#7 – DMZ

The DMZ or demilitarized zone was established as a buffer zone between North and South Vietnam in the 1950s in order to avoid direct military disputes between the two former brother states. But precisely this part of the country along the Ben Hai River became the most fiercely contested zone in the world. South of the DMZ took the most bloody battles of the Vietnam War place, places like Quang Tri, Khe Sanh or Hamburger Hill are still well known to me, because of the daily ORF news reports in the 1960s and 70s about the Vietnam war. Except countless memorials and cemeteries there is not much to see today – the devastation of the war parties is already healed by nature or the people planted coffee or rubber plantations.

In 1972 the Battle of Quang Tri was the first great success of the Communist North over the troops of South Vietnam. The Americans had withdrawn from this area, the South Vietnamese were surprised and had been crushed by Vietcong within a short time. The citadel of the village was completely destroyed, in its place today is a park with a monument and a rather sparse documentation center located. Today, daily members of those who had fallen on either side come to commemorate the victims in organized ceremonies.

The Viet-Kong was famous for its tunnel systems – whole villages were brought underground to protect soldiers and civilians from American bombardments. Further north directly at the coast, one of these tunnel-systems is still preserved – the tunnels of Vinh Moc. For a small entry fee you can go in there – with a body size of 186 cm „going in“ is probably the wrong concept. It was very interesting, but back pain caused by the extremely bent walking caused me to leave the tunnel prematurely. But you get at least an impression of the conditions people had to stand in the underground.