The Tunnels of Cu Chi: a remarkable story of War in Vietnam.

• Author: McGibbon, Ian
• Position: Book review

Authors: Tom Mangold and John Penycate

Published by: Cassell, London, 2005, 292pp, $32.99.

The United States' growing battle with insurgents in Iraq has revived memories of its disastrous experience in South Vietnam 40 years ago. The attempt to preserve the Republic of Vietnam came to an ignominious end as American will to continue the contest waned, and American and allied forces were withdrawn. Left to its own devices, the Republic quickly succumbed. Although it was regular North Vietnamese troops that delivered the coup de grace, it had been the indigenous communist forces, the Viet Cong, that had effectively won the war by inducing the American withdrawal.

Up against a power that vastly outgunned it, the Viet Cong avoided set piece engagements. Striking unexpectedly, they would slip away to avoid retaliation. Concealment was the key to these hit and run tactics, and tunnelling became a key element in Viet Cong strategy, especially in the vital area of Cu Chi, just north of the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Tunnels performed many functions. They could be used to attack American installations, some of which were established right above them, to take refuge in when threatened with annihilation, to escape from threatened villages or to store war materiel and operate facilities like hospitals.

The Tunnels of Cu Chi is a reissue of a book first published 20 years ago. One of its major strengths is the research carried out by the authors in Vietnam. They talked to survivors...