August 12, 2006

The battle of Long Tan. On August 18th 1966 at 3:40 in the afternoon 11th Platoon, D Company, while patrolling in the rubber plantations around Nui Dat, encountered six Viet Cong who then fled east.

The three platoons of D Company (108 soldiers) was facing a force of 2500 Viet Cong. They would find themselves surrounded on 3 sides, running low on ammunition and with mist and monsoonal rain preventing air strikes. In support, 24 105mm howitzers capable of providing a continuous fire rate of 3 rounds per gun per minute. During the rest of the afternoon over 2600 rounds would be fired into the area, some as close as 25 m to the Australian position, with reinforcements and eventually APCs arriving at dusk. Their arrival also disrupted a flanking move by the Viet Cong, and this marked the end of the battle. Australian troops were withdrawn from Vietnam in 1972, and Australian military involvement in Vietnam was formally concluded in 1973. A commemoration service for Long Tan is planned.

posted by polychrome 18 years ago
  • Slight derail: How come there aren't any movies about Australian troops in Vietnam? Or do they exist and I just haven't seen them? We seem to forget that there were more than US troops there fighting the NVA and Viet Cong.
  • Here's one.
  • Now I want to see both of those.
  • But more interesting are the tales you hear if you go into a RSL club - especially after a morning of drinking on ANZAC Day - and hear the real stories from the people who were there themselves.
  • Returned & Services League of Australia What is ANZAC Day? ANZAC Day - 25 April - is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they soon took in that name endures to this day. /Googlephonic
  • and hear the real stories from the people who were there themselves. I know some guys.
  • For an English class, a couple of the students invited a Vietnam veteran in to talk about his experiences and recollections of the war. A really nice man, and some of his memories you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.
  • Tom Mangold's The Tunnels of Cu Chi discusses how the Austrailian military pioneered the tunnel exploration techniques used in Vietnam. It's a fascinating read.