The Battle of Long Tan

by David W. Cameron

  The ongoing shellfire had devastated the front and flanking attacks of the Viet Cong and a momentary lull had developed, with the enemy seemingly deciding on its next course of action. It was now or never. He yelled for the men to ‘Go!’4 A number heard him yell ‘Every man for himself!’ The enemy saw the platoon headquarters get up and head for the rear and they immediately opened up with a heavy burst of fire. Radio operator Private Vic Grice, a 21-year-old storeman from Ballarat, was killed, while Private Barry Meller was wounded a second time. He recalled: ‘There was Bob Buick, Vic Grice and myself. Vic Grice was in front of me and he got shot, and I said to someone, “What happened to Vic?” and I don’t know who it was said, “He’s dead.” About 10 or 20 metres after that I got shot in the leg and went down. I took off my pack and threw my rifle away because it was out of ammunition.’5 Private John Beere recalled that Buick ran over to help him with the wounded Private McCormack6, who soon died. Both then made their way back towards CHQ’s position.7

  Minutes earlier, Private Ron Eglinton, who had been manning the machine gun and protecting the extreme right of the platoon, was heading back into the platoon area. Private Allen May saw him ‘coming back from the right flank and I could see him coming towards me and there was one hell of an explosion and a shell hit, and I said to Bluey Moore, “Ron’s gone” and as far as I was concerned poor old Ron was dead . . . The next thing I knew was Bob Buick in his guttural voice yelling out “Every man for himself”. I didn’t get any warning about moving but it could have been delayed getting to me.’8 Eglinton was very much alive, and recalled hearing the yell from Buick to clear out.

  Private John Heslewood of 5 Section, on Buick’s right, recalled: ‘I didn’t hear the order passed along by Bob Buick about getting ready to withdraw, and none of the others near me heard it either. The first we knew was when Bob Buick yelled out, “Every man for himself” and the others got up and went and we were left there, just the five of us.’9 Among them was Lance Corporal Barry Magnussen, who recalled hearing the ‘loud voice of the platoon sergeant, Bob Buick, yelling out “Every man for himself!” I looked behind me to see him taking off to the left. The rest of us could not leave as we were still pinned down by heavy fire. Some little time later, we had a better chance to return fire.’10 Even so, some enemy troops got up in front of the small group; it was then that Private Ian ‘Darby’ Munro ‘dispatched them. We could hear a whistle blow from time to time, seemed they were coming again . . . they were. Darby knocked them over again . . . John Heslewood and Allen May [were] still alive and . . . on the job. Allen had an Armalite but John had an SLR and he gave me half of his 8 rounds.’11

  The wounded Corporal John Robbins on the left, one of only two survivors from 6 Section, remembered hearing Buick yell ‘We’re gonna get out of here!’ and saw him ‘pissing off . . . and I thought, Fuck, I’m going to have to do it this side . . . I thought This is it, we’re gonna have to make a run for it, so he took off and I yelled out to anyone else around, I thought I was the only one alive . . . I had my backpack on . . . I ran the way he [Buick] went, and I went to ground.’12 The already-wounded corporal was hit in the hand by shrapnel and losing a lot of blood. It was more painful than the wound to his arm; he thought he had lost his hand and was too scared to look at it. He soon came across a 20-year-old regular soldier from Thurgoona, NSW, Private Ernie Grant, who had also managed to escape. Grant asked the corporal, ‘Are you hit?’ and he replied, ‘Yeah.’ Grant then said, ‘I’ll get rid of your backpack,’ and was taking the backpack off when he was killed instantly by a shot through the head. Before he could react, Robbins saw a number of Viet Cong so he took off, zigzagging, and made his way into a shallow gully.13 He took a breather but soon saw the yellow smoke thrown by Sabben’s platoon and quickly went in that direction. He was relieved to find himself surrounded by the Australians of 12 Platoon and was soon being seen to by the medic, Private Graeme Davis. Robbins asked for some morphine; there wasn’t any. Davis was starting to bandage Robbins’ wounds when the medic was shot in the shoulder. Sabben recalled that ‘Doc’ Davis was hit in the upper arm with a tracer lodged in his chest while he was attending Robbins.14

  Meanwhile, Heslewood and his mates made a break for it to the rear. Another two men were wounded in the withdrawal, one for the second time. They hit the ground for cover and to check on their wounded mates. Heslewood recalled that they probably made about 30 or 40 metres at a time, and when they heard the fire starting to build up, would go to ground again. They sought cover from the shattered trees and branches and then, after getting their breath back, would all get up and run another 30 or 40 metres. That went on for 300 or 400 metres.15 With Heslewood was Private Brian Halls, who remembered: ‘Once [we] got that initial break we got up and ran. Then we’d hear a burst of fire – didn’t matter where it was coming from – and we’d hit the ground and slide! about 10 yards. It was raining, with very red mud . . . we were gaining ground every time we went down.’16 Heslewood and his small party did not see the yellow smoke and missed seeing Sabben’s platoon altogether – they got up and continued their withdrawal with their wounded mates. In the confusion, Heslewood lost contact with his party. At some point he dived behind a tree with Private Frank Carne and a few others. They reckoned they must be less than 100 metres from CHQ and soon heard Australians calling out to them, so they took off in that general direction.17

  Magnussen had also become separated from 4 and 5 sections after they had made their break and came across the wounded Private Meller. Meller recalled how the lance corporal dragged him for a fair way on his back, but Meller knew this was getting them nowhere and told Magnussen to let him go, arguing with him to go on ahead and saying that he (Meller) would make his own way back or hide in the debris of battle. It was the only sensible thing to do, as his pain was unbearable with every step. The enemy was also closing in and both would surely be killed. Magnussen reluctantly put him down and headed for where he hoped CHQ was. Within minutes Meller spotted six or eight Viet Cong moving back through the area he had just come through. Then to his horror he looked up and saw a Viet Cong standing over him with a grenade in his hand – but no rifle. He didn’t know what to do so screamed at him ‘to piss off’. That did the trick – the enemy soldier did just that and headed back the way he had come. Meller crawled for a small way, coming across a dead enemy soldier. He pulled the soldier’s gear apart and found a groundsheet, took it and looked around for a place to settle in for the night.18

  Earlier, Sergeant Buick was heading towards where he hoped CHQ was located when he collided with Private Ron Crane of his platoon and together they went down into the mud and slid for a short distance. Both noticed the yellow smoke and made contact with Lieutenant Sabben’s 12 Platoon. Buick later recalled that he could hardly believe his eyes – he had found D Company.19 Private Alan Parr of 12 Platoon recalled that the first person he saw come in from 11 Platoon was Buick, who had a ‘stunned look on his face – I’ll never forget it. Little did I realise at the time we all would have looked the same. I saw a few more of the boys come into our position but by this time we had started to take a few casualties.’20 Close by was Corporal Laurie Drinkwater, who had thrown the smoke grenade. He recalled that they were still pinned down but soon saw some men from 11 Platoon making their way to their position. He and others were calling out to them and he thought the first in was Buick, but very few came in after him.21 Private Stan Hodder of 12 Platoon also recalled few from 11 Platoon making their way to their position: he could remember seeing only ‘Bob Buick and a couple of others . . . when they came to us Bob Buick was the only one I can remember as he came into platoon headquarters.’22 Corporal Kevin Miller recalled how ‘Bob Buick lobbed himself right next to me’ and a few others arrived. One asked if he had ‘any ammunition, so I threw one of the blokes a magazine, as they were out of ammo, some of them’.23

  Another who made his way to Sabben’s platoon was Eglinton, who recalled making it back to 12 Platoon’s ar
ea with some relief and seeing Robbins, who had been wounded twice.24 Buick recalled that by this time around six men from 11 Platoon had made their way to Sabben’s position.25 Sabben recollected some shouts and waves as they made their way to him in ones and twos.26

  Buick remembered that the first person he saw from 12 Platoon was the recently engaged Private Paul Large, who was taking cover behind a tree trying to unjam his Armalite rifle. Then Buick came across Sergeant James ‘Paddy’ Todd, who gave him a cigarette. Buick recounted that Todd appeared to be wounded as he could not move his feet; even so, he was relatively calm as they lay there sharing a smoke. Buick made the comment as they smoked in the downpour with bullets cracking over their heads: ‘Paddy, you’re getting too bloody old for this shit!’27 Todd, a veteran, had been wounded in Korea and was now in a rubber plantation in Vietnam wounded in both ankles. Sabben recalled that his sergeant had been in a prone position when a 60mm or RPG round came screaming through the trees and landed between his ankles, burying itself in the mud before exploding. Todd recalled that when it exploded he felt like both his legs had been hit with a baseball bat. He couldn’t find any wounds, but shrapnel fragments had buried themselves in his ankles. He couldn’t see the puncture marks in his boots and the pain soon went away – he counted himself lucky.28 Buick checked him over but could find no wounds or signs of blood.

  Buick soon moved off to speak to Sabben, and Todd tried to get up but ‘fell arse over tit . . . I got up to go again and fell over again.’ He fell into the deep mist among the branches that covered the ground. ‘I tried again to stand and couldn’t, so I started to crawl back [towards CHQ] and the rain really came down.29 When asked later why he didn’t call for help, Todd told Buick that he ‘didn’t want to be a burden on the others so he decided to make his own way back’.30

  Meanwhile, Private John Heslewood and his small party, who had not seen the yellow smoke, had come across CHQ instead. The first person they saw, to their great relief, was Sergeant Major Jack Kirby. ‘All I could see was him and he said, “Are you all right, soldier? You’re not wounded?” I said, “No, sir, I’m all right.” He said, “Right” and pointed us somewhere to the back, saying to go down there and he’d bring us some ammunition. And sure enough he turned up with some ammunition and said, “That’s your area out there – just watch out there from now on.”’31 Indeed, Heslewood would recall how ‘Big’ Jack Kirby’s frame kept coming back into his mind – he seemed to be everywhere.32 They weren’t the only ones who had not seen Sabben’s smoke and had made their way directly to CHQ. Magnussen, after a lot of ‘falling over in the mud and slush . . . saw the large figure of Jack Kirby standing in front of Company HQ. Looking for his charges, I suppose – a great sight! Maybe I had made it to safety. Harry Smith came over to me for a report. I told him I knew who had been killed.’33

  Privates Allen May and Doug Fabian had also failed to see the smoke and would eventually come straight into CHQ’s position. As May withdrew he was hit in the back, but luckily the bullet hit his entrenching tool; even though he was thrown to the ground by the impact, he was unhurt. He got up and took off his backpack and webbing, keeping his rifle as he had about four rounds left, and moved off again. It was then that he heard his mate Fabian yelling out that he was hit. His reaction was ‘Shit, should I leave him?’ He and Fabian were good mates, and there was no way he was going to leave him behind, so he was turning to head back for him when he saw Fabian running towards him. As far as they were concerned they were the only survivors of 11 Platoon – no one else could be seen or heard. As Fabian came along, they spotted a rubber tree that had been blown apart and decided to hide in the branches until daylight.34

  The two sections of 12 Platoon, with Buick, Crane, Robbins, Eglinton and a few others from 11 Platoon, quickly re-formed. Sabben had earlier been ordered to withdraw to CHQ, but the fire was still pretty intense, as recalled by Drinkwater: ‘I think the radio was out at the time, and we didn’t have communication with company headquarters. I remember looking at the platoon commander and yelling out, “Do you think there’s any chance of getting out of this?” and he said, “I don’t think so”, which really made my old stomach turn over.’35 At this point, Sabben ordered Miller to try to make his way back to CHQ, leading the survivors of 11 Platoon towards Smith’s position. Sabben asked Buick to organise the retirement of the wounded: Todd as he begun to crawl back towards CHQ saw Buick grab the wounded medic Davis and help him get back to CHQ with the others.36

  Just as the last of 12 Platoon were getting ready to head back to CHQ after the wounded and survivors of 11 Platoon had moved out, Sabben and those around him were surprised to see another large enemy force just south of their position, coming up behind the rubber tapper’s hut. No sooner had ‘we got up than someone said, “Hey, look at that”, and we all sat down again. On the far side of the hut was line on line of enemy in the rubber trees. They were forming up, one to each tree, and a few minutes later they came up, about three ranks, about 50 in each. They couldn’t have known we were there – they were just standing there waiting for the whistle to blow.’37 Sabben ordered the team from his remaining M60 to sight their weapon down the avenue of rubber trees. If they had been aware of his presence, Sabben believed the Australians would have been mistaken for Viet Cong given their dark, wet uniforms, floppy hats and basic webbing – similar to what most of the enemy were wearing.

  A few minutes later, the Viet Cong moved out in three ranks of about 20 each. In less than a minute, their slow, steady pace had them passing Sabben’s platoon at less than 50 metres. He waited for the first rank to pass through the gun sights and then ordered his men to open fire on the second and third ranks. The enfilade of M60 and small-arms fire devastated these lines of troops; both ranks simply collapsed in a heap. The startled first rank then turned and ran back the way they had come, which meant they raced straight into the two fire-lanes that had torn through their comrades. Few made it. For a few minutes, surviving elements of the enemy force fired into Sabben’s position; this resulted in additional casualties to his two sections, which had originally numbered 20. He was down to 14 rifles.38

  There was a momentary lull in the firing; it appeared the enemy were forming up to attack Sabben’s position. That being said, Hodder recalled that while it had died down, it was all relative – it dropped from ‘10 000 bullets per second to about 5000. I’ve never ever seen or heard anything like it in my life, it went on for three and a half hours – it was full on. I don’t know where they got all the bloody rounds from.’39 It was time to get out while they still could.

  Sabben ordered those remaining to head back to CHQ; Miller’s 8 Section would remain as the rearguard while the others cleared out. The young lieutenant and Private Tom Newall thought they were the last to leave. Sabben checked to make sure none of the wounded had been left behind and waited another minute or so to make sure no others from 11 Platoon were still heading their way, then headed back towards CHQ. They had five weapons to carry back between them; one was a seized-up M60. Sabben decided not to carry this back and put a round into the trigger housing and another into the gas regulator to make sure it was useless. He looked around again to make sure there was no one left behind and made his way back towards CHQ without having another shot.40

  However, still there, unknown to Sabben, was Hodder, part of the platoon headquarters section. Hodder recalled: ‘I looked around and they were all gone. [I] saw Sabben and followed him and quickly overtook him.’41

  Meanwhile, back at 11 Platoon’s original position, the wounded Private Jim Richmond of 6 Section had been drifting in and out of consciousness as he lay helpless among his dead mates. He felt the air being sucked in and out of the wound in his back every time he breathed. He tried to keep awake, but the pain was terrible. There was no way he could get a dressing onto it, so he rolled over into the mud on his left side, hoping that the mud would dry out the wound and help stop the bleeding.42 All around him enemy troops were moving for
ward. He’d placed the live hand grenade nearby, the only thing stopping it from detonating being the flimsy elastic band wrapped around the mechanism.

  Back at Nui Dat, Townsend and his staff were preparing to board the two APCs sent back by Roberts, commanded by Lieutenant Savage. Nearby, army chaplain Les Thompson and medical officer Captain Vic Bampton decided that they should go with the CO to offer assistance to the men of D Company. The chaplain approached Townsend, who denied the request. Because of the heavy rain and darkness, the wounded would likely be brought back to the battalion lines, and Thompson and Bampton would be needed there when they came in. Thompson went back and told Bampton, and they stood there chewing their fingernails.43

  22

  ‘Well, let’s go – because it’s no good staying here’

  1800–1820 hours

  The two RAAF helicopters from 9 Squadron captained by flight lieutenants Frank Riley and Cliff Dohle were now approaching the battle zone. Bob Grandin recounted that ‘the rain was heavy, visibility was very, very poor, we could not quite pick out our position. When we slowed down and did this we realised we’d gone past the position, to just past Long Tan [village], so we turned around and came back at about 20 to 30 knots, above the trees, as we had to get up for visibility. We were in rain, we identified the rubber plantation, and moved slightly to the south, as we were over the position given as the enemy’s.’1 Grandin also remembered drawing himself back into the armour-plated seat trying to be a smaller target.2 Coming in low at treetop level with the bulk of the ammunition were Dohle and Flight Lieutenant Bruce Lane. Lane glimpsed something through the pouring rain: leaping out of the brush below was a ‘dark moving mass, a big bird, animal or human – unknown, but enough to frighten him as they swept over it’.3