VIETNAM

VIETNAM / VIỆT NAM

Hàm Rồng Bridge over the Mã River, reconstructed.
Stamp issued on 17.05.1964.
Face value: 12 Vietnamese xu.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Print: 1,500,000 copies.
Size: 57 x 25 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 318.
- Scott No. 308.
- StampWorld No. 318.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 315.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 376.

The Hàm Rồng Bridge (Vietnamese: Cầu Hàm Rồng), spanning the Mã river, is situated 4.0 km (3 mi) northeast of Thanh Hóa city. Originally built by the French in 1904, during the colonial era in Vietnam, it was sabotaged by the Viet Minh in 1945. From 1957, the Vietnamese started rebuilding it and completed in 1964. In 1965 during the Vietnam War, it was the objective of many attacks by US Air Force and US Navy aircraft which would fail to destroy the bridge until 1972, even after hundreds of attacks. The bridge was restored in 1973. The final bridge was 160 m (540 ft) long, 17 m (56 ft) wide, and about 15 m (50 ft) above the river. The bridge consists of two spans of steel girders, in the middle there is a railway track, on both sides there is a car track and a pedestrian sidewalk.