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To: naturalman1975
... identifying his short hair and bandaged arms as that of a soldier recently returned from Vietnam, spat an insult: "You're a mob of f..king babykillers."
Really? Anti-war whackos, in Australia, in 1966?

About 100 men from D Company, part of the Brisbane-based 6RAR, fought against 1500 North Vietnamese regular troops and Viet Cong guerillas.
From a Long Tan battle webpage the company CO says this ... "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Long Tan was an encounter battle where 108 soldiers of D Coy survived continual frontal assaults mounted by battalions of a reinforced NVA Regiment in the order of some 2500 NVA and VC troops."

So 108 men fought off 2500 NVA?
5 posted on 08/20/2008 6:26:33 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: oh8eleven
So 108 men fought off 2500 NVA?

Yes - with support from both New Zealand and United States artillery, and United States air support also disrupted the rear area of the enemy.

The Battle of Long Tan was an heroic Australian victory against immense odds - but there was a lot of support there.

President Johnson awarded D Company, 6RAR a Presidential Unit Citation.

By virtue of the authority invested in me as the President of the United States and as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I have today awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (Army) for extraordinary heroism to D Company, Sixth Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, The Australian Army.

D Company distinguished itself by extraordinary heroism while engaged in military operations against an opposing armed force in Vietnam on August 18, 1966.

While searching for Viet Cong in a rubber plantation northeast of Ba Ria, Phuoc Tuy, Province, Republic of Vietnam, D Company met and immediately engaged in heavy contact. As the battle developed, it became apparent that the men of D Company were facing a numerically superior force. The platoons of D Company were surrounded and attacked on all sides by an estimated reinforced enemy battalion using automatic weapons, small arms and mortars. Fighting courageously against a well armed and determined foe, the men on D Company maintained their formations in a common perimeter defence and inflicted heavy casualties on the Viet Cong.

The enemy maintained a continuous, intense volume of fire and attacked repeatedly from all directions. Each successive assault was repulsed by the courageous Australians. Heavy rainfall and low ceiling prevented any friendly close air support during the battle. After three hours of savage attacks, having failed to penetrate the Australian lines, the enemy withdrew from the battlefield carrying many dead and wounded, and leaving 245 Viet Cong dead forward of the defence positions of D Company.

The conspicuous courage, intrepidity and indomitable courage of D Company were to the highest tradition of military valour and reflect great credit upon D Company and the Australian Army.

18 posted on 08/21/2008 4:48:14 AM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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