965, operations were periodically carried out to eliminate the threat to Saigon from this region. The complex of tunnels of the NFED was first discovered during Operation Crimp (January 1966 ); in the future, special units of the so-called “tunnel rats” were created in many American units to destroy the partisans located in these tunnels and other underground structures of partisans on the territory of South Vietnam and capture the enemy’s documents.

The most famous operation in the Iron Triangle was Operation Cedar Falls (January 1967 ), the largest ground-based war operation at the time, in which 16,000 American soldiers and 14,000 South Vietnamese participated. In the course of it, American troops moved the entire population of the Bensuk-controlled village of NFLJV to a refugee camp , and the village itself was destroyed.

Despite the scale of military operations against it, the Iron Triangle remained a stronghold of the partisans throughout the war. It served as the basis for preparing a large-scale attack on Saigon in January 1968 .

Currently, the complex has a tourist attraction.

• Iron Triangle (film)

• Map of the Iron Triangle
• The Official American History of Operation Cedar Falls