On May 20th, 1959, Truong Son Military Corps No. 559 (This unit has been coded for "May-1959") was set up by Hanoi to open military supply routes for the transportation of troops, provisions and war material to their infiltrating units in South Vietnam. These men had departed from Khe Co, Nghe An and continued the lengthening and widening of the paths while advancing in Indian file, inclined heads, rushing forwards bodies, shouldering weapons and ammunitions, backing clothes and personal things. The man marching ahead gently separated the leaves and branches with a stick, lest they be torn. The second man followed suit then the last man walked backwards to restore the original state of the leaves and branches by his stick.

In 1959 there was only a battalion of 600 soldiers who silently marched in this trail making sure to avoid contact with anyone and the sight of the enemy, and to keep absolutely secrecy of the mission. Groping their way with great effort, they could advance only a dozen miles per day. The Ho Chi Minh Trail had begun to take sharp in this primitive way. During war-time, the soldiers have been formed in groups of at most of 15 youngsters of 18 to 20 years of age who disguised as road-builders to dodge the prohibitions of Geneva Accord.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail small pathway is a system of four roads respectively named A, B, C, K. Even during the fiercest days of the war combined by the continuous spying and bombing by American planes, roads A, B, C had succeeded in ensuring the transport of supplies and troops as well as for large-scale military campaigns. Only road K, running through forests, could allow transporting in the day-time.

However, road K was the most secret of all. It was used for motor vehicles and had a total length of about 1,250 miles. This was a narrow road, and wide enough for only one truck, running through perennial forests and therefore covered by foliages. Road K also has branch roads, roads with round-about for avoiding air raids or hiding the vehicles, roads leading to stores, even roads constructed with a great deal of blood and sweat, then camouflaged for diverse purposes. Even though all the roads of the Ho Chi Minh Trail system were kept in secret, they have been attacked by the South military in February 1971 under the Lam-Son 719 Operations within the South area of Laos, off Khe Sanh military base.

The section of Ho Chi Minh Trail usable for vehicle is 8,473 miles long including 160 miles of macadam roads. It is composed of 5 systems of 3,435 miles of longitudinal trunk roads, 2,500 miles of transversal trunks roads, 5 systems of entry-point roads with a 735-mile-length, plus 2,900 miles of Round-about and a system of covered K road running all the length of Vietnam (total length near 2000 miles). The last construction of the trail was mainly carried out from 1973 to 1975. Before 1965, to supply gasoline to the South Vietnam battlefields, troops had to put it in nylon bags, carried these bags in their knapsacks and walked. Gradually they invented the way to put gasoline in bamboo stems and in barrels, then floated them on the river currents to the destinations.

This way of conveyance was dispersed but less risky than by tankers because of the feverish attacks from the air: a machine guns bullet or a pellet could set the whole tanker in flames. For the large-scale military campaigns, gasoline was one of the important requirements.

Within 30 years, the strategic Ho Chi Minh Trail had included three systems: motorway system, pathway system for the movement of troops, and the oil-pipeline system.

Vietnam has recently reconstructed the Truong Son Motorway to run from the North to the South of Vietnam. In April 2000 Ho Chi Minh Trail has been initiated. It is started from Khe Co, Nghe An province to Binh Phuoc intersection, Song Be province. This set of pictures has been taken at Lipstick River area in Quang Binh Province.