Ban Karai Pass
| Ban Karai Pass | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Compass direction | north | south | |
| Pass height | 714 m | ||
| District | Bố Trạch , Quang Binh , Vietnam | Bualapha, Khammuan , Laos | |
| expansion | Pass road | ||
| Map (Khammuan) | |||
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| Coordinates | 17 ° 16 '54 " N , 106 ° 11' 27" E | ||
The Ban Karai Pass ( Vietnamese : Đèo Bản Karai ) is a mountain pass in the Truong Son Mountains , which connects Vietnam with Laos . The pass played an important role during the Vietnam War , but is rarely used commercially today. There is a police post at the top of the pass.
Location and course
The Ban Karai Pass is located approximately 60 km southwest of Đồng Hới , capital of the Quảng Bình province in central Vietnam, and 65 km north of Tchepone , the former village at the confluence of the Sepon and Banghiang rivers . A two-lane, poorly maintained cobblestone street with the number 20, formerly also known as the numbers 137 and 565, leads from Vietnam to the top of the pass at 714 m. On the Laos side, the road is called 912. It is also a cobblestone road, but only has a single lane and reaches the Bangfai River at Ban Lobôy .
history
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a system of roads and paths that led from North Vietnam via Laos and Cambodia to South Vietnam and served as an important supply line for North Vietnam to support the fighters in the south during the Indochina War and the Vietnam War . At first, the Nape Pass and the Mu Gia Pass were used as entry points to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. However, these passes quickly became the main targets of heavy American bombing, so that the Vietnamese People's Army built bypasses to the aforementioned passes. One of them was the expansion of the Ban Karai Pass, which was only expanded for truck traffic in the dry season of 1966/67 . The location further south of the other passes, closer to the demarcation line to South Vietnam, had the advantage that the military columns could travel longer in North Vietnam, where they have been able to circulate unhindered since the American bombing of North Vietnam ceased in November 1968. At the beginning of 1969 the Ban Karai Pass was one of the most important infiltration and supply routes for soldiers and material. In order to make the supply line unusable, the Americans began to bomb the fords through the Bangfai River at Ban Lobôy, so that the road could only be used as a footpath at times. The place is considered the most heavily bombed place in the world. After the North Vietnamese People's Army built three bypasses north of the bombed site, the Americans bombed road 912 six kilometers below the pass. This caused the People's Army to expand the Ban Raving Pass , which lies even further south, directly on the demarcation line .
Individual evidence
- ↑ OpenStreetMap. Retrieved November 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c CIA (ed.): By-pass road construction Route 912, Ban Laboy area, Laos . April 23, 1969 ( cia.gov [PDF]).
- ↑ Ho Chi Minh Trail. In: Talking Proud. Retrieved November 10, 2018 .
- ↑ Ho Chi Minh Trail Before and Now Photos. In: Explore Indochina. Retrieved on November 10, 2018 : "One crossing point, called Ban Laboy, is reckoned to be the most heavily bombed place on the planet."