- há 1 dia
Guy Martin explores Vietnam 50 years after the war, riding the Ho Chi Minh Trail, visiting a Huey graveyard, and joining MAG to clear unexploded bombs while examining the nation's tech-focused future.
Categoria
😹
DiversãoTranscrição
00:01Yeah, Vietnam. Always been fascinated.
00:05All right, big man.
00:09I'm sure you'd be maybe a bit the same as me.
00:12Your brain automatically goes to war, doesn't it?
00:15The Vietnam War.
00:17But that was 50 years ago.
00:1950 years since the end of that war.
00:22It's no better time to come to see how the job's ticking along.
00:28And so, on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War,
00:32Guy Martin will explore the country's past, present and future.
00:36This is the transit van of the Vietnam War.
00:43He'll discover the surprising sight of Vietnam
00:46and why it's one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
00:50Someone's house here. Oh, yeah.
00:52Rolls-Royce.
00:53And he'll find out how one of the last five communist regimes in existence
00:58is plotting a wealthy, high-tech future.
01:04120 mile an hour.
01:06We definitely wasn't expecting anything like this.
01:11Good man.
01:13Yeah, we've got two weeks to go and suss the job out.
01:16Yeah, I want to find out what makes this place tick.
01:18Yeah, we've got two weeks to go.
01:20Yeah, we've got two weeks to go.
01:21Yeah, we've got two weeks to go.
01:25In the heart of Southeast Asia,
01:28with its river deltas, tropical beaches,
01:32and rock formations supposedly planted by dragons,
01:36the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
01:39is a strip of land 1,000 miles long
01:41and home to 100 million.
01:48Guy's journey begins in the capital, Hanoi,
01:51a city of 8.5 million people
01:54and 8 million vehicles.
01:57All right, Doc, how are you getting on?
01:59As you can see, she's quite busy.
02:02What a place.
02:04The amateur explorer's first stop
02:07is what locals call the real Hanoi,
02:09the 36 hectic streets of the old quarter.
02:16Understanding Vietnam today
02:18means understanding its past.
02:20It's a story built into Hanoi's very bricks and mortar.
02:27Are we right?
02:28Yes, so no better place to start the next adventure
02:31than a corner shop.
02:34It's busy, mate, it's busy.
02:36Let me tell you about it, right?
02:37That says something like Hanoi Government Food Centre.
02:42Proper piece of communism, that.
02:44So what I'm talking about here, sort of 70s, 80s, right?
02:47The height of the communist era in Vietnam.
02:50Once a month, you'd have queued up
02:52with your little ration book
02:53and you got your 15 kilos of rice.
02:56That's all you'd have got.
02:56Twice a year, maybe.
02:58You might have got a bit of meat.
02:59Twice a year, maybe, if he's lucky.
03:00And then you'd have mooched on down to your house,
03:02where he was probably living there
03:03with another four or five families
03:05that you didn't know before you moved there.
03:07They just chucked you all in.
03:07That's what it was all about.
03:09Central planning.
03:10That's how it worked.
03:11That's how it works.
03:11And it went on for the end of 20 years.
03:13And it got to 86, right?
03:151986.
03:16And I sort of realised
03:18this central planning isn't really going to plan.
03:21We're running out of rice.
03:23Folk are getting hungry.
03:25There's a bit of unrest going on.
03:27We need a change.
03:31Right, come on, follow me.
03:32Follow me.
03:38I'm going to get out of the way before I get run over.
03:39We came up with this system called doughy moey.
03:42Doughy moey just means...
03:44Can you see?
03:44It's a bit of renovation.
03:45That's what it means.
03:46The modern term would be free-market capitalism, right?
03:50And really, that means do a bit of buying and selling.
03:55Yeah, so this very same shop
03:57that used to hand out the rationed rice
03:59now sells...
04:03Well, what don't they sell?
04:04Come and have a look here, look.
04:08I have never seen such a thorough biscuit collection.
04:12Look here.
04:13Look there.
04:14This is the most thorough boiled sweet selection I've ever seen.
04:18And now I'm going to take you to the sellotape collection.
04:21Come and have a look here.
04:22Come on, watch yourself.
04:22Watch yourself.
04:23Yeah, for me, this is the best bit.
04:24This is the best bit.
04:26You all right, big man?
04:27You all right.
04:27You need to get far back so you can appreciate the size.
04:31Look, as wide as my hands can go.
04:33Look.
04:34Every width and every length you can think of.
04:40And bubble wrap.
04:45Today, the country's politics are still communist,
04:49but its economics are not.
04:51Vietnam hasn't stopped growing
04:53since it introduced the free market.
04:56The economy is now 30 times bigger,
04:59with GDP doubling in the last decade alone,
05:03as the country positions itself
05:05as a competitive manufacturing alternative to China.
05:12So, yeah, we're all in with the free market job.
05:15She's going down a treat.
05:22Signs of the old communist era
05:24are never far away if you know where to look.
05:28Soviet-style apartments are one legacy.
05:32And what happens at the driving test centre
05:35is another.
05:38Spare land is at a premium,
05:40and so the same place
05:41that issues both car and bike licences
05:44also doubles as a hangout for biker gangs.
05:51Wherever we go,
05:53we do like to find a motorbike gang, don't we?
05:57And I think we've struck gold here,
06:00and we've found the Soviet biker gang.
06:03The sidecars, and I'm just here,
06:06and I'm looking up there,
06:06and there's a picture of a sidecar on two wheels.
06:09Right, I think I'm probably going to get involved in that somehow.
06:12But anything could happen.
06:14Let's, let's, yeah.
06:17The Three Free Wheels Club are Ural enthusiasts,
06:21a Russian military motorcycle and sidecar
06:24that's a hangover from Soviet supplies during the Vietnam War.
06:30Club president Mr. Van makes the introductions.
06:34Okay.
06:34Hello, Mike.
06:36Nice to meet you, Mike.
06:38Guy, Martin from England.
06:42Yes.
06:43Mr. Buck.
06:44Mr. Buck.
06:45Mr. Hoa.
06:46Mr. Wan.
06:47Mr. Chang.
06:48Mr. Tung.
06:49Mr. Wing.
06:50Mr. Deng.
06:51Nice to meet you.
06:53Very handsome guy, right?
06:55Very handsome guy.
06:56Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:56You're on it, mate.
06:59Nice to meet you.
07:00Nice to meet you.
07:01Nice to meet you.
07:02Where is this?
07:03Yes.
07:04So we start to ride now.
07:08You ride this one.
07:08Okay.
07:09Mr. Wan.
07:10Okay.
07:11Well, I go in here.
07:11Oh, yeah.
07:18This is a biker gang that isn't interested in speed.
07:22Instead, it prioritizes skill.
07:38And before long, the riders demonstrate their party piece, balancing a total weight of nearly half a ton on two
07:47wheels.
07:48Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.
07:51Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.
07:53Now I'm impressed.
07:56A special lesson is arranged for Guy, with the master of this art, Mr. Wan.
08:04Man.
08:05Oh, ho...
08:05Oh, ho, ho.
08:05Wait, as the other one was going through, it's been afternoon and the driver's mind.
08:14Okay.
08:15Okay.
08:15Okay.
08:16Okay, now let's start.
08:17Let's start.
08:21Okay, let's start.
08:22Hold on.
08:30Mate, that's nice. Mate, that's lovely.
08:34Lovely control, mate. Beautiful.
08:38For the club, being able to share this experience
08:41makes it much more than just a stunt.
08:43The car feels a lot.
08:47The car, the car, the car,
08:49we can drive.
08:50We can drive.
08:51We can drive.
08:52We can drive.
09:03Mr Wells' Yule dates back to the 60s,
09:07one of only 500 in the entire country.
09:10But he happily hands it over
09:11to see if his new student
09:13can ride it on two wheels as well.
09:22Great job.
09:24Okay, okay.
09:26Good.
09:29Good.
09:29Good.
09:39First we got to know himself very fast.
09:47In fact, Mr. Huan has such confidence in Huan, he joins in himself.
10:01And then, they add one more passenger.
10:09In Vietnam, doing things as a community is deemed better than doing them alone.
10:24The man, the man. Thank you.
10:29What a set of lads. Never met me. Trusting me in their pride and joy.
10:36I've never rode a sidecar before. Never mind on two wheels. I wouldn't trust me, right?
10:41But these boys are just, yeah, a bit of crack, sadly moaning. What to do?
10:46One, two, three! Cheers!
10:50For me? Oh, thank you. Thank you.
10:53Good key ring. Guy's adventure is underway. Next, he's on the trail of the Vietnam War.
11:11Come on. Guy Martin is exploring Vietnam.
11:15Xin chào. Cheers, boss.
11:17Saying hello to the streets of Hanoi. Goodbye.
11:20You see up there, we've got the hammer and sickle there, which is a Communist Party flag.
11:25This must be some sort of government building. Xin chào. How are we getting on, boys? You all right?
11:31Good man. Good man. Cheers, mate.
11:35Someone's house here. Rolls-Royce.
11:38Oh, a set up.
11:41Yes, it's a bit busy and it's a bit hectic, but it's not mental.
11:46Everyone treats everyone with a bit of respect.
11:48No one's really trying to get one over on anyone else. There's no aggression.
11:54So, yeah, I think they're on to something.
12:01Vietnam's modern history starts with the French.
12:05The country was a French colony between 1887 and 1954.
12:11The influence is still visible in Hanoi.
12:14From the Gothic cathedral inspired by Notre Dame
12:17to a Parisian-style opera house.
12:23The most famous legacy of all is the Thousand Mile North-South Railway.
12:29A 40-year building project that is a must-see attraction for intrepid travellers.
12:41We're in full tourist mode here.
12:44We don't normally do tourist things,
12:48but we're making an exception for this.
12:50This is Train Street.
13:04Yeah, as you can see, it's a bit cosy.
13:06Yeah, the French built this in 1902.
13:11Narrow gauge to be able to get the trains down between the cafs and the houses.
13:17Right, so I'm just going to check a number.
13:19Just check a number here.
13:22Right.
13:23Yeah, looking at that, that's about a thousand mil.
13:26Right.
13:26About a thousand mil.
13:28British gauge would generally be 1435 mil.
13:32The Stevenson gauge, a fair bit wider.
13:34Obviously, the trains are bigger.
13:35The trains can go faster.
13:36They can carry more weight.
13:37But the benefit of a narrow gauge is, yeah, this would be loads cheaper to build.
13:42It's interesting, isn't it?
13:44Local fabricators use the rails as a workbench.
13:48But cafe owners clear the tracks when a train is due.
13:52Visitors pick a spot they hope is safe to see if a locomotive really can squeeze down a side street.
13:59Right.
14:00Here we go.
14:02She's coming, Matt.
14:05We're two minutes late.
14:09I think I'm going to be all right.
14:11Just have a bit of a touch as it comes past.
14:13A bit risky, I think.
14:14I think we'll be all right.
14:39There we go.
14:42There we go.
14:47Within seconds of the train passing, Train Street returns to its everyday business.
14:57Thank you very much.
14:59I'm in.
15:00After eight years of war, the French were thrown out in 1954.
15:06Finding out about the political power that took over means visiting a unique park.
15:18Guy's on his way to one of the most popular places in the city to keep fit.
15:24Retired people in particular had here well before sunrise.
15:42We're not seeing this in Grimsby.
15:46Some flexibility here.
15:51I would get involved, but I couldn't keep up with you girls.
16:00Oh, we're getting the heavy stuff on now.
16:07What time was they up to be here at bang on five o'clock in the morning?
16:10Do a bit of stretching.
16:13Some dedication, this.
16:15In 2022, the World Health Organization reported that Vietnam had the lowest rate of obesity anywhere in the world.
16:24The culture of fitness stems from the long communist tradition of doing things that will benefit the whole of society.
16:33It's a mindset thing, isn't it?
16:35It's a very certain type of person.
16:37It's in the head, you know what I mean?
16:48Mad, isn't it?
16:49Anyway, who's watching all of this?
16:51Can you see him?
16:51You can see him there.
16:52The big man.
16:53Who is that?
16:54That's Vladimir Lenin.
16:56The first boss of the Soviet Union.
17:01It is one of the few statues of Lenin outside of Russia.
17:06His communist ideals were about giving power to the people.
17:10Teaching that inspired the most famous Vietnamese revolutionary of all.
17:16Where's the boss?
17:17Where's the boss?
17:17Right.
17:19Who we got here?
17:21Who's that?
17:22You see him?
17:23You got him?
17:24Leader of the Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh.
17:27City named after him now.
17:28His forces, but without the French.
17:30And his government is still in power today.
17:35The charismatic Ho Chi Minh is revered as the father of modern Vietnam.
17:41President of the Vietnamese Nationalists for nearly 30 years.
17:46He was beloved by the working classes.
17:49Living and dressing simply.
17:50Right down to his iconic sandals.
17:53Made from old tires.
17:58You all right, big man?
17:59Sinch out.
18:00Sinch out.
18:01Yeah, they say, never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.
18:06I'll tell you what, I'm going to go and make his shoes and then we'll know, won't we?
18:11In the past, the Communist government would make its citizens visit Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.
18:18The people have never lost the habit.
18:21More than 30 million Vietnamese have made the pilgrimage to a museum dedicated to their Uncle Ho.
18:29And round the back, under a tarpaulin sheet, is a team of artisanal craftsmen preserving the art of making Ho's
18:37legendary sandals.
18:39Constructed now as they were then, out of truck tire rubber.
18:45Ah, right, I see.
18:47Yeah, I see.
18:48It's nice.
18:49Yeah.
18:50Trick.
18:52Beautiful.
18:54My favourite sort of thing.
18:56Just watching someone that knows what they're doing with his tools and just, yeah, it's no effort.
19:02Hopefully, he's going to let me get involved at some point.
19:05As you can see, my trainers are about knackered.
19:07I'm nearly on slicks.
19:09You say, I am in the market.
19:12Behind the scenes, Guy is helped by local translator Kimmy Fun, who points out the strict dress code when dealing
19:20with a hallowed national figure.
19:21When you come into the museum.
19:24Yes.
19:25You have to cover your legs, like, all the way through.
19:28Do you?
19:28Yeah.
19:28Yeah.
19:28So, um, this is what they give you if you don't have trousers.
19:32Okay.
19:32Okay.
19:32You can put it on.
19:33Yeah, say on.
19:36Something like that.
19:37Okay?
19:37Yeah.
19:38Brand new.
19:39Grand job.
19:41Cheers, mate.
19:46Cheers, mate.
19:49Guy begins by slicing a tyre with a fearsomely sharp push knife.
19:59Cheers, mate.
20:06Practical folk.
20:07Keep going, mate.
20:07Making use of what you've got.
20:1030 pairs of sandals out of one tiger.
20:14Oh, that's nice.
20:16Making a nice job of that, boys.
20:19Born Noin Seng Gong in 1890, Ho was the son of an academic.
20:24Well done, boys.
20:25Xin chak.
20:26Min.
20:27His early life was a mix of political study and searching for work.
20:32Ho Chi Minh spent 30 years travelling the world.
20:35China, Russia, France, even lived in Crouch End in North London,
20:39washing pots out there for a bit.
20:40So, yeah, very worldly man.
20:45Look, I've got a hold of me socks, mate.
20:47Sorry about the state of these bloody toes, mate.
20:49They're a bit scabby, mate.
20:5242.
20:53Perfect.
20:55Ho also had a keen eye for branding.
20:58He called himself Ho Chi Minh, which translates to bringer of light.
21:01So, yeah, he's got a few quid on himself.
21:03So, he knew about marketing, propaganda.
21:07All right, big man.
21:09All right.
21:09Gammon.
21:10Gammon.
21:14I think that means thank you.
21:15The next step of sandal making involves another terrifying blade.
21:21Oh, look at that.
21:22This is trick.
21:24Oh, yes.
21:25You're not picking this up in a tea break?
21:27Three years to get to this standard.
21:29Look at this.
21:30That's a feel for a tall lat, boys.
21:33Nice, mate.
21:34Nice.
21:35I don't know how your risk assessment went down with this job.
21:38So, you didn't account for doing this, did you?
21:39Bare feet, cutting the tyres.
21:41What will I say when I watch this back home?
21:42They're going to be shaking their head, aren't they?
21:44Yeah.
21:44Yeah, this won't go down well.
21:48Perfect.
21:49Mega.
21:51Yeah?
21:51Cheers, mate.
21:56Cheers.
21:57Cheers.
21:58Ah, sing, sing, sing.
22:08Okay.
22:12Oh, okay.
22:18Cheers.
22:19Cheers.
22:21Oh, perfect. Perfect.
22:25They are the job.
22:27You don't truck tyre sandals.
22:29Couldn't be happy.
22:30The best.
22:33This camera over here?
22:35Garmin. Thank you very much.
22:38Ho Chi Minh's communist uprising, so off the French,
22:42but left his followers in the north,
22:45pitted against non-communists in the south.
22:49The ensuing fight to unify Vietnam
22:53was about to become an international conflict.
22:56You all right, big man? Can you see me?
22:58Hang on, I'm going to get this sorted.
23:00Right.
23:03The next leg of Guy's journey
23:05takes him to a backstreet coach station.
23:09We need to do a bit more learning about this war business.
23:12What we're going to do,
23:13we're going to get on a bus 400 miles south,
23:18bus travel is quite a common form of travel in Vietnam, right?
23:24Well, obviously, this looks bloody posh,
23:26but this is a quite normal way to do it.
23:30Look at the state of this.
23:31Look at the state of this.
23:35Upstairs, downstairs.
23:38Lucky boy.
23:39Right, so, yeah, 400 miles south,
23:43about 10 hours or so.
23:45Job's a peach.
23:48The cost of a ticket on this business-class spaceship
23:51for the journey equivalent of London to Edinburgh
23:54is 40 pounds.
23:57Bus is nice, isn't it?
23:59Better time to watch a film.
24:01What are we going to watch?
24:02The world's first televised war.
24:08She's aware.
24:13The Vietnam War was a 20-year civil war
24:17between Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnamese Army
24:23and the anti-communist South.
24:26All right, gentlemen, keep your hands down.
24:28The USA supported the South,
24:30committing serious combat forces from 1965.
24:42American leaders were attempting to contain the rise of communism
24:46and were petrified of the so-called domino theory.
24:51They said, if communism gets hold in Vietnam,
24:55next thing, it'll go to Thailand,
24:57next thing, Japan,
24:58next thing, it'll be holding Australia and New Zealand,
25:00and then they'll have a massive communist superpower to deal with.
25:04And, yeah, America, they want to be the only superpower in town.
25:08But now you've got all the historians looking back
25:11and they're saying, actually,
25:13what a lot of codswallet that was.
25:14You know what I mean?
25:17Domino theory may have now been discredited,
25:19but over the course of the war,
25:22it convinced the USA to send nearly 3 million troops
25:26to fight in Vietnam.
25:30Anti-war protests quickly flared up on the streets of the USA
25:35and also in Britain,
25:36which had no real involvement in the war.
25:42Regular reports from Vietnam
25:44were beamed into British homes on the 10 o'clock news.
25:49I'm halfway through my report on last night's film.
25:54And they have already begun to start firing rockets in.
25:57And now the building's on fire.
25:59Michael Nicholson, New Zealand 10, Saigon.
26:04Nowhere in Vietnam was safe.
26:06But there was one aspect of the war
26:09that presented a threat bigger than any weapon.
26:13What we're going to go see is what
26:16the USA's National Security Agency called
26:20one of the 20th century's greatest military engineering achievements.
26:25That's what we're going to go see.
26:27I'll see you in the morning.
26:40Travelling 400 miles south of Hanoi,
26:43Guy Martin has arrived in Quang Tri.
26:45Here we go.
26:46Get her on the pipe.
26:47Get her on the pipe.
26:50This province is one of the most beautiful areas in Vietnam.
26:54What a lovely part of the world, isn't it?
26:58But guys travelling through territory
27:00that saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the Vietnam War.
27:08The U.S. Defense Department assumed they'd be fighting untrained peasants.
27:14But the North Vietnamese army,
27:17the Viet Cong guerrillas,
27:19and well-drilled village militias
27:21made for a mighty force.
27:24They were all volunteers
27:26determined to defend their homeland to the death.
27:30And unlike the American soldiers,
27:32were at one with Vietnam's environment.
27:44Limited resources had made them skilled engineers
27:47and masters of the booby trap.
27:53These jungles were littered with them.
27:56It's a crude weapon indeed, but very effective.
27:59This is a foot trap usually used by the Viet Cong.
28:02When a soldier walks along,
28:04he goes through the camouflage
28:05and strikes the trip device.
28:08But the greatest construction of all wasn't a weapon.
28:12Go on, then.
28:13What is it?
28:14This most amazing piece of war engineering.
28:19It's a trail.
28:22The Ho Chi Minh Trail.
28:24Right, 10,000 miles of dirt trails.
28:28Some of it in Vietnam,
28:30most of it in Cambodia.
28:32And it was to get supplies to the front line.
28:36This is what they say.
28:38Soldiers win the battle.
28:41Logistics wins the war.
28:46The Ho Chi Minh Trail
28:47carried one million tonnes of war supplies
28:50from bases in the north
28:52to fighting in the south.
28:56A few pictures.
28:58Right.
29:00This is the Ho Chi Minh Trail in action.
29:03We was using push bikes
29:05as pallet barras.
29:07It was carrying 200 kilos.
29:11Look how they'd adapted them.
29:13A bit of bamboo to extend the handlebar
29:15so they could walk alongside.
29:17A bit of bamboo in the seat tube hole
29:19so we could hold it upright
29:20and then get cracking.
29:2125-mile-a-day these people were doing.
29:24It's a marathon a day.
29:26That could be a bit of ammo in there.
29:28It looks like a bit of ammo, doesn't it?
29:30Handled with care.
29:31Could be.
29:32Right, and that was all right,
29:33but they were taking steel lengths down there,
29:37RSJs and channel,
29:38to go over water.
29:39You know what I mean?
29:40So we could make our own bridges.
29:41Oh, it looks to be fair gushy in that water.
29:43It's coming up to the knackers in water
29:45or beyond up to the nipples in water.
29:48Fair play to them.
29:49Eh?
29:50Yeah, we built a bridge
29:51and then our man Ho Chi Minh,
29:53he somehow convinced
29:55the Russians and the Chinese
29:57to give him
29:58two billion quid's worth of tackle.
30:01So guns, ammo, trucks.
30:03And that was them.
30:04Russian trucks, Chinese trucks,
30:06the lot.
30:07What do trucks need?
30:10Trucks need fuel, right?
30:11So what have we done?
30:12Built a pipeline
30:13down the Ho Chi Minh trail.
30:15We'd send petrol, diesel down it.
30:16It doesn't look to be much more
30:18than just a bit of drainpipe.
30:19Eh?
30:19Did the job.
30:21This is the sort of resourceful people
30:22the Yanks were up against.
30:24They were going to be snookered, weren't they?
30:29Taking on an endlessly inventive opponent
30:32made Vietnam an exhausting fight
30:34for the Americans.
30:36Despite them spending
30:37around two billion dollars a month
30:40on men and machinery
30:42at the height of the war.
30:50Relics of some wartime classics survive
30:52at one of the most famous
30:54former American combat bases,
30:56Khe Sanh.
31:02Home to 6,000 troops,
31:05the base withstood
31:06a 77-day siege
31:08in 1968.
31:10One of the vital lifelines
31:12was a vehicle
31:13that has become
31:14symbolic of the conflict.
31:16The Bell UH1
31:18Iroquois.
31:21The Huey.
31:22Yeah, I've been looking forward
31:23to seeing this.
31:24This is the transit van
31:26of the Vietnam War.
31:27Eh?
31:27Do everything.
31:29Troop carrier.
31:33Ambulance.
31:36Gunship.
31:387,000 of these
31:40were used
31:40in the Vietnam War,
31:41right?
31:4236 million missions.
31:44Yeah.
31:45Pilots loved it.
31:46And they said
31:47when you pull back
31:47on a stick
31:48it was like
31:49falling upwards.
31:50That's what I loved
31:51about it.
31:53Powered by a jet engine
31:55and used by famous units
31:57like the 1st Air Cavalry,
31:59the Huey was fast
32:01and reliable.
32:03Troops no longer
32:04had to march
32:05for days
32:05looking for the fight.
32:07They could be delivered
32:08straight to it.
32:16It put the American infantry
32:18on a production line
32:19of war.
32:21Second World War,
32:22on average,
32:23a soldier fought
32:24for 10 days a year.
32:27Right?
32:27But in the Vietnam War,
32:29because it was so easy
32:30to get troops
32:30into the battle,
32:31they fought
32:32for 240 days a year.
32:35All because of this.
32:37In all,
32:3958,000 Americans
32:41were killed.
32:42More than half
32:43were aged 18.
32:451,000 were killed
32:47on their first day
32:48of combat.
32:55See that?
32:56Home is where
32:57you dig it.
33:03With things going
33:04badly on the ground,
33:05the U.S.
33:06turned to the air.
33:08Operation Rolling Thunder
33:10was a three-year campaign
33:11to try and bomb
33:12Vietnam into submission.
33:15In one month,
33:16America dropped
33:17as many bombs
33:18as they had
33:18in the whole
33:19of World War II.
33:22They didn't just
33:23pulverize the countryside,
33:25they burnt it too,
33:27with 400,000 tons
33:29of terrifying incendiary.
33:37It was one
33:38of the most feared
33:39weapons
33:39of the Vietnam War,
33:43napalm.
33:45The fuel-based gel,
33:47now banned
33:48as a weapon,
33:49was designed
33:50to create
33:50a prolonged,
33:51intense fire.
33:56And that's about
33:57us, boss.
34:03It is associated
34:04with some of
34:05the most shocking
34:06imagery
34:06of the entire war.
34:12Well, that's napalm.
34:15That is the worst weapon,
34:18isn't it?
34:19Absolutely horrible weapon.
34:22You sling that out
34:23of the back of a plane,
34:24it'll stick like shit
34:25to an army blanket.
34:26The fire will be
34:27that intense,
34:28it'll drag oxygen
34:28from wherever it can get it,
34:30so it'll suffocate
34:31wherever's in the building.
34:33The heat would be,
34:34yeah,
34:351,000 degrees.
34:38You're not lasting long.
34:40Awful stuff.
34:49But for all the ferocity
34:52of the American war machine,
34:53and between 2 and 3 million
34:56Vietnamese killed,
34:57little more than a stalemate
34:59was achieved.
35:01After eight years
35:02of draining struggle,
35:04the US withdrew
35:05in 1973.
35:08Yeah, let's be in no doubt,
35:10this isn't a museum
35:12for interesting aircraft.
35:13No, no, no, no.
35:14This is a Vietnamese
35:15trophy cabinet,
35:17because it's not
35:18a point of debate, right?
35:20Vietnam won this war,
35:22simple.
35:24On the 30th of April 1975,
35:27North Vietnam rolled
35:29onto the streets of Saigon,
35:31promptly christened it
35:32Ho Chi Minh City,
35:33and parked their tanks
35:34on the lawn
35:35of the seat of power.
35:37Well,
35:38this is the presidential palace
35:39under new management.
35:42A chaotic American
35:43evacuation ensued
35:44as diplomatic staff
35:46and their collaborators
35:47scrambled to make
35:49the last helicopter out.
35:52In one final symbol
35:54of failure,
35:55retreating Americans
35:56had to push
35:57shoeies off aircraft carriers
35:59to make room
36:00for more evacuees.
36:0850 years after the end
36:10of what the Vietnamese
36:11called the resistance war
36:12against America,
36:14its legacy lives on.
36:16Have another laugh
36:17at it, boy.
36:19Frustrated by all
36:20the hiding places
36:21provided by the forests
36:23and jungles,
36:24during the war,
36:25the Americans had tried
36:26to destroy
36:27the entire ecosystem.
36:29The strategy was called
36:30tactical herbicides,
36:32which really
36:33was just extreme
36:35weed killing.
36:37They used the same
36:38weed killer
36:39as they used to kill
36:40the weeds on the road,
36:41but it was 20 times stronger.
36:44And the land mass
36:45that they covered
36:46was bigger than Wales.
36:49Actually,
36:50it was a British idea.
36:51They used it in Malaya
36:52in the 1950s.
36:53So we're to blame.
36:55Known as Agent Orange
36:57and linked to birth defects
36:59and cancers,
37:00an estimated
37:01three million Vietnamese
37:02are still dealing
37:03with the aftermath
37:04of this toxin.
37:05I'll go a bit behind you, mate.
37:07Get my toes run over, mate.
37:08OK, OK.
37:10People like sun.
37:12I'll take my shoes off, mate.
37:15What do you do?
37:16What's your job?
37:16I'm a teacher.
37:18I teach a mathematics
37:19and a computer
37:21programming.
37:23OK.
37:23Interesting.
37:24We've come here
37:25to find out really
37:25how has Agent Orange
37:28affected you?
37:29Ba mình là tham gia
37:30quân đội.
37:33Thì trong cái quá trình
37:35cái là đang đi hành quân
37:37thì bị một cái
37:37chất lỏng
37:38trừ trên đổ xuống.
37:39Từ máy bay của Mỹ
37:41đổ xuống.
37:42Và sau này
37:43thông qua những cái
37:44xác nhận
37:45cái xét nghiệm
37:47là xác nhận
37:47đã bị chất
37:48ảnh hưởng chất độc da cao.
37:49Và ba đã bị ung thư
37:51và mất vào năm 2006.
37:56Thì cái hậu quả
37:57nó vẫn còn
37:58là do chất độc
37:59quá học
37:59là ảnh hưởng
38:00những đời sau.
38:01Rất bất công.
38:03Là tôi đi không được.
38:05Anh ngồi anh đọc
38:06thì nó chập
38:07anh phải nằm.
38:09Fall down
38:09on my face.
38:12Và được người cha
38:13một cái chiến sĩ
38:15cộng sản
38:16đã truyền cho tôi
38:17cái
38:18đã dạy tôi từ nhỏ
38:19cái ý chí
38:21vượt qua khó khăn.
38:22Which you have done.
38:23Obviously look
38:24you're a mathematician
38:25you're teaching
38:25in schools.
38:26You know what I mean?
38:27That's an amazing achievement.
38:29Thì thực sự
38:29Việt Nam
38:30cũng có câu
38:31đó là
38:31mình phải tự cứu lấy mình.
38:34Yeah we seem to be
38:35taking this
38:35from Vietnamese people
38:36you're hardy people
38:38you get your head down
38:39and you get on.
38:40With a lot
38:41we could learn from you.
38:42There are some
38:43fair play to you mate.
38:44Thank you very much.
38:46Gentle resilience
38:47is found
38:48throughout Vietnam
38:49and nowhere
38:50is it needed more
38:52than the site
38:53of Guy's next visit.
39:07Guy Martin
39:08is exploring
39:09central Vietnam
39:10where the people
39:12are peaceful
39:12and life is quiet.
39:16Xin chào.
39:18How are you getting on?
39:20We're having a panty today.
39:23But 50 years ago
39:25these picturesque
39:26villages
39:27were battlefields.
39:29While most
39:30have become
39:30scenic beauty spots
39:31once again
39:32some are still
39:33a deadly
39:34no man's land.
39:36During the time
39:37of the Vietnam War
39:38five million tons
39:39of bombs were dropped.
39:41About a third of them
39:41still lay in the ground
39:43today
39:43on exploders.
39:45They're as lethal
39:46today
39:47as the day
39:48they were dropped.
39:48So yeah
39:49we need to do
39:49something about it.
39:53The mines advisory group
39:55known as MAG
39:56employs 700 people
39:58to help
39:58clean up Vietnam.
40:02Guy will be helping them
40:04in the most
40:05heavily bombed
40:06place on earth.
40:09100,000 casualties
40:10since the end
40:11of the war
40:12through
40:12like kids
40:13seeing a bit
40:14of shiny metal
40:15grabbing hold of it
40:15kaboom.
40:17Farmer in the field
40:18getting his plough
40:19knotted up in the summit
40:20and saying
40:20cluster bomb.
40:22Yeah so
40:22that's what we're here to see.
40:23This has been going on years.
40:25Quang Tri province
40:27covers 1,800 square miles
40:29and only 11
40:30of its 3,500
40:33villagers
40:34survived the war.
40:49Tanti Lee-Vun
40:50is in charge
40:51of a team
40:52of 13
40:53although today
40:54there will be
40:5614 people
40:56on our bomb squad.
41:17Guys work
41:18will be in the red zone.
41:20This area
41:22contains live
41:23unexploded
41:24ordnance
41:25and is where
41:26small groups
41:27must work
41:28spaced apart.
41:30You can see
41:31if anything
41:33goes wrong
41:34try and minimise
41:36casualties
41:36so that's why
41:37we've got
41:3725 metre
41:38separation
41:38between the
41:39different work
41:39crews.
41:41You see?
41:44Lanes are
41:45carefully marked.
41:46OK.
41:47Nice line.
41:48Straight.
41:50To ensure
41:50every inch
41:51of ground
41:52can be methodically
41:53covered
41:53by metal detectors.
41:56Oh,
41:56what's up there?
41:57The signal
41:58is too small
41:59so we'll
41:59keep moving.
42:00OK.
42:01A fatality
42:02in this province
42:03earlier in the year
42:04means every step
42:05is double checked.
42:07Avoid that.
42:09on average
42:10one bomb
42:11is found
42:12every day.
42:29Yeah,
42:30definitely
42:30something there.
42:31Bloody hell,
42:32that's a big one,
42:33that.
42:33Anything
42:34that triggers
42:34the sensor
42:35is marked.
42:36OK.
42:36So that it
42:38can be excavated
42:38later
42:39by a second
42:40team.
42:44We found
42:45a bit of summits.
42:46Team leader
42:46over there,
42:47she thinks
42:47we're on to
42:48summits.
42:48Dig it up,
42:49see what we've
42:49got.
42:52Only team
42:53leader Tan,
42:54a mother of
42:54two who used
42:55to work in
42:56an office
42:56in Hanoi,
42:57is allowed
42:58to uncover
42:58the object.
43:00It quickly
43:01becomes apparent
43:02that it's
43:03a live
43:03explosive.
43:07Yeah,
43:07what's
43:08what we
43:08found?
43:08A BLU-24B.
43:11They call it
43:11anti-personnel
43:12cluster bomb.
43:13The sole goal
43:14of that
43:14is just
43:14to kill
43:14people.
43:16So there's
43:16one here,
43:16there's one
43:17over there,
43:17I found
43:18one over
43:18there,
43:18sort of
43:19in a
43:19line,
43:19so you'd
43:19written an
43:20American
43:20bomber
43:20has come
43:20overhead
43:21this way
43:21or that
43:22way,
43:2250-odd
43:23year ago,
43:23dumped a load,
43:24and that's
43:24one of these.
43:28389th Squadron
43:29F-4 crews
43:30attack an
43:30enemy village
43:31in the
43:31northwest corner
43:32of Quangtree
43:33province.
43:35The strike
43:35crews attack
43:36the area
43:36with eight
43:37pods of
43:38Type-25
43:38cluster bomb
43:39units with
43:40100%
43:41target coverage.
43:42The only
43:43way to deal
43:44with this
43:44is to have
43:45a controlled
43:46explosion.
43:46So,
43:47fuse in there,
43:48bag it up,
43:48load of sandbags,
43:50kaboom.
44:03Today,
44:04there will
44:04be exploding
44:05two bombs.
44:07While the
44:08detonation cord
44:09is laid out
44:09to a safe
44:10distance of
44:11250 metres
44:12away,
44:16the explosive
44:17charge is
44:18ready,
44:19and the rest
44:20of the team
44:20warn the locals
44:21to clear the
44:22area.
44:25Viettie
44:257.
44:43Tan and
44:44Gai get ready
44:45to flick the
44:45switch.
44:46Chị đã nói
44:47răng thêm
44:48kích điền
44:48ở đây.
44:50Lúc nào
44:50có cái điền
44:51đen ở đây
44:51nó sáng
44:52vàng lên
44:53thì bấm
44:53ở đây
44:54và kích
44:54nụ.
44:54Yes.
44:5910
45:019
45:028
45:047
45:056
45:065
45:084
45:093
45:102
45:121
45:12điệm hoạ
45:13ngay bây giờ.
45:17We weren't
45:18expecting that,
45:19wasn't we?
45:20In that,
45:20that went
45:20with a rattle,
45:21didn't it?
45:24Anyway,
45:24that's two
45:24done.
45:26How many
45:27do you reckon
45:27there is
45:27left?
45:30Hundreds.
45:35That's made a bit
45:36of an hole,
45:36hasn't it?
45:39Yeah, that's
45:41the shell
45:41of the cluster
45:42bomb.
45:43Come on.
45:46After a few
45:47more days' work,
45:48another square
45:49kilometre of land
45:50will be released
45:50back to agriculture.
45:52Come and start
45:53collecting these bags up.
45:54End of your time now.
45:55Come on, make use of me,
45:56send me.
45:56While we're here.
45:58But there are
45:58at least 10 years
46:00of bomb-clearing
46:01ahead
46:02for this province
46:03alone.
46:06Thank you very much
46:07for letting me
46:08get involved.
46:09Yeah, it's been
46:09fascinating.
46:10Thank you very much.
46:11I'll come with you.
46:12Gavin.
46:13Cheers.
46:14Cheers.
46:16Cracking folk.
46:19Couldn't be more
46:20impressed.
46:21So, the next plan,
46:22get further
46:22into the south
46:23and let's see
46:24what we make
46:24a modern-day
46:25Vietnam.
46:27Next time,
46:28Guy will find out
46:29how communist
46:30Vietnam
46:31plans to become
46:32a high-tech
46:33workshop of the world.
46:34If that's a sign
46:35of things to come,
46:36the West is going
46:37to be snookered.
46:54soon,
47:01have to
Comentários