Battle of Long Tan

Establishing a base of operations near the South Vietnamese village of Nui Dat, between April and June of 1966, the 1st Australian Task Force or 1 ATF moved all the inhabitants of Long Phuroc and Long Hai into resettlement camps well away from their base, establishing a free-fire zone for the protection of locals and Australian military personnel alike.

Viet Cong Mobilization

By mid-August of that same year, Australian intelligence confirmed that the Viet Cong or VC 275th Regiment and the People’s Army of Vietnam or PAVN D445th Battalion had taken up positions north of Long Tan, closing to within a mile of Nui Dat on August 17th, before opening fire on the Australian’s base with conventional artillery and mortar fire.

Flushing out a VC Retreat

While the enemies’ position remained outside the range of 1 ATF artillery positions at Nui Dat, a second advanced artillery unit quickly silenced the enemy’s fire. On the morning of August 18th, a patrol was sent out to locate enemy firing positions and to establish the direction of the VC’s retreat, eventually locating weapons pits and mortar positions before coming under fire by an unexpectedly robust VC fighting force.

Overwhelming Numbers

Quickly assessing the enemy’s numerical advantage, combat leaders called in artillery support, enduring heavy fighting as the VC attempted to decimate the now surrounded men of the Royal Australian Regiment D Company. Fighting not only an overwhelming enemy force, but darkness, rain and mud, the desperate men of 1 ATF eventually received a resupply drop by two UH-1B Iroquois from the 9th Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force, followed by ground reinforcements from Nui Dat later that night, which pushed the VC into an all-out retreat. By sunrise the next day, Australian forces had pulled back to establish a defensive perimeter at Long Tan, evacuating casualties as they assessed their unexpected survival.

The High Price of War

Australian losses stood at 18 killed-in-action with an additional 24 wounded, while postwar VC and PAVN sources point to 50 killed-in-action for the North Vietnamese with another 100 wounded. While 1 ATF initially considered the Battle of Long Tan a resounding defeat for Australian forces, the action was later deemed a strategic victory, since the battle managed to repel the VC’s planned assault on Nui Dat, making the Battle of Long Tan, yet another harrowing event during the Vietnam War.