Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Blast from the past. The Battle of Long Tang (Vietnam 1966)

Wikipedia entry on the Battle of Long Tang.



The Situation
A company of Australian Soldiers from Delta Company, 6 Royal Australian Army and Viet Cong/North Vietnamese Army units met in a meeting engagement.

Unit Strength
NVA/Viet Cong forces are estimated to have numbered almost 2500 men versus an Australian force of 108

The Outcome
The Australian Army was hardened bush fighters that were extremely comfortable in the jungle environment.  Additionally they were seasoned in the type of "fighting style" employed by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. Allied forces do not have the same level of comfort in this environment today.  The Aussies carried the day but the warning is clear to all that want to see.  Small units (company sized) are vulnerable to being fixed in place and destroyed.

NOTE:  The video starts slow but then zooms along at a breathless pace.  The radio calls, the call for fires, the description of the battle by the men that were there.  ABSOLUTELY AWESOME VID!  MUST WATCH!

NOTE 1:  I'm really interested to find out how the Australian Army views the decisions of the Battalion Commander in this battle.  

4 comments :

  1. It really is worth a watch. Somebody else put up on YouTube a while back but it was forced off. So watch it while you get the chance. For me it brought home the importance of massed indirect fires; something that seems to be on verge of going out of fashion due to PGM and fears for collateral damage.

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  2. Oh yes! Further to NOTE 1 interesting stuff on the "fog of war". And how even light armour used for transport mostly but firing even the humble .50bmg en masse can be effective; cavalry counts!

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  3. Initially, the RAAF refused to let pilots supply ammo to "D" Coy. The Australian Huey crew wanted to go but the higher-ups refused to do so because they feared that the expensive machines might get shot down. They were only allowed to fly when a nearby American Huey unit overheard the refusal and offered to fly the ammo instead.

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