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16-954: The Mụ Giạ Pass (Đèo Mụ Giạ, Quảng Bình) is a mountain pass in the Annamite Range between northern Vietnam and Laos , located 90 km northwest of Đồng Hới , Vietnam. The pass is 418 m above sea level and connects National Road 15 from Tân Ấp in Vietnam to Route 12 in Khammouane Province in Laos. During the Vietnam War the pass was the principal point of entry into the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos. A CIA landscape analysis prepared in February 1966 described Route 15 as threading "its way upstream along

32-497: A continental shelf , a flat piece of land located below sea level, and are created when the ocean level falls, exposing the land. Others develop when river currents carry sediment into the ocean, which is deposited and builds up over time until it forms a coastal plain. The Coastal Plains of India lie on either side of the Deccan Plateau , along the western and eastern coasts of India. They extend for about 6,150 km from

48-540: A combination of subsurface and delayed action bombs over a 5 km section, but the pass was not closed by landslides as had been hoped for. A second B-52 strike took place on 26 April but the damage was repaired within 10 hours and convoys were seen using the pass the next day. A CIA report noted that the "Communists will spare no effort to keep it open". Despite frequent bombing, the United States Air Force and United States Navy were never able to put

64-402: A narrow, steep-sided valley. To the left rise dog-toothed limestone peaks, to the right is a flat-topped plateau. Dense tropical rain forest covers the entire area, almost frustrating aerial observation. The road is carved out of the steep hillside, for in most places there is not enough room for both road and stream in the constricted bottom of the ravine". Due to its difficult geography, the pass

80-555: A portion of Xiangkhoang Province (where the famous Plain of Jars is located) lie east of the divide. Most of Vietnam lies east of the divide, although Vietnam's Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) region lies west of the divide, in the Mekong basin. The mountain range is also referred to variously as the Annamese Range , Annamese Mountains , Annamese Cordillera , Annamite Mountains and Annamite Cordillera . The name "Annam"

96-841: Is located at the northwestern edge of the Triassic Kontum Massif in central Vietnam. Important mountain passes are the Nape Pass and the Mụ Giạ Pass . The Annamite Range runs parallel to the Vietnamese coast, in a gentle curve which divides the basin of the Mekong River from Vietnam's narrow coastal plain along the South China Sea . Most of the crests are on the Laotian side. The eastern slope of

112-517: Is the Vietnamese pronunciation and terminology of Chinese : 安南 ( pinyin : Ān Nán ), meaning "the tranquil south" referring to Vietnam. The French adopted the word and used "Annamese" or "Annamite" to refer to the Vietnamese. The Annamite mountains form an important tropical seasonal forest global ecoregion , the Annamite Range Moist Forests Ecoregion, which consists of two terrestrial ecoregions ,

128-711: The Rann of Kutch in the west to West Bengal in the east. They are broadly divided into the Western Coastal Plains and the Eastern Coastal Plains . The two coastal plains meet at Kanyakumari , the southernmost tip of the Indian mainland. The eastern coastal plain is located between The Bay of Bengal and the eastern Ghats and the western coastal plain is located between the Arabian Sea and

144-880: The Southern Annamites montane rain forests and the Northern Annamites rain forests . The range is home to rare creatures such as the recently discovered Annamite rabbit and the antelope-like saola , the Douc langur , the large gaur , the Chinese pangolin , and formerly the Indochinese tiger . Most of the highlands like the Annamite Range and the Central Highlands were populated by ethnic minorities who were not Vietnamese during

160-539: The Soviet Union to provide similar weapons to the Viet Cong and North Vietnam" per 2003  Congressional Record , Vol. 149, Page  S3405 (March 10, 2003) . Annamite Range The highest points of the range are the 2,819 m (9,249 ft)-high Phou Bia , the 2,720 m (8,920 ft)-high Phu Xai Lai Leng and the 2,598 m (8,524 ft)-high Ngọc Linh (Ngoc Pan). The latter

176-435: The beginning of the 20th century. The demographics were drastically transformed with the colonization of 6 million settlers from 1976 to the 1990s, which led to ethnic Vietnamese Kinh outnumbering the native ethnic groups in the highlands. Coastal plain A coastal plain (also coastal plains , coastal lowland , coastal lowlands ) is an area of flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks

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192-776: The border between a coastal plain and an upland area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States . The Gulf Coastal Plain of North America extends northwards from the Gulf of Mexico along the Lower Mississippi River to the Ohio River , which is a distance of about 981 miles (1,579 km). The Atlantic Coastal Plain runs from the New York Bight to Florida. Coastal plains can form in one of two ways. Some start as

208-501: The pass out of operation for any sustained period of time. The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) also constructed several bypass roads around the pass to the east and west of Route 12 in Laos and later a series of petrol, oil and lubricants (POL) pipelines through the pass. The PAVN progressively built up their air defences around the pass, first installing smaller calibre anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), then larger calibre (100mm) AAA, by 1966 more than 300 AAA sites had been identified around

224-685: The pass. By 1972 SAM-2 missiles covered approaches to the pass, forcing B-52s and gunships to keep their distance reducing the interdiction effort. In 1967, at the request of the United States Department of Defense , the JASON (advisory group) considered the possibility of detonating a tactical nuclear weapon at the Mụ Giạ Pass to halt PAVN transportation on the Ho Chi Minh Trail . The JASON scientists advised against it since "US first-use of tactical nuclear weapons could lead China or

240-407: The range rises steeply from the plain, drained by numerous short rivers. The western slope is more gentle, forming significant plateaus before descending to the banks of the Mekong. The range itself has three main plateaus, from north to south: Phouane Plateau, Nakai Plateau and Bolaven Plateau . Laos lies mostly within the Mekong basin, west of the divide, although most of Houaphan Province and

256-412: Was identified as a choke point, and, as a result, was heavily bombed first as part of Operation Barrel Roll and later as part of Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Commando Hunt . By March 1966, it was estimated that 75% of all truck traffic into Laos went through the pass. On 12 April 1966, 29 B-52s attacked the pass for the first time in the largest bombing mission since World War II , using

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