The Military Workshop
1st Lieutenant
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2005
- Messages
- 4,778
Some Aussie military history which may be of interest.
18 August is commemorated as Vietnam Veteran’s Day in Australia as that is the date of the most well known Australian engagement during the Vietnam War.
On 18 August 1966 D Company of 6 Royal Australian Regiment was patrolling in the area of the Long Tan rubber plantation when, at about 3.15pm, the lead platoon encountered a small group of Viet Cong who fled leaving one of their number killed by the Australians. The aggressive patrolling continued until, at about 4.08pm, the main body of the Viet Cong 275 Regiment was encountered. The Viet Cong attacked vigorously with mortars, rifle and machine gun fire. One platoon was nearly wiped out.
D Coy was nearly overrun but a combination of :
a) their fighting ability and discipline
b) Huey ammo drop in monsoon rain
c) Artillery support called in on their positions
d) Reinforcements of infantry arriving in APC’s
saved the day.
Morning revealed that the Viet Cong force, estimated at 2,500, had been badly mauled. 245 Viet Cong bodies were found in the battle area. It was apparent that the Viet Cong commanders had failed to appreciate the effectiveness of artillery fire and had paid dearly as a result.
The Australians had lost 18 killed, 17 from D Company and one from 1st APC Squadron, and 24 wounded.
The story is being made into a Movie to be directed by Bruce Beresford and should be out in 2008.
For those interested see the following links :
www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/harry/harry.htm Company Commanders story
www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/dcoy/dcoy.htm Platoon Sgt’s story with a link to his web page.
For those who want to Google further they will find even now some Long Tan vets are campaigning to gets medals upgraded as due to a quota system many did not get the medals they deserved for such an engagement.
Regards
Brett
PS The last VC's awarded to Australians were four to members of the Australian Training Team Vietnam who worked with the US Special Forces and who mainly worked with tribesmen they had trainied.
18 August is commemorated as Vietnam Veteran’s Day in Australia as that is the date of the most well known Australian engagement during the Vietnam War.
On 18 August 1966 D Company of 6 Royal Australian Regiment was patrolling in the area of the Long Tan rubber plantation when, at about 3.15pm, the lead platoon encountered a small group of Viet Cong who fled leaving one of their number killed by the Australians. The aggressive patrolling continued until, at about 4.08pm, the main body of the Viet Cong 275 Regiment was encountered. The Viet Cong attacked vigorously with mortars, rifle and machine gun fire. One platoon was nearly wiped out.
D Coy was nearly overrun but a combination of :
a) their fighting ability and discipline
b) Huey ammo drop in monsoon rain
c) Artillery support called in on their positions
d) Reinforcements of infantry arriving in APC’s
saved the day.
Morning revealed that the Viet Cong force, estimated at 2,500, had been badly mauled. 245 Viet Cong bodies were found in the battle area. It was apparent that the Viet Cong commanders had failed to appreciate the effectiveness of artillery fire and had paid dearly as a result.
The Australians had lost 18 killed, 17 from D Company and one from 1st APC Squadron, and 24 wounded.
The story is being made into a Movie to be directed by Bruce Beresford and should be out in 2008.
For those interested see the following links :
www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/harry/harry.htm Company Commanders story
www.hotkey.net.au/~marshalle/dcoy/dcoy.htm Platoon Sgt’s story with a link to his web page.
For those who want to Google further they will find even now some Long Tan vets are campaigning to gets medals upgraded as due to a quota system many did not get the medals they deserved for such an engagement.
Regards
Brett
PS The last VC's awarded to Australians were four to members of the Australian Training Team Vietnam who worked with the US Special Forces and who mainly worked with tribesmen they had trainied.
