Vietnam – The Aussies Battle at Binh Ba – 1969
In the summer of 1969 Australian army forces saw themselves fighting house to house in an urban setting for the first time. This is the story of Aussies In Vietnam: The Battle at Binh Ba – 1969. The Battle of Binh Ba (6 June 1969 to 8 June 1969) would be fought in the village and nearby hamlets of Duc My and Duc Trung, as well as in the surrounding rubber plantations. Fierce house to house fighting and hand to hand combat, exceptionally led by the top Australian army commanders at the time won the Aussies a decisive victory losing only one soldier. Using archival photos and videos, custom map animations, historical maps, and charts, we explore some of the most amazing and lesser known strategic and tactical missions in history.
The US video on the June 1969 Battle of Binh Ba is well illustrated and mostly accurate. However, like the Australian official accounts, it omits reference to the 33rd NVA Regiment’s intention to ambush the expected Australian relief force as it moved north up Route 2 to Binh Ba from 1 ATF at Nui Dat. According to 33rd Regiment history monographs and interviews, the initial plan was for the “33rd Regiment to conduct an ambush battle on Australian forces lured north from their Núi Đất base – in the area of Route 2 from the Sông Cầu hamlet up to Đức Mỹ hamlet” (ie south of Binh Ba). Several Vietnamese accounts relate however that their planned ambush was not initiated ie: as the Australian relief force was “spread out in groups of two-and-three vehicles and did not fall into the ((33rd NVA)) Regiment’s ambush – so the ((33rd)) Regiment’s tactical headquarters decided not to attack.” … and : “At 6am on 6 June 1969 – just as we had planned, the Australian forces from Núi Đất sent their tanks north to relieve Bình Ba. However, as the enemy was spread out in groups of two-and-three vehicles, and did not fall into the Regiment’s ambush formation, the headquarters of the Regiment decided not to initiate the ambush attack.” And: ““the Australians did not enter our ambush formation as planned.”
During a briefing at the 33rd NVA Regiment’s 50th Anniversary reunion in Hanoi in 2019 , the plan and conduct of the Battle of Bình Ba were depicted on a map – that noted the site of the “un-initiated/”unsprung” Route 2 ambush. The Vietnamese briefer was Hoàng Đình Chiến – purportedly the last-living of the NVA combatants at the Battle.
The US video does not mention involvement of the VC Chau Duc Company that (belatedly) attacked Hoa Long village in concert with the attack on Binh Ba by the 33rd NVA Regiment – nor the involvement of the D440 Local Force Battalion in the fighting at Binh Ba in early June 1969.
The US video on the Battle of Binh Ba claims: “In the summer of 1969, Australian Army forces saw themselves fighting hand-to-hand in an urban setting for the first time.”
This not inaccurate. Australian forces fought the VC D445 Battalion in Baria Town – the Phuoc Tuy provincial capital, at Tet in February 1968. First-hand detailed accounts of that fighting can be found in two excellent articles in Infantry Magazine written by the Australian on-site commander, see: Howard, B.W. Major General AO, MC, ESM (Retd), “The Battle for Ba Ria: 1-2 February 1968”,
Australian Infantry Magazine, Part 1 (October 2011 – April 2012), pp.76-83; and Part 2 (April 2012 – October 2012), pp.72-81, Singleton, 2012. – available on-line. Detailed accounts – including from VC sources, of the fighting in Baria in 1968 are also in Chamberlain, E.P., The Viet Cong D445 Battalion: Their Story, 2011 (73,875 words) and 2016 (348,200 words) – with maps and photographs.
Oops !! Typo !! In my earlier comment above, I should have stated: “The US video on the Battle of Binh Ba claims: ‘In the summer of 1969, Australian Army forces saw themselves fighting hand-to-hand in an urban setting for the first time.’
This is inaccurate. Australian forces fought the VC D445 Battalion in Baria Town – the Phuoc Tuy province capital, at Tet in February 1968.”
However, D445 was late in joining communist forces in their country-wide Tet Offensive and “General Uprising” because – as their D445 history records: “The reason for that was the Chief of Staff of the Province Unit had mislaid the keys to the codes and consequently was unable to decode the combat orders from above. … … The whole D445 Battalion was in readiness and awaiting the order to deploy, but we waited and waited and still received no word. It was past the first day of Tet and approaching the afternoon of the second when we heard a radio broadcast and knew that attacks had begun almost everywhere else.”
The 1 ATF Intelligence Review No.17 of 23 February 1968 reported the total Viet Cong casualties during the Tet attacks on Baria, Van Kiep and Long Dien as :”43 enemy KIA (BC) and 17 possible.”