TL;DR
- Thanh Hóa Bridge was the open beta map — the most played and most documented map at launch.
- The bridge is the central chokepoint but not the only crossing. Use the river instead.
- Two mountainous peaks flank the bridge and dominate the surrounding approaches.
- Patrol boats on the Nam Ma River are essential — this is one of the most water-centric maps.
- NVA: use jungle trails and tunnels to flank from unexpected angles. Avoid the bridge head-on.
- US: helicopter insertions to the far bank bypass the bridge fight entirely.
- Trainyards and villages are the best Garrison locations on the map.
- Snipers from the mountain peaks control long-range sightlines. Counter them or avoid exposure.
- Do not rush the bridge. Flanking through the jungle and riverbanks works better every time.
Hell Let Loose Vietnam Thanh Hoa Bridge is the map that most players saw first. Hell Let Loose: Vietnam used Thanh Hóa Bridge as the sole map for its open beta from May 29 to June 1, 2026, giving hundreds of thousands of players their first experience of the game’s new mechanics. More players have fought on this map than any other in the launch lineup. That means experienced players arrive on Thanh Hóa Bridge with strong habits — some good, some bad. This guide covers everything you need to know about the map, how to play it on both sides, and what separates the players who win from the ones who feed kills at the bridge all match.
Historical Background: The Dragon’s Jaw
Thanh Hóa Bridge — also known as the Dragon’s Jaw or Hàm Rồng — was one of the most important and most heavily defended structures in North Vietnam during the war. It crosses the Nam Ma River and served as a critical supply and infrastructure link for North Vietnamese forces. US aerial strikes under Operation Rolling Thunder repeatedly targeted it between 1965 and 1968, and repeatedly failed to destroy it. The bridge was shielded by two mountainous peaks on either side that provided ideal anti-aircraft positions, and NVA defensive fortifications made every American approach costly.
The bridge was finally destroyed in 1972 by US forces using precision-guided laser bombs. In the game, the same geography that made the real bridge so hard to crack shapes the tactical reality of the map — the mountains dominate, the river creates crossing challenges, and the bridge is a fought-over focal point that neither side should treat as the only answer.
Map Overview: Terrain and Key Areas
Thanh Hóa Bridge is a river-crossing map built around the Nam Ma River and the iconic bridge spanning it. The terrain around it creates multiple distinct combat zones that players need to understand before committing to any route.
The Bridge Itself
The bridge is the most obvious crossing and the most dangerous one. Both sides know it is the focal point and both sides will watch it. A direct assault across the bridge without coordination, smoke, or suppression is almost always fatal. The Game Director described it as a natural focal point rather than a conventional bottleneck — tanks, helicopters, boats, and infantry can all influence the crossing simultaneously, and the surrounding terrain prevents the battle from collapsing into one narrow lane.
The bridge is worth fighting for. Whoever controls it controls the fastest infantry route across the river. But winning the map does not require controlling it constantly, and many winning pushes happen through river and jungle routes while both sides are distracted by the bridge fight.
The Two Mountain Peaks
The two mountainous peaks flanking the bridge are the single most important terrain feature on the map for long-range play. They dominated the real bridge’s defences and they dominate the in-game map for the same reason: elevated positions on either peak have line of sight over the bridge approaches, the river crossings, and large sections of the surrounding jungle.
Snipers on the peaks can pin down infantry attempting to cross or move through the lower ground. Mortars placed on or near the peaks have excellent arc over the map’s centre. And the peaks provide covering positions for the NVA that mirror the historical anti-aircraft emplacements that protected the real bridge from US air raids.
Controlling at least one peak gives your team a significant advantage over the crossing fight below. Leaving both peaks to the enemy means crossing under fire from above.
The River and Secondary Crossings
The Nam Ma River runs across the map and cannot be ignored. There are crossing points beyond the main bridge — the river can be swum or forded at sections, and patrol boats can move troops along the waterway to positions on the far bank that the bridge fight never reaches.
Secondary river crossings are consistently where flanking moves succeed on Thanh Hóa Bridge. A squad that crosses away from the bridge, moves through the riverbank jungle, and appears behind the enemy position defending the bridge can collapse a defence that was holding solid against a frontal assault.
Villages and Trainyards
Villages and trainyards are scattered around the map and provide the best Garrison and Outpost placement opportunities. These structures offer cover for spawn points that are close enough to the front to be useful without being so exposed that a single enemy push can eliminate them.
The trainyards in particular create dense cover with multiple entry and exit points — good for close-quarters fighting and for setting up defensive positions that are difficult to clear without committing a whole squad. Villages offer similar benefits with slightly more open approaches.
Any squad that secures a trainyard or village section early and gets a Garrison down inside it creates a durable spawn anchor that the rest of the team benefits from for the rest of the match.
Jungle Riverbanks
The jungle along both banks of the Nam Ma River is dense enough to conceal infantry movement and NVA tunnel placement. This is where the map opens up from a pure bottleneck into something more fluid. Squads that move through the riverbank jungle rather than across the bridge have concealment, ambush opportunities, and access to the secondary crossings that the enemy often forgets to watch.
The riverbank jungle is also where patrol boats are most useful as mobile spawn points — a boat anchored in the river foliage on the far bank can spawn infantry in positions the enemy has no Garrisons or Outposts covering.
How to Win as US Armed Forces on Thanh Hóa Bridge
Use Helicopter Insertions to Cross the River
The Huey helicopter changes what is possible for US forces on this map completely. Instead of fighting to cross at the bridge or fording the river under fire, a helicopter can insert an entire squad directly onto objectives on the far bank in seconds. This bypasses the bridge chokepoint entirely and puts US troops in positions the NVA is not defending because they assumed the crossing would come at the bridge.
Vary your landing zones every insertion. NVA players who see the same helicopter approach the same zone twice will be ready with RPGs on the third run. A skilled US pilot who uses different approaches each time, suppresses the landing zone before committing, and avoids hovering too long creates an aerial threat the NVA cannot reliably counter just by watching one area.
Coordinate helicopter insertions with a ground push at the bridge simultaneously. Splitting the NVA defensive attention between an aerial insertion and a ground crossing makes both more likely to succeed than either would alone.
Use the Bridge to Fix the Enemy, Not as Your Only Route
The bridge draws NVA attention and defensive resources. That is actually useful for the US side — if the NVA are focused on the bridge, they have fewer resources watching the secondary crossings and river flanks.
Use a portion of your infantry to apply pressure at the bridge. Not necessarily to cross it, but to keep the NVA defending it. Then use the helicopter or river crossings to make the actual advance on the far bank. The bridge pressure creates the conditions for the flanking move to succeed.
Contest the Mountain Peaks Early
Get a squad onto at least one peak as early as possible. The sightlines from elevation over the bridge and river crossings are decisive. A sniper and a machine gunner on a peak make every NVA crossing attempt on the near bank significantly harder. A mortar team positioned near a peak can cover the bridge and secondary crossings with indirect fire.
The US side’s longer-range weapons — the M16A1, M14, and M60 — work better from elevated positions than at close quarters. Use the high ground to leverage the US weapon advantage.
Establish Garrisons in the Trainyards and Villages
Garrison placement in the trainyards and village structures on the far bank is the foundation of a successful US push. A Garrison inside a trainyard structure provides a durable spawn that the NVA cannot eliminate with a single mortar strike and that puts US players back into the fight seconds after dying.
The Support role carrying supply crates is critical on this map. The river crossing limits how quickly the US side can move supplies on foot — helicopter supply drops are often the fastest way to get Garrison construction resources to a Squad Leader who has made it across.
How to Win as NVA on Thanh Hóa Bridge
Use Jungle Trails and Tunnels to Flank
Playing Thanh Hóa Bridge as the NVA is about using the jungle and tunnel network to attack the US side from directions they are not watching. The historical NVA advantage on the real bridge came from the terrain and fortifications — in the game, it comes from tunnels and jungle concealment.
Attacking as the NVA offers an unusually wide range of approach angles. Jungle trails and tunnels can be used to coordinate pushes from the flanks or rear simultaneously, while US forces tend to concentrate their defence at the bridge and the obvious crossing points. A three-pronged approach — one squad at the bridge to fix attention, one through the riverbank jungle, and one emerging from a tunnel position — consistently breaks US defensive lines that are holding against a single axis of attack.
Build Tunnels Behind US Positions
The NVA’s tunnel advantage is most powerful when tunnels appear where the US team is not defending. Get an Engineer across the river early — through the riverbank jungle, swimming, or emerging from a patrol boat — and build a tunnel entrance on the far bank before the US side has settled their defensive line.
A tunnel inside a trainyard or village on what the US considers their side of the river creates a spawn point that feeds NVA soldiers directly into the US rear. It disrupts Garrison construction, kills supply runs, and forces the US side to turn around and fight a threat from behind rather than holding a clean forward defence.
As always, build tunnels three tiers deep — a primary tunnel close to the active sector, a secondary tunnel further back, and a tertiary near the river crossing — so that losing the front tunnel does not wipe out NVA spawn presence on the map.
Hold the Mountain Peaks
The peaks were the NVA’s strategic anchor on the real bridge, and they serve the same purpose in the game. NVA snipers from the peaks control sightlines over the bridge and river crossings. NVA machine gunners on the peaks suppress US troops attempting to move along the lower ground toward the crossing.
The NVA’s better jungle camouflage is less relevant on open peak positions, so rely on cover from the rock formations and fortifications rather than vegetation concealment at altitude. But the height advantage is worth it — the peaks are the best defensive position on the map and holding them makes every US crossing harder.
Counter US Helicopters Aggressively
On Thanh Hóa Bridge, US helicopters threaten to bypass the entire ground battle with aerial insertions. The NVA Grenadier with an RPG is the most important role on this map for countering that threat. Position Grenadiers near likely landing zones and along the helicopter’s approach routes on the far bank.
Timing matters. The helicopter is most vulnerable on approach and while hovering for an insertion. Use tunnels to place RPG teams in positions near the far bank landing zones — emerging from a tunnel near an expected helicopter landing zone, firing the RPG during the approach, and retreating back underground is exactly the kind of ambush the tunnel network enables and US forces cannot easily predict.
The NVA Commander’s surface-to-air missile strike can force US helicopters to altitude, reducing their effectiveness at close-range insertions even when it does not destroy them outright. Use it when the US side is making aggressive aerial pushes.
Use Patrol Boats on Both Banks
The Nam Ma River is not just an obstacle — it is a route. NVA patrol boats can move squads along the river to crossing points and supply positions that infantry on foot cannot reach as quickly. Ambushing US patrol boats in narrow river bends, combined with an Engineer placing a tunnel on the opposite bank, creates the kind of crossfire the US cannot counter with helicopters operating under dense jungle canopy.
General Tips for Both Factions
Do not rush the bridge head-on. The most common mistake on Thanh Hóa Bridge is treating the crossing as the only objective and charging across it without coordination. The bridge is a killing ground for players who run across it alone. Flanking through the riverbank jungle and secondary crossings consistently works better.
Watch the river, not just the bridge. Both sides tend to focus on the bridge and let the river go unwatched. A patrol boat that slips through unseen can deliver a full squad to a surprise crossing point in thirty seconds. Keep at least one player watching the water.
Communicate mountain peak positions. When either side takes a peak position, call it out immediately. An enemy sniper on the peak above the bridge is pinning down crossing attempts that every squad needs to make. It is worth committing a squad specifically to clearing a peak that is locking down the whole team’s movement.
Use the trainyards for everything. Garrisons, Outposts, cover during firefights, ambush positions, Medic revive points — the trainyard structures are the most versatile terrain on the map. Control them and you control the tempo of the crossing fight on your side of the river.
Recon squads belong on the peaks. A Spotter and Sniper pair on either mountain peak marks targets for the rest of the team and eliminates high-value enemy positions. The peaks have the best sightlines on the map. If your team has a Recon squad, direct them there.
For the full breakdown of all six launch maps and how each one plays, see our Hell Let Loose Vietnam All Maps Guide. If you are new to the game and want to understand how roles, garrisons, and squad coordination work before deploying into Thanh Hóa Bridge, start with our Hell Let Loose Vietnam Beginners Guide. For the NVA vs US faction breakdown including weapon loadouts and commander abilities, read our Hell Let Loose Vietnam US vs NVA guide. And for anyone flying the Huey on this map, our Hell Let Loose Vietnam Destroy Helicopters guide covers every NVA counter tactic you will face from the ground.
