Long Tan – Australia’s Vietnam Story
The Battle of Long Tan, fought on August 18, 1966, was a significant engagement during the Vietnam War, involving the Australian Army. It occurred in a rubber plantation near Long Tan, South Vietnam, and pitted 108 soldiers of Delta Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR), against a vastly superior force of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops, estimated at 2,000 to 2,500.
The battle began when Delta Company was ambushed while patrolling the plantation. Despite being outnumbered and surrounded, the Australians held their ground, relying on artillery support and their discipline. The weather added to the chaos, as torrential rain reduced visibility and made communication difficult.
The Australians suffered 18 dead and 24 wounded but managed to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy, with over 245 Viet Cong bodies found in the aftermath. The victory at Long Tan became a defining moment for Australia in the Vietnam War, symbolizing the bravery and resilience of its soldiers.
The battle is commemorated annually in Australia on Vietnam Veterans Day, serving as a reminder of the sacrifices made by those who served in the conflict and the harsh realities of war.
Readers will have noted several errors in this 22-minute video. In particular, five times the narrator refers to the enemy force at the Battle of Long Tân as: “NVA”, “North Vietnamese troops/forces”. However, the principal enemy force elements were the 275th VC Main Force Regiment and the D445 VC Local Force Battalion. Data on the strength and composition of the 275th VC Regiment at the Battle can be determine from the detailed notebook of the 275th VC Regiment quartermaster (“Đào Thanh Xuân” ) – a document captured in early February 1968 by 2RAR/NZ (ANZAC) during Operation Coburg, but only recently translated and analysed. The notebook’s entries can probably be regarded as far more “factual” than accounts in published in post-War Vietnamese histories – such as those of the 5th VC Division (2005), the 275th VC Main Force Regiment (2015), and the D445 Local Force Battalion (1991 and 2004). The QM’s notebook records his detailed strength-reckoning of the Regiment on 20 August (ie two days after the Long Tân battle). This list totalled “852” – ie 159 less than the Regiment’s strength figure of 1,011 that he had recorded on 9 August. On D445 VC Battalion’s strength, the biannual reports of its commanding officer (Bùi Quang Chánh) and its political officer (Đỗ Văn Liên) – dated July and early August 1966 respectively, show that Battalion’s strength as “403” and “392”. Of course, any enemy KIA or WIA figures for the Long Tân battle would also have to include probably quite small numbers from HQ 5th VC Division elements, the HQ Bà Rịa-Long Khánh-Biên Hòa Province Unit, the Võ Thị Sáu Civil Labour Company, C.12-65 Bình Giã Assault Youth Unit, the “Surgery Element”, reconnaissance elements (5th VC Division; and C.982), and possibly a Z39 artillery element. The seemingly macabre and petty “accounting” related above is perhaps not particularly relevant to the main story of that fierce Battle in August 1966. On claims of “North Vietnamese” at the Battle – while the enemy force at Long Tân was almost solely “Viet Cong”, the 3rd Battalion/275th VC Main Force Regiment was originally the D605 NVA Battalion (of the Bắc Sơn Regiment) and infiltrated into the South in late 1965 (about 2,000km/112 days) – and was incorporated into the 275th VC Regiment in April 1966 following the 275th Regiment’s earlier heavy losses in attacks on Vỏ Đắt. and Vỏ Su posts in Bình Tuy Province.
In summary, I have assessed the VC troop strength at The Battle of Long Tân as numbering about 1,750 – and believe that 210 were killed on the battlefield.
Detail is included in Chamberlain, E.P., The Viet Cong 275th Regiment , 2022 (220,500 words); and The Viet Cong D445 Battalion, Their Story and the Battle of Long Tân, 2016 (348,200 words) – and in several multi-page Research Notes.
THat last comment is so true in that the enemy force was 275 Regt an VC elements,plus the amount of enemy dead has blown out over the years as i was there and helped strip an count the enemy dead and in my opinion there were about 150 max of enemy ,and was surprised at the amount of ammo they were carrying,plus its only when the American choppers said that they would go did the Aust decided to do so