6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Australian Army commanders’ diaries (Vietnam) (AWM 95 7/6/4), 1–31 July 1966.
6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Australian Army commanders’ diaries (Vietnam) (AWM 95 7/6/5), 1–31 August 1966.
ATF After Action Report, Operation Smithfield (AWM 181 1), December 1966.
Bishop letter to father (AWM PR91/18), 18 October 1966.
Headquarters, 1 Australian Task Force Commanding Officer After Action Report Operation Smithfield (AWM 95 1/4/26), 1–31 January 1967.
Headquarters, 1 Australian Task Force Duty Officer’s log (AWM 95 1/4/7), 1–31 August 1966.
Headquarters, 1 Australian Task Force Narrative Duty Officer’s log, Part 1 & 2 (AWM 95 1/4/6), 1–31 August 1966.
Interview transcript, tapes 17 & 18 with Brigadier O.D. Jackson (AWM 107), 9 March 1973.
OFFICIAL HISTORIES
Coulthard-Clark, C. (1995) The RAAF in Vietnam: Australian Air Involvement in the Vietnam War 1962–1975. The Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Dennis, P. & Grey, J. (1996) Emergency and Confrontation: Australian Military Operations in Malaya and Borneo 1950–1966, The Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Edwards, P. (1997) A Nation at War: Politics, Society and Diplomacy During the Vietnam War 1965–1975, The Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
McNeill, I. (1993) To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966. The Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
O’Keefe, B. (1994) Medicine at War: Medical Aspects of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1950–1972. The Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Pribbenow, M.L. (trans.) (2002) Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People’s Army of Vietnam, 1954–1975, Military History Institute of Vietnam, University Press Kansas.
UNIT HISTORIES
Anderson, P. (2002) When the Scorpion Stings: The History of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Vietnam, 1965–1972, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Avery, B. (2001) Our Secret War: The 4th Battalion the Royal Australian Regiment: Defending Malaysia Against Indonesian Confrontation, 1965–1967, Slouch Hat Publications, Victoria.
Blaxland, J. (1998) Signals Swift and Sure: A History of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals 1947–1972, Royal Australian Corps of Signals Committee, Canberra.
Burke, A. (2005) 105th Battery: Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery: A Concise History, A. Burke, Queensland.
Chamberlain, E. (2011) The Viet Cong D445 Battalion: Their Story (English translation, with significant assessments/comments in footnoting), E. Chamberlain, Victoria.
Chamberlain, E. (2015) The Viet Cong D445 Battalion: Their Story (And the Battle of Long Tan (map edition of ibid.), E. Chamberlain, Victoria.
Dinh, P.Q. (2005) History of the 5th Infantry Division, People’s Army Publication House, Hanoi.
Greville, P.J. (2002) The Royal Australian Engineers 1945 to 1972: Paving the Way, Vol. 4, Corps Committee of the Royal Australian Engineers, Sydney.
Horner, D.M. & Bou, J. (2008) Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
McAulay, L. (1991) The Fighting First: Combat Operations in Vietnam 1968–69 – the First Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
O’Neill, R.J. (1968) Vietnam Task: The 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Cassell, Melbourne.
BOOKS/BOOK CHAPTERS
Barclay, G. (1988) A Very Small Insurance Policy: The Politics of Australian Involvement in Vietnam, 1954–1967, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
Bergerud, E. (1996) Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific, Viking, New York.
Blaxland, J. (2008) ‘Consolidation and reorganisation: Australia 1950–65’, in Horner, D.M. & Bou, J. (eds) Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 105–23.
Breen, B. (1988) First to Fight: Australian Diggers, NZ Kiwis and US Paratroopers in Vietnam, 1965–66, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Breen, B. (2008) ‘The build-up: Vietnam, 1965–67’, in Horner, D.M. & Bou, J. (eds) Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 171–95.
Buick, B. & McKay, G. (2000) ‘All guts and no glory’: The Story of a Long Tan Warrior, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Burstall, T. (1986) The Soldiers’ Story: The Battle at Xa Long Tan Vietnam, 18 August 1966, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
Burstall, T. (1990) A Soldier Returns: A Long Tan Veteran Discovers the Other Side of Vietnam, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.
Buttigieg, P. (1992) ‘Phil Buttigieg, Lance Corporal, 6RAR, Long Tan, 1966’, in McKay, G. (ed.) Vietnam Fragments: An Oral History of Australia’s War, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 99–103.
Caulfield, M. (2007) The Vietnam Year: From the Jungle to the Australian Suburbs, Hachette Australia, Sydney.
Dapin, M. (2014) The Nashos’ War: Australia’s National Servicemen and Vietnam, Viking, Melbourne.
Davies, B. (2012) Vietnam: The Complete Story of the Australian War, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Edwards, P. (1992) ‘Some reflections on the Australian government’s commitment to the Vietnam War’, in Grey, J. & Doyle, J. (eds.) Vietnam: War, Myth & Memory, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 1–13.
Edwards, P. (2014) Australia and the Vietnam War, Australian War Memorial, Canberra & New South Books, Sydney.
Fall, B.B. (1966) Viet-Nam Witness 1953–66, Frederick A. Praeger, New York.
Fall, B.B. (2002) Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu, Da Capo Press, New York.
Frost, F. (1987) Australia’s War in Vietnam, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Giap, V.N. (1994) Dien Bien Phu, Gioi Publishers, Hanoi.
Grandin, B. (2004) The Battle of Long Tan: As Told by the Commanders, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Grey, J. & Doyle, J. (1992) Vietnam: War, Myth & Memory, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Ham, P. (2007) Vietnam: The Australian War, HarperCollins, Sydney.
Healy, J. (2008) ‘A nine-battalion regiment: Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, 1965–73’, in Horner, D.M. & Bou, J. (eds) Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 149–69.
Horner, D.M. (1989) SAS: Phantoms of the Jungle – A History of the Australian Special Air Service, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Horner, D.M. (1995) The Gunners: A History of Australian Artillery, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Horner, D.M. (2000) Defence Supremo: Frederick Shedden and the Making of Australian Defence Policy, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Horner, D.M. (2005) Strategic Command: General Sir John Wilton and Australia’s Asian Wars, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Horner, D.M. (2008) ‘Confrontation: Malaysia and Borneo, 1960–66’, in Horner, D.M. & Bou, J. (eds) Duty First: A History of the Royal Australian Regiment, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, pp. 124–48.
Horner, D.M. (2009) In Action with the SAS, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Kolko, G. (1985) Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience, Phoenix Press, London.
Krenpinevich, A.F. (1986) The Army and Vietnam, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Lamensdorf, J.D. (2006) Write Home for Me: A Red Cross Woman in Vietnam, Random House Australia, Sydney.
McAulay, L.F. (1986) The Battle of Long Tan: The Legend of Anzac Upheld, Hutchinson, Melbourne.
McAulay, L.F. (2005) Blue Lanyard, Red Banner: The Capture of a Vietcong Headquarters by 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Operation CRIMP 8–14 January 1966, Banner Books, Queensland.
McFarlane, B. (2000) We Band of Brothers: A True Australian Adve
nture Story, B.W. McFarlane, New South Wales.
McGibbon, I. (2010) New Zealand’s Vietnam War: A History of Combat, Commitment and Controversy, Exisle Publishing, Auckland.
McKay, G. (1992) Vietnam Fragments: An Oral History of Australians at War, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Mangold, T. & Penycate, J. (1985) The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Remarkable Story of War, Guild Publishing, London.
Mollison, C. (2006) Long Tan and Beyond: Alpha Company 6 RAR in Vietnam 1966–67, Cobbs Crossing Publications, Queensland.
Newman, S.D. (1988) Vietnam Gunners: 161 Battery RNZA, South Vietnam, 1965–71, Moana Press, New Zealand.
Nguyen, Lien-Hang (2012) Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam, University of North Carolina Press.
Odgers, G. (1974) Mission Vietnam: Royal Australian Air Force Operations 1964–1972, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
‘Origins of the insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960’ (1971), in The Pentagon Papers (Senator Gravel edition), Beacon Press, Boston, Vol. 1, pp. 242–69.
Palazzo, A. (2001) The Australian Army: A History of Its Organization 1901–2001, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Palazzo, A. (2009) Australian Military Operations in Vietnam, Australian Army Campaign Series No. 3 (2nd edn), Australian Army History Unit, Canberra.
Parr, A. (2006) Memories of Vietnam, Murray Tucker, Victoria.
Picken, B. (2006) Viet Nam Diggers’ Language: Abbreviations, Acronyms, Terms and Jargon of the Viet Nam War, Australian Military History Publications, Loftus.
Picken, B. (2012) Fire Support Bases Vietnam: Australian and Allied Fire Support Base Locations and Main Support Units, Big Sky Publishing, Sydney.
Pike, D. (1966) Viet Cong: The Organization and Techniques of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Pound, G. (2008) What Soldiers Do: An Australian Artilleryman in Vietnam, Australian Military History Press, Loftus.
Race, J. (1972) War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict in a Vietnamese Province, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Sabben, D. (2005) Through Enemy Eyes, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. [Author’s note: This is historical fiction – not used as a reference, but well researched and a very good read.]
Schulzinger, R.D. (1997) A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam 1941–1975, Oxford University Press, New York.
Sexton, M. (2002) War for the Asking: How Australia Invited Itself to Vietnam, New Holland, Sydney.
Smith, A.H. (2008) Gunners in Borneo: Artillery During Indonesian Confrontation 1962–1966, Australian Artillery Historical Company, Manly.
Smith, A.H. (2011) Do Unto Others: Counter Bombardment in Australia’s Military Campaigns, Big Sky Publishing, Sydney.
Smith, H. (2015) Long Tan: The Start of a Lifelong Battle, Big Sky Publishing, Sydney.
Smith, N.C. (1999) Nothing Short of War: With the Australian Army in Borneo 1962–66, Citadel Press, Victoria.
Steinbrook, G.L. (1995) Allies and Mates: An American Soldier with the Australians and New Zealanders in Vietnam, 1966–67, University of Nebraska Press.
Thomson, J. & MacGregor, S. (2011) Tunnel Rats: The Larrikin Aussie Legends who Discovered the Vietcong’s Secret Weapon, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Threlfall, A. (2014) Jungle Warriors: From Tobruk to Kokoda and Beyond – How the Australian Army Became the World’s Most Deadly Jungle Fighting Force, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Truong, N.T. (1985) A Vietcong Memoir, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York.
Watt, A. (1968) Vietnam: An Australian Analysis, F.W. Cheshire, Melbourne.
Windrow, M. (2004) The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London.
JOURNALS/NEWSPAPERS/MISCELLANEOUS
Blaxland, J. (2012) ‘Listening to the enemy: signals intelligence played a key role in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 57, pp. 30–35.
Burgess, P. (1966) ‘6th Battalion in baptism of fire’, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 August, p. 4.
David Sabben’s Home Page (includes an excellent ‘Animated Long Tan PowerPoint presentation’). www.sabben.com/, accessed 3 November 2015.
Ekins, A. (2003) ‘Death due to friendly fire: the life and death of WO Jack Kirby’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 21, pp. 36–9.
Ekins, A. (2011) ‘A very close thing indeed’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 55, pp. 35–8.
Ekins, A. (2011) ‘Unique memorial: the Long Tan Cross’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 55, pp. 39–41.
Ekins, A. (2011) ‘Unravelling the riddles of Long Tan’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 55, pp. 42–47.
Hannigan, R.R. (1968) A Record of the Battle of Long Tan from Task Force HQ log: US Presidential Citation for a Rifle Company.
‘Missing Presumed Dead – A Casualty of the Vietnam War – A gunner lost in the system for 41 years. Gunner Philip Charles Norris, 103 Field Battery RAA, 1st Field Regiment RAA. WIA 17 August 1966, died 3 August 2012’ www.103fieldbatteryraa.net/missing_presumed_dead/missing_presumed_dead.html, accessed 3 November 2015.
Smith, H. (n.d.) The Battle of Long Tan, South Vietnam: 18 August 1966, Biography Lieutenant Colonel Harry Smith, MC, SGbattleoflongtan.reddunefilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Long-Tan-Harry-Smith-Biography.pdf
Smith, H. (n.d.) The Story Behind the Battle of Long Tan, Radschool Association Magazine (RAAF) 39.
Smith, H. (2006) ‘Eyewitness: Long Tan “No time for fear”’, Wartime: Official Magazine of the Australian War Memorial, Issue 35, pp. 10–16.
CONFERENCE PAPER
Chamberlain, E. (2014), The Enemy, and Intelligence in Phuoc Tuy Province: Successes and Failures, Phillip Island, National Vietnam Veterans’ Museum (NVVM), unpublished transcript, 12 April 2014.
INQUIRIES
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (2008) Review of Recognition of Battle of Long Tan.
Pearce, D. (2009) Australian Government Defence Honours and Awards Tribunal, Inquiry into Unresolved Recognition Issues for the Battle of Long Tan.
About the Author
David W. Cameron received his PhD in biological anthropology in 1995 at the Australian National University and is a former Australian Research Council QEII Fellow at the Department of Anatomy & Histology, University of Sydney. He has conducted fieldwork in Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He is the author of several books on Australian military history and primate evolutionary biology and has published over 60 papers in internationally peer reviewed journals. He lives in Canberra.
ALSO BY DAVID W. CAMERON
Bones, Stones and Molecules: ‘Out of Africa’ and human origins (with Colin Groves)
Hominid Adaptations and Extinctions
25 April 1915: The Day the ANZAC Legend was Born
‘Sorry, lads, but the order is to go’: The August Offensive, Gallipoli 1915
Gallipoli: The Final Battles and Evacuation of ANZAC
The August Offensive: At ANZAC, 1915
The Battle for Lone Pine: Four Days of Hell at the Heart of Gallipoli
Shadows of ANZAC: An Intimate History of Gallipoli
Our Friend the Enemy: A Detailed Account of ANZAC From Both Sides of the Wire
VIKING
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First published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, 2016
Text copyright © David W. Cameron 2016.
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n may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover and text design by Adam Laszczuk © Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Maps by Guy Holt, adapted from McNeill (1993) The Official History of Australia’s
Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975
Cover photograph © Australian War Memorial [ID number: FOR/66/0676/VN]
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ISBN: 978-1-74348-578-1
THE BEGINNING
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Contents
ABOUT THE BOOK
MAPS
Part One THE WAR
1 ‘. . . the grass needed cutting’
2 ‘We have come to reclaim our inheritance’
3 ‘. . . whose heads they nailed to the nearest bridge’
4 ‘. . . find, fix and finish’
5 ‘Keep those bloody choppers away from us’
6 ‘. . . started swimming for home, clutching a bottle of gin’
7 ‘. . . aware of the threat to their stomach and nervous system’
8 ‘. . . it was the one grain of gold amongst all the crap’
9 ‘We then proceeded to brief the diggers’
Part Two THE BATTLE
The Battle of Long Tan Page 39
