A History Mystery
Gun emplacement found
I spend a lot of time exploring Vung Tau island, Baria- Vung Tau and its mountains. My wife and I will go to places which rarely see foreigners. Sometimes I will spend years tracking something down (the lost Last Tiger Shrine of Vung Tau took three years). I will ride hundreds of kilometres, study dozen of old photos, read endless logs, scan libraries; what ever is needed to satisfy my urge to know stuff about Vietnam. Sometimes it is hard and tedious work, other times historic stuff just jumps up and smacks me in the face.
This story is such an example.
This story is such an example.
gun emplacement found at the end of the Long Hai Mountains
While riding back from our Tet Holiday on the coast, I was slowing down to turn the sharp corner of the road which snakes around the eastern most point of the Long Hai mountains when I caught a glimpse of something in the shadows of the scrub just metres from the road. I stopped an took a second look. From where I was I could make out some stone work. I didn't have time to stop and explore at that time, so I made a mental note of it.
On Tuesday the 24th February, 2015 my wife and I needed to be at the Minh Dam Secret Zone in the Long Hais. We were adding the final touches to our new Baria Tunnels Tour. This gave me the perfect opportunity to inspect what I had seen a few days previously.
On Tuesday the 24th February, 2015 my wife and I needed to be at the Minh Dam Secret Zone in the Long Hais. We were adding the final touches to our new Baria Tunnels Tour. This gave me the perfect opportunity to inspect what I had seen a few days previously.
About eXploring in Vietnam
The Dry season advantage
To successfully go exploring in Viet Nam only bother in the dry season. The wet season in the tropics encourages rapid jungle growth. Quite literally you can walk passed a huge fort and not see it from just a few metres away! For those of you who have visited beautiful Vung Tau island and then found yourself at the end of Vi Ba road on Big Mountain sitting down having a fruit drink. You would have seen the old French fort to the right of the fruit drink sitting area. How many of you noticed the rest of the fort on the let hand end? If it was the wet season probably no one. My wife and I quite regularly, across three years, took our evening walk along the Vi Ba Road. We would always stop, sit down and have drink. It took me a year to finally notice something in the nearby undergrowth. Only ten metres away was the other half of the French fort and its reservoir! Needless to say it was coming into the dry season when I spotted it.
And when I saw something interesting off the road at the Long Hais it was well into the dry season.
For some reason I did not have my camera with me (that's a mystery) when Sen and I stopped to inspect whatever it was. It turned out to be a C- shaped circular gun emplacement. A thick stone and concrete wall hide just below a ramp of beach sand. The entrance to the emplacement was to the rear (away from the beach) and built into each wall on the left and right side was a small L-shaped underground room. In the centre was a round slab of concrete about a metre across.
There was very little litter in the pit; only dead pine needles from the surrounding scrubby pine trees. It looked like soldiers could have left last week. No graffiti. This structure had been made by professionals. The circular shape was spot on, the wall precisely at right angles, the corners of the cement sharp and neat. I immediately thought of the French. But as I said I forgot my camera on that day.
A few days later as our first Baria Tunnels Tour with passengers from Port Phu My was winding down we visited the beach at Long Hai point.
This time I had my camera. One of my guests and I sprinted back into the sand dunes. We only had a few minutes, but we did have enough time to take a few shots, just for the record.
And when I saw something interesting off the road at the Long Hais it was well into the dry season.
For some reason I did not have my camera with me (that's a mystery) when Sen and I stopped to inspect whatever it was. It turned out to be a C- shaped circular gun emplacement. A thick stone and concrete wall hide just below a ramp of beach sand. The entrance to the emplacement was to the rear (away from the beach) and built into each wall on the left and right side was a small L-shaped underground room. In the centre was a round slab of concrete about a metre across.
There was very little litter in the pit; only dead pine needles from the surrounding scrubby pine trees. It looked like soldiers could have left last week. No graffiti. This structure had been made by professionals. The circular shape was spot on, the wall precisely at right angles, the corners of the cement sharp and neat. I immediately thought of the French. But as I said I forgot my camera on that day.
A few days later as our first Baria Tunnels Tour with passengers from Port Phu My was winding down we visited the beach at Long Hai point.
This time I had my camera. One of my guests and I sprinted back into the sand dunes. We only had a few minutes, but we did have enough time to take a few shots, just for the record.
Even though we only had a few minutes to snap some quick photos, I immediately had doubts about my original hypothesis. Maybe this was not French.
I will run my doubts by you when I get some evidence to upload shortly.
I am planning a ride back to this site tomorrow. I will take my camera, a tape measure and my note book.
I will run my doubts by you when I get some evidence to upload shortly.
I am planning a ride back to this site tomorrow. I will take my camera, a tape measure and my note book.
Google Earth helps Find and plot places
Google Earth is very helpful when researching certain things. However, a successful e-explorer still needs to follow the rule-of-thumb about exploring only in the dry season.
While dry season reveals many secrets, it also brings out the snakes.
No snakes with Google Earth!
While dry season reveals many secrets, it also brings out the snakes.
No snakes with Google Earth!
A clear image of Long Hai Point, which is the very eastern end of the infamous, but so beautiful Long Hai Mountains. It is in this mountain range that you can find the Minh Dam Secret Zone. The Baria Tunnels Tour explores some of the many caves here. So this small area is laden with military history going back 300 years. Where does this emplacement fit into that history?
If there is one emplacement there will be others. There should also be munitions storage facilities. Sen and I will be back in the Minh Dam Secret Zone tomorrow so we might be able to make some time to;
- measure the emplacement
- take more photos, and
- explore for the other facilities which should be in the area.
New info in-basket
This is where I dump new information before I place it into the article. It probably only makes sense to me.
The day after I introduced this site to Jason, he went exploring with his metal detector. He didn't find anything in the emplacements, however he did find a live bullet in the sand dunes which surround the emplacements. F R can be seen clearly on the brass cartridge end. More research needed.