BEATING THE ODDS

On the late afternoon of Aug. 18, 1966, Australian Maj. Harry Smith and the men in his Delta Company faced a vastly superior force of 2,500 heavily armed Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops at an abandoned rubber plantation near Long Tan, a village about 40 miles southeast of Saigon. Against all odds the Australians held out for more than three hours until reinforcements arrived. The 108 men of D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, fought for their lives in pouring rain as ammunition dwindled, casualties mounted and the enemy massed for a final assault. There seemed to be no way the Aussies could survive the onslaught.

The Battle of Long Tan was the most important engagement of Australia’s involvement in Vietnam, which began in July and August 1962 when 30 military advisers from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam arrived to work with the American contingent of military advisers assisting South Vietnam’s armed forces in their fight with the NVA and Viet Cong. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked nations across the globe to join the U.S. military effort to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. Australia and New Zealand were among the countries that sent a substantial combat force.

A total of 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1973, with a peak strength of 7,672 in 1969. These troops included ground, air force and naval personnel. By the time Australia’s troops were removed from