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1 Xu Ho Chi Minh Trail Note
| Issuer | Trường Sơn (Ho Chi Minh Trail Supply Command) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1965-1968 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Third northern đồng (1959-1978) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | TRƯỜNG SƠN PHIẾU BÁCH HOÁ Số 1 (Translation: Ho Chi Minh Trail. General commodity coupon. 1 Xu.) |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse bearing handwritten Vietnamese inscription in ink, reading 'Đảng cộng sản Đông Dương / Hồ Chủ tịch / muôn năm' (Long live the Indochinese Communist Party / President Hồ). No printed design or security features. |
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| Comments |
Issued by the Trường Sơn Supply Command — the military logistics organization running the Ho Chi Minh Trail network through Laos and Cambodia — these notes functioned as internal scrip for PAVN troops and support personnel operating along the trail. They were never legal tender in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and could not be used in the North. The entire point was to create a closed monetary loop: soldiers could purchase goods at supply stations without carrying DRV currency that, if captured, might reveal unit movements or confirm North Vietnamese presence in nominally neutral territory.
American and South Vietnamese intelligence found these notes valuable as battlefield intelligence precisely because of that geographic specificity.