The Cu Chi tunnels are about 39 km from Saigon. At its height, the tunnel system stretched from Saigon to the Cambodian border. The US could not gain control of the area because of the efficiency of the underground system. Families lived underground, made weapons, schooled their children, etc.
When I first went into a tunnel, I felt a tinge of claustrophobia but then thought if this was a matter of life or death- you’d have no choice. The tunnels were hot- they built ventilation systems into them that actually went through termite mounds to throw off any human smells dogs might pick up on. When they would cook, they would run their smoke up through a tunnel system that would slowly release the smoke out of a pile of leaves. Unless you were standing directly next to the pile of leaves- the smoke would go unnoticed. They had underground dining halls, a meeting room and a hospital.
At one point, the tunnels were so well hidden/unknown to the American forces that they built a base right on top of a section of it.
marschmadness 