Battle of long tan casualties

D Company was on a company patrol named "Operation Vendetta" that remained in place until approximately hours 18 August

The defining battle of the Vietnam war is now the subject of the film Danger Close. Harry Smith recalls the afternoon that changed his life. There was so much blood. In the days after the three savage hours that was the battle of Long Tan, his soldiers were finding body parts, carnage and corpses spread across the battlefield. Long Tan had been a battle fought against almost impossible odds. A ferocious battle, a defining action of the Vietnam war.

Battle of long tan casualties

The battle of Long Tan was fought on 18 August During the battle, 17 Australians were killed and a further 25 were wounded, one of whom later died of wounds. This was the highest number of Australian casualties incurred in any one engagement of the Vietnam War. The losses on the Vietnamese side were at least dead, an estimated wounded, and three captured. The battle of Long Tan was Australia's most costly battle in Vietnam. In the years immediately following the battle of Long Tan, the main focus of Australian task force operations gradually shifted to the more remote regions of Phuoc Tuy province and beyond. Few Australians visited the site of the battle in the Long Tan rubber plantation, although it lay less than five kilometres from the task force base at Nui Dat. Erected in memory of the 18 young men who died in one of the most intense and dramatic actions of the Vietnam War, the cross has been adopted by veterans to symbolise all Australians who died or were wounded in that conflict. This epic battle reinforced traits for which Australian soldiers have become world renowned: courage and determination, mateship and teamwork, leadership and tenacity, compassion and humour," said Major General Jeffery on the 40th anniversary of the battle of Long Tan. On 18th August a large force of Viet Cong advancing through a rain-swept rubber plantation encountered infantrymen from D Company, 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. Standing their ground against impossible odds, the Australians prevailed, killing at least enemy, but losing 18 of their comrades in action. Left behind on the chaotic battlefield the next morning was a considerable quantity of enemy equipment — personal belongings, items of clothing, and a large number of weapons. This online exhibition focuses on the popular song, I was only 19 , which gives a first-person account of an Australian soldier's experience of the Vietnam War.

Frustrated by the delay, Mollison demanded Roberts continue the advance, and an argument broke out between the two. Main article: Order of battle for the Battle of Long Tan. Facing a larger force, D Company called in artillery support.

Australian soldiers fought in scores of fierce actions during the war in Vietnam. Few were as intense or dramatic as the actionin the Long Tan rubber plantation on 18 August An isolated infantry company of men, cut off and outnumbered by at least ten to one, withstood massed Viet Cong attacks for three hours. They suffered the heaviest Australian casualties in a single engagement in Vietnam, but prevailed against the odds. Their valiant stand became a defining action of the war. In the early hours of 17 August, the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat was shaken without warning by enemy mortar and recoilless rifle fire.

Pipers flank the men who fought in the battle of Long Tan during the dedication ceremony. Erected in memory of the 18 young men who died in one of the most intense and dramatic actions of the Vietnam War, the cross has been adopted by veterans to symbolise all Australians who died or were wounded in that conflict. At its recent unveiling, the men who fought in the now famous battle of Long Tan joined with those who built the cross and placed it on the battle site, to reflect on its significance. An isolated infantry company of men withstood massed Viet Cong attacks for three hours in torrential rain in a rubber plantation near the small village of Long Tan. They were outnumbered by at least ten to one, and they might have been overrun, but for a timely ammunition resupply, accurate artillery fire from the nearby Australian base at Nui Dat, and the arrival of reinforcements by armoured personnel carrier But victory came at a high cost: 17 Australians were killed and 25 were wounded, one of whom later died of his wounds. After the battle, the bodies of enemy soldiers were found. There was evidence that many more bodies had been carried away. There were bodies and bits of bodies everywhere. It was a terrible sight, and it lingers in my mind. As the war raged on and the focus of Australian task force operations shifted to other areas, few Australians visited the site of the battle.

Battle of long tan casualties

The Battle of Long Tan in a rubber plantation in South Vietnam in could have been an Australian military disaster, but is instead remembered as a decisive victory. They had taken over from B Company in pursuit of enemy forces which a day earlier had attacked the Australian operations base at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province. About 3. The Australian soldiers continued their advance, the three platoons of D Company - designated 10,11 and 12 - taking up positions around the rubber plantation. Just after 4. As torrential rain began to pour, artillery support was called in from Nui Dat as it became clear the Australians were facing forces better equipped and more numerous than expected. Later intelligence showed they were facing a combined force of the Viet Cong th Regiment and the local D Provincial Mobile Battalion - between 1, and 2, soldiers. A radio operator braved enemy fire to restore communications and 10 Platoon was ordered to withdraw under cover of artillery fire. Meanwhile, Vietnamese forces had advanced on 11 Platoon in a bid to negate the artillery support.

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Vietnam: The Australian War. Over the following five years, aggressive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army forces periodically threatened the peace and stability within the province and forced the task force to retaliate. The enemy were well equipped and were almost certainly prepared for a major assault on the base rather than a contact out in the field. A Coy had been in three small contacts, killing 2 VC and capturing one. Stewart, Cameron 5—6 August The battle ended and the monsoonal storm abated, as suddenly as both began. Their visibility was reduced to nil, so the aircraft dropped their ordnance to the north east. With the area clear following the initial contact, Smith ordered D Company to continue the advance. As Jackson's aide he was aware of the intelligence being received and believed D Company had clashed with a main force regiment. Until then Remember Them. Light was fading, as was the Coy's ammunition supply. A very close thing indeed. While direction finding indicated the movement of the radio, no actual communications had been intercepted. Estimates of enemy strengths operating in the area varied from -

The battle of Long Tan was fought on 18 August During the battle, 17 Australians were killed and a further 25 were wounded, one of whom later died of wounds. This was the highest number of Australian casualties incurred in any one engagement of the Vietnam War.

Brigadier O. Relations between the Army and RAAF over the use of the helicopters had become increasingly bitter in the preceding months, and were still tenuous despite recent improvements. Seventeen Australian soldiers had been killed and 25 wounded; one died nine days later. While the size of the VC force was unknown, the Australians could not discount the possibility it was part of a larger force preparing to move against Nui Dat. A small, wiry, compact man, there is still something indomitable about him. Light was fading, as was the Coy's ammunition supply. Soldiers went to ground there and withstood repeated enemy attacks, including massed human-wave assaults. Many of the Australians were disappointed at the prospect of missing the entertainment, and as they patrolled east they occasionally heard the music through the trees. Due to the likely presence of a sizeable force nearby the Australians remained cautious as they searched for the Viet Cong. Handling the dead and wounded proved a slow process but with the casualties finally loaded onto the carriers D Company left at , while B and A Companies departed on foot 45 minutes later.