The Battle of Long Tan: How 100 Australian Soldiers Held Off 2,000 Viet Cong

Alexander Meddings - June 25, 2017

Military history is saturated with underdog stories; a few men staring down certain death at the hands of vastly superior forces yet somehow coming out on top. The Spartans, under Leonidas, earned eternal fame at Thermopylae; Hannibal’s Carthaginians ran rings around the Romans at Cannae; and the English, harnessing the potent power of the longbow, redefined the rules of medieval warfare at Crécy and, later, Agincourt. But there’s another, much more recent story, that ranks in the same league but that remarkably few know about: the Battle of Long Tan.

On August 18, 1966—right in the middle of the Vietnam War—Delta Company of the 6th Royal Australian Regiment faced off against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops in the South Vietnamese rubber plantations of Long Tan. The fighting was intense, made even more so by the appalling rainfall that soaked the bloodied ground throughout the entire afternoon. But in the aftermath of the battle, once the Vietnamese forces had retreated and the fog of battle started to clear, the extent of their achievement became apparent: 18 Australians had lost their lives and 24 had been wounded as opposed to at least 245 Viet Cong dead (some put the figure in excess of 500) and an estimated 350 wounded.

The build-up to the battle was retaliatory rather than long and drawn out. Australian forces had only been in Vietnam since June the same year. And the hilltop base they’d recently established at Nui Dat in the province of Phuoc Tuy—a Viet Cong stronghold—was always going to present an inviting opportunity for Viet Cong insurgents. In the two nights leading up to the battle, a Viet Cong detachment launched 82 mm mortar and 72 mm recoilless rifle attacks against the Australian base, wounding 24 men (one of whom later died). And as they fell away into the forest, the three platoons of D Company, under the leadership of Major Harry Smith, were sent in pursuit of them.

The first shots were fired in the afternoon of at around 15:00, two hours after the 105 Australians entered the rubber plantations of Long Tan. Between six to eight Vietnamese soldiers—dressed unusually in khaki and carrying Russian Kalashnikovs—wandered into the middle of the Australian patrol. Sergeant Bob Buick shot and wounded one, who was rescued by his comrades and dragged off into the nearby vegetation. With its three platoons stretched across a thin line, D Company then continued its advance. But within twenty minutes of the first encounter, at exactly 16:08, machine gunfire erupted across the plantation, killing three Australians and forcing the rest to the ground.

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As the fighting intensified, the Australians of 11th Platoon found themselves pinned down, with machine gunfire whizzing overhead, mortar shells exploding all around them and rifle fire ricocheting from the trees. Realizing the severity of the situation, Platoon Commander Second Lieutenant Gordon Sharp called in artillery support from the New Zealand battery unit at Nui Dat. But because of the torrential rainstorm that had just broken out, wreaking havoc on visibility and turning the plantation underfoot into mire, they couldn’t find the target. Sharp rose from cover in attempt to redirect them but was shot and killed. Taking over command, Buick then radioed for more ammunition before a stray bullet ripped his antenna off.

Buick soon got the radio fixed, and by 16:50 was in contact with Captain Maurice Stanley of the 161^st Artillery, trying to redirect their fire to the approaching Viet Cong assault force. Problematically, though, this force had now advanced to within 50 meters of the Platoon, which was running dangerously low on ammunition and now just had ten of its 28 men in fighting condition. Accepting imminent defeat, and in a remarkable act of self-sacrifice, he ordered artillery strikes on his own position. But Stanley refused, and as all hope looked lost he brought his artillery closer and fired on the forming Viet Cong assault line, inflicting heavy casualties and breaking up the attack.

The artillery attack offered a momentary lifeline, but the 11th Platoon was still isolated and in real danger. It had become separated from 10^th Platoon in the opening stages of the battle, which had intercepted and killed a skirmishing party, also found itself attacked from three sides and its radio destroyed. This prompted Radio Operator Private William Arkell to make the dangerous dash from Company HQ to locate 10th Platoon Commander, Second Lieutenant Bob Kendall and bring him a new radio—a feat that would subsequently earn him a Mention in Dispatches. The restoration of 10^th Platoon’s radio, however, spelled bad news for 11th Platoon, as HQ ordered Kendall and his men to retreat back to base.

Buick and his men in 11th Platoon fought on bravely though. Several times they were encircled and almost destroyed, but effective decisive action taken either by HQ reinforcements or the New Zealander, Australian or American artillery units, kept the men (and their morale) alive. At around 17:30, the 12th Platoon stumbled across a unit of Viet Cong who were trying to outflank the 11th Platoon. The men opened fire immediately, routing the Vietnamese but suffering eight wounds themselves. Fifteen minutes later, seven APCs (armored personnel carriers) were dispatched from Nui Dat to help retrieve Delta Company. It would, however, take over an hour for them to arrive.

During the course of the battle, the monsoon prevented the Australians from identifying how many men they were up against—though after the battle had worn on for 20 minutes, and fire tearing into them from the front and both flanks had killed a third of 11th platoon, it became clear that they were heavily outnumbered. It would also make life more than a little difficult for the two RAAF supply helicopters which, responding to D Company’s call for help, arrived shortly after 18:00. But it didn’t stop them from doing their job. And hovering at tree height and under a barrage of heavy fire from the Vietnamese, they managed to drop much-needed ammunition and blankets to the stranded troops below.

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Three of the APCs, supported by foot soldiers from B Company, would arrive at the 11th Platoon’s position at 18:45, just in time for their contribution to be decisive. The Viet Cong were sending wave after wave of men against the faltering Australian line. And despite the constant bombardment from Australian and allied artillery and the massive casualties being inflicted on the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops, victory never seemed certain for a moment. And then, as what little sun there was retreated behind the threatening storm clouds shrouding the battlefield in darkness, they retreated, handing the Australians an impossible—if no less brutally contested—victory.

It didn’t seem like victory though. In the immediate aftermath, the Australians believed they had suffered a terrible loss with D Company having lost a third of its strength. Carrying out their reconnaissance of the battlefield over the next couple of days, though, they soon realized the battle had decisively been theirs. Outnumbered almost 20 to one they had routed the Viet Cong, stalling their momentum and laying waste to their plans to move against the Nui Dat. That being said, few would have wanted to call Long Tan a success: it proved to be the costliest battle for the Australians during the entire Vietnam War.

Recognition was slow to come for the men of Long Tan. In 1987, Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced that August 18 would be the country’s “Vietnam Day“. But because the country used the Imperial honors system, the number of awards that could be given out were limited (at the time only four men were awarded for their actions, in fact). Adding to the controversy was the fact that, as soon as the battle had finished—at a time of intense emotional and physical fatigue—commander Harry Smith was given under 24 hours to nominate those for decoration. And of the men he recommended to his superiors, many were downgraded, rejected, or the information simply went missing.

It wouldn’t be until March 31, 2010, after over forty years of hard-fought campaigning from the doggedly determined Harry Smith, that the Delta Company of the 6th Royal Australian Regiment was awarded a Unit Citation for Gallantry. But despite the extreme social and political controversy surrounding Vietnam War from every country involved, the men of Long Tan were already being unofficially recognized back home for their unwavering heroism and their steel and determination in the face of almost certain destruction.

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