BATTLE OF LONG TAN - VIETNAM

Australians and New Zealanders fought this battle. Great to see the SLR and the SMG's in thier prime.
Very informative film on their odds against the Vietcong.

Battle of Long Tan Documentary - Sam Worthington - Vietnam War - YouTube

I heard lots about that battle honor when I went to Australia in '77. Was lodged with 8/9 RAR and met some vets. Their JRC bartender was a vet from Kapyong...interesting crew.

This was very much the hot topic in my time too. It was said to be the real baptism of fire and what brought the reality of the reality of what the VC were capable of

Brought this a few months ago and have been slowly going through it gives a very vivid account of the whole engagement from the first person from the chaps that were there.
There was some fierce debates about the path the APC's were to take in the rescue mission and when they did cross the flooded river they had mere inches of free board lest they be swamped, the artillery crews were amazing in their pin point ranging as the fire was directed right ontop of our men.
The chopper pilots were awesome without the resupply of ammo it was a cetainty none of them I reckon would have got out of there alive.

That fire fight will go down as one of the greatest moments in our military history against vastly superior odds alongside what Hal Moore did at La Drang get a copy of this book and read it it will not dissapoint you.

Thanks for that Gil a great documentary

They will never grow old and we will never forget them....................

As usual H/c 1st Ed this ones signed by the Lt Col.

Started looking at it. . Clearly a docu whatever but some of the names and places are so nostalgic. Nui Dat and BaRia are names that will NEVER be washed away and not really recognisable now that it's a barren landscape instead of the 5hithole that it was. The elephant grass they talk of that was like barbed, thick pineapple leaves that would shred your JG's and D445....... I see Malaya gets a good mention too but there, the CT's didn't have the NVA to call on.. I'll sit down this evening with a glass of scotch. A BIG glass. Who'd have thought 50 years ago that 50 years hence we'd sit and smile. Some very nice things said about the Nashos too. Don't forget that the first Battalions, in '66 under US Command were not at Puc Thuy, but based just North of SGN, at Tan Son Nut ., And the fxxxxxx rain.............

It is said that the Nashos and Regulars were exactly the same....., yes, they were in theory. But but when it came to Christmas duties and other chores like that, it was always the Nashos that got lumbered first, followed by the single blokes. But the 'pads' always invited them 'home' for Sunday lunch if they lived close.

Thought it would provoke some feedback when I posted it as it was "my time" too and I followed their exploits closely as we were at Seletar which was the stop off point for the Kiwi's and the Aussies, and when the Brits pulled out in 66 the Kiwis took it over. We moved up to Pulada the JWS after that where ironically I went back to in 73.
Great camp and fabulous for R&R, must always stick to the party line however, that "No SAS were used in that war"!!!!

God bless em all, when you see how many lads died for that shithole of a hillock!!!;)

I'm sure they live it over and over every night.

VERY poignant. Needed a couple of glasses of fine Scotch Also the nick names that everyone had......Dusty Jake, Bluey Grey, Sandy Sam and the Long Tan casualty who survived overnight in the VC lines, 'Custard' Yeller. And that fxxxxxx monsoon rain that wasn't exaggerated in the film either. I'd heard about the avenue of trees in Brisbane too. All the Battalions had a big hit at some time..... Chicom mines usually.

Thank you Gil

Staying with the official line of No SAS in NVN this is another good read about our boys with some pics of them in country and weapons used the VC feared our lads greatly as they apeared out of no where and then melted away back into the jungle in the book it details patrols that were mere feet from the enemy observing them whom remained unaware our SAS were that close to them.
I have had the priveledge to tour the Swanbourne Campbell barracks and at the Cannington military fair spoken to Mick Malone (The Author) on more than one occaision he is a great guy also had the honour to work alongside a few of them that served in the regiment great chaps the lot of them, the book has a very good pic of Mick after a very harrowing patrol in NVN.

This ones H/C 1st Ed signed by a couple of the SAS guys I also have the soft cover which is the more common book which is signed by Mick and 4 other members of the regiment, but as Gil said the official party line was they were never there.....;)

It has ALWAYS peed me off when the Commonwealth Governments led by Westminster's viewpoint, never called these engagements wars or battles officially.
I can recount loads of wars and battles that should have been recognised as such by our Governments, and visa vee, the major gallantry awards were declined because of this one fact.

My viewpoint was always, if we were not supposed to be there, or not involved.......then don't send us. Some battles like Mirbat/Plaman Mapu and of course many engagements fought by the Aussies and the Kiwis, were never recognised, albeit the odds against them being overrun by a major force was overwhelming!!......................tragedy, and decisions made by men who have never seen an angry man, and sleep soundly in their beds as highly trained men do their bidding across the world!

Long Tan artillery. Notice the lovely old 105mm pack howitzer (we called them Pak-Hows) in the short trail howitzer position and the strange LBM set-up. A VERY mobile and light bit of kit and well respected replacement for the 25 Pounder. We had both in Malaya and the Kiwi gunners used to rotate through 14 light Reg RA, a composite RNZA, RA and RAA support Artillery Reg. The OC was usually a Kiwi and blokes from the Battalions would spend a week or so with them learning the intricacies of (and problems with.....) calling in artillery support. Not so simple in the monsoons if the radios are drenched!

Gil is dead right about some of the 'wars'. I was lead to believe that once something became a 'war' then the politics - and economics - changed and....... and......... That's when the accountants start running the show

The 105 pack howitzers are nice guns. A mate has a good ex RNZA example that gets a good bit of use (air shows, Anzac day, etc) and our local war memorial also has a tidy one. The local RSA has a good operational 25 Pounder that gets fired at least once a year. Another mate did two tours with 161 battery in Vietnam but too late for Long Tan. He was involved in the Firebase Coral stoush and a few other scraps.

Not trying to hijack the thread but going on what Peter says about accountants highjacking the war effort it is well known the debacle Britian and commonwealth forces suffered an appalling lack of all types of artillery shells in the early stages of the WWI whilst the enemy had plenty to throw at us.