The Long Nguyen Secret Zone was a geographical area of the Republic of Vietnam, a heavily-forested area located between Highway 13 and the Michelin Rubber Plantation about 56 kilometers (35 mi) northwest of Saigon, in Binh Duong Province that served as a Viet Cong divisional sanctuary. [1]
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a country that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War. It received international recognition in 1949 as the "State of Vietnam", which was a constitutional monarchy (1949–1955). This became the "Republic of Vietnam" in 1955. Its capital was Saigon. South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast.
National Route 13 is a highway in southern Vietnam stretching from the northeastern outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial centre of the country, towards the border to Cambodia. The highway starts around Thủ Đức on the northern outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, once the site of the military academy of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and travels north through the provinces of Bình Dương and Bình Phước. The highway passes through the districts of Thuận An, Thủ Dầu Một town, Bến Cát, Chơn Thành, Đồng Phú, Bình Long, and Lộc Ninh.
Michelin Rubber Plantation was located near Dầu Tiếng District in Bình Dương Province, 72 km northwest of Saigon. The plantation was established by the Michelin company in 1925 and at 12,400 hectares it was the largest rubber plantation in Vietnam. The plantation was located approximately halfway between the Cambodia border and Saigon and so was an important base and staging area for the Viet Cong and later the PAVN. The plantation was an important source of revenue for the South Vietnamese Government and it was believed that the Michelin Company paid off the Vietcong in order to keep the plantation operating during the war. US forces were obliged to compensate Michelin for damage caused to the rubber trees during operations in the plantation.
It was the site of numerous military operations during the Vietnam War, including:
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was an undeclared war in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies; South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is considered a Cold War-era proxy war from some US perspectives. It lasted some 19 years with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, resulting in all three countries becoming communist states in 1975.
