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5: trek to the “free z” (1946) we didn’t realize the difficulty of the task that still faced us as we regrouped on the other side of Route 21. Nor did our guides give us any time to think about what lay behind or ahead of us. They pushed us to move rapidly, wanting to get as far away from the highway as possible before sunrise. The trek was painful. We had spent a great deal of energy over the past three days, and we had to carry an extra burden. A man and a woman in the group came down with such bad cases of influenza that they could not keep up with us; we had to take turns carrying them. Much to our relief we reached a village as the sun was clearing the horizon, and we were still well covered by a heavy fog. The villagers fed us a hot meal, tea and chicken, which tasted like a banquet after days on short rations. We then split up into teams of three to five and were billeted in houses scattered through the village. For now we were safely out of sight, with friendly villagers to keep watch for us. So we slept the whole day, awakening in the evening to enjoy another big meal. We discussed the events of the past few days, covering the performance of each individual and of the group as a whole. The hospitable villagers gave us enough food for the next day, and we set out once again on our march. With the highway and French patrols far behind, plus a dense fog for cover, we felt more secure than we had in days. We followed the same schedule for three more nights and four days: marching along narrow trails all night and holing up in villages during the day. Then we arrived at the jumping-off point for our climb. I’m sure the others in the group were as awed as I was by the menacing face of the mountain as it stretched up, almost straight up, it seemed to me, toward the clouds. By contrast, our resting place was a natural Eden, next to a large stream with water cascading melodically down stair-steps of stones, and hidden under a canopy of tall trees. Flowers, shrubs, and ferns surrounded us. The site was a regular stopover point for groups en route to and from the Free Zone. Members of a Territorial unit and volunteers from the local population who lived about twenty-five kilometers away took turns coming here to supply food whenever they were notified that groups like ours were due. Rice and salt were cached there; there was plenty of dried beef, and fishermen from the coast supplied dried fish. We were in the midst of what formerly was a huge French farm, or ranch, with thousands of acres of rich land and stocks of cattle, buffalo, sheep, and fowl. The farm supplied food to cities along Highway 1, sending stock and produce to market 48 vietnam labyrinth via the railway that paralleled the highway from Saigon to Hanoi. Just one track, used by carts and trucks, linked the farm to the nearest railway station, about fifty kilometers away. A year earlier, in March 1945, after the Japanese coup, the French owner abandoned the farm and disappeared from the scene. Local people destroyed all buildings on the property on orders from the revolutionary provincial headquarters. This was part of the national resistance policy of destroying anything that might be useful to the French in their efforts to force Vietnam back into subservient colonial status. All of the animals had been running loose ever since, so there were thousands of domestic cows, buffalo, sheep, and chickens dispersed in the area, breeding and furnishing food for the resistance. Hunting them, or any of the wild game animals that thrived there, with firearms was strictly forbidden. There was no spare ammunition to waste, and shots would alert French reconnaissance units if they managed to infiltrate the area. It was not very difficult to catch enough of the formerly tame stock, using traps and snares, even bows and arrows, to feed the local cadres and troops in transit through this sector. The French did make several sorties from their nearest garrisons at Van Gia and Tu Bong. Both were near the coast on Highway 1, about thirty kilometers away. They succeeded on one earlier raid in reaching the area where...

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