more correctly a transport system used by the North Vietnamese to supply the Vietcong and later regular troops of the North as they infiltrated and attacked the South. It ran through Laos and Cambodia and was the target of frequent US bombing.
A large number of trails and roads that the Communists used to supply their war effort and infiltrate. The word trail is actually a misnomer, since the HCMT was a large network of paths, roads, and trails. The HCMT started in North Vietnam (NVN) and winded through Laos and Cambodia and into South Vietnam (SVN).
An extensive network of roads and trail leading from North Vietnam through neighboring Laos and Cambodia, and then into South Vietnam, allowed North Vietnam to funnel supplies and reinforcements to NVA and VC forces operating in South Vietnam
The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as the Viet Cong) and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) during the Vietnam Conflict (1960-1975). The Trail was not a single route, but rather a complex maze of truck routes, paths for foot and bicycle traffic, and river transportation systems.