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Vietnam War · 1966 Members · from $3

Battle of Long Tan, 18 August 1966

On 18 August 1966, in a rubber plantation near the abandoned village of Long Tan in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment - 105 Australians and three New Zealand artillerymen under Major Harry Smith - ran into a much larger Viet Cong force of the 275th Regiment and the D445 Provincial Mobile Battalion, part of the 5th Viet Cong Division. For more than three hours, in a monsoon downpour, the company fought off repeated attacks, held together by the guns of the 1st Australian Task Force at Nui Dat - Australian, New Zealand and US batteries - and an RAAF helicopter ammunition drop, until armored personnel carriers carrying A Company broke through at dusk. Eighteen Australians were killed and 24 wounded; the Australians counted 245 enemy dead, while Vietnamese accounts give far lower figures. Long Tan was the costliest single engagement for Australian forces in Vietnam and secured the task force's hold on Phuoc Tuy; 18 August is commemorated in Australia as Vietnam Veterans' Day.

Open the interactive map8 stages on modern satellite imagery and terrain, with 3D elevation

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The Long Tan Cross
The Long Tan Cross — Tacintop — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 17 Aug 1966, 02:43 - midday

    Mortars on Nui Dat

    Ten weeks after the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) began building its base at Nui Dat, in the middle of Phuoc Tuy Province, the base is shelled for about 22 minutes from a position some 2 km to the east by 82 mm mortars and 75 mm recoilless rifles; 24 Australians are wounded. The task force guns answer with counter-battery fire. At first light Lt. Col. Colin Townsend sends B Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6 RAR) out to find the firing positions. It crosses the Suoi Da Bang and finds the mortar baseplates and weapon pits, and stays out overnight. The villagers of nearby Long Phuoc and Long Tan had already been moved away to clear a buffer around the base. Unknown to 1 ATF, the Viet Cong 275th Regiment and the D445 Provincial Mobile Battalion are in the country east of the Long Tan rubber plantation.

  2. 18 Aug, 11:00-15:15

    D Company sets out

    Maj. Harry Smith's D Company - 105 Australians and a three-man New Zealand artillery observer party under Capt. Morrie Stanley, 108 men in all - leaves Nui Dat at 11:00 to take over the search. It meets B Company about 2,500 m east of the base at 13:00, and B Company heads back. D Company follows cart tracks east and enters the Long Tan rubber plantation about 15:15, 10 Platoon front left, 11 Platoon front right, with company headquarters and 12 Platoon behind. That afternoon a concert party is performing for the troops at Nui Dat.

  3. 18 Aug, 15:40-16:30

    First contact: 11 Platoon cut off

    Just past a dirt road in the rubber, 11 Platoon under 2nd Lt. Gordon Sharp meets a small group of Viet Cong, who withdraw east. The platoon follows about 250 m and at 16:08 is struck from the front and flanks by a much larger force with machine guns. Artillery from Nui Dat - the Australian 103 and 105 Field Batteries, the New Zealand 161 Battery and a US 155 mm battery, 24 guns in all - begins firing in support. Company headquarters is mortared and moves some 100-200 m north-east, widening the gap to 11 Platoon; Smith sends 10 Platoon forward. Sharp is killed about 16:30 and Sgt. Bob Buick takes command of a platoon that is now pinned down and isolated.

  4. 18 Aug, 16:30-17:20

    The storm

    10 Platoon under 2nd Lt. Geoff Kendall pushes toward 11 Platoon, hits enemy troops in its path and is stopped, by one account within about 100 yards; its radio operator is wounded and the set put out of action until Pte. Bill Akell runs a spare radio forward. About 16:50 a monsoon storm breaks over the plantation, cutting visibility to a few dozen meters. Smith calls 10 Platoon back. Smoke cannot be seen through the rain, so the Phantom air strike Smith asked for is waved off, and he asks Nui Dat for an ammunition resupply.

  5. 18 Aug, 17:15-17:55

    Massed attacks, fire danger close

    2nd Lt. David Sabben takes two sections of 12 Platoon, about 20 men, south-east toward 11 Platoon; they fight their way through enemy groups working round 11 Platoon's flank and are pinned down. Waves of Viet Cong attack the company position from the east and south. With 11 Platoon almost surrounded and nearly out of ammunition, Buick calls artillery onto his own area; Stanley brings the fire to within about 30-50 m. At Nui Dat, A Company and the M113 carriers of 3 Troop, 1st APC Squadron are released and set off at about 17:45, and two RAAF Iroquois load ammunition.

  6. 18 Aug, 18:00-18:13

    Ammunition from the air

    Flying from the west at treetop height in near-darkness and rain, two Iroquois of No. 9 Squadron RAAF (Flight Lieutenants Frank Riley, Bob Grandin, Cliff Dohle and Bruce Lane) find D Company once the right smoke is identified and drop ammunition wrapped in blankets straight into the position from about 30 ft. Under cover of the artillery, the survivors of 11 Platoon pull back to 12 Platoon's smoke, and both come in to the company position, which forms an all-round defense. The APC column reaches the swollen Suoi Da Bang; one carrier stays to guard the crossing and the others swim across.

  7. 18 Aug, 18:15-19:10

    The carriers arrive

    The heaviest attacks come in from three sides, and artillery is called to within 50-80 m and then closer as the company draws in tight round its wounded. The carriers, with A Company aboard, enter the rubber about 18:25 and run into a Viet Cong force - reportedly a company of D445 - moving round D Company's flank, and their .50-caliber machine guns drive it east. B Company's lead elements, on foot, arrive about 19:00. At last light, about 19:10, the carriers reach D Company and the attackers break off and withdraw into the plantation.

  8. 19 Aug 1966

    Aftermath

    D Company and the relief force spend the night at a landing zone at the western edge of the rubber, where the wounded are evacuated by helicopter. Next morning 6 RAR returns in carriers. Two of the missing men are found alive; the 13 others of 11 Platoon are found dead at their positions. Australian losses were 18 killed - 17 of D Company and one of 3 Troop - and 24 wounded. The Australians counted 245 enemy dead and captured three wounded men; Vietnamese accounts give lower figures (the 275th Regiment's histories cite 47 killed), and later research by Ernie Chamberlain suggests some 1,750 Viet Cong took part and about 210 were killed. D Company was awarded the US Presidential Unit Citation, presented in Townsville on 18 August 1968; Smith received the Military Cross and Stanley the MBE.

Weapons

Viet Cong (275th Regiment and D445 Battalion)

AK-47 / Type 56

AK-47 / Type 56

Assault rifle · 1949–present

At Long Tan: Main infantry weapon of the 275th Regiment and D445.

Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 became the world's most widespread military rifle thanks to its simplicity and reliability in mud, heat and rain. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops carried both Soviet AKs and the Chinese-made copy, the Type 56.

Caliber
7.62×39mm
Rate of fire
about 600 rounds/min
Magazine
30-round box
Effective range
about 350 m
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · Public domain
RPD

RPD

Light machine gun · 1944–present

At Long Tan: Squad machine guns in the assaults.

The belt-fed RPD shared its cartridge with the AK-47 and SKS, simplifying supply for a rifle squad. It was light enough to be carried and fired by one soldier, and China built copies as the Type 56 light machine gun.

Caliber
7.62×39mm
Feed
100-round belt in a drum container
Rate of fire
about 650–750 rounds/min
Weight
about 7.4 kg
Photo: MKFI · Public domain
RPG-2 (B40)

RPG-2 (B40)

Shoulder-fired anti-tank launcher · 1949–1970s

At Long Tan: Used against the platoons and the APCs.

The Soviet RPG-2 was a simple reusable launcher firing an over-caliber shaped-charge grenade. In Vietnam it was widely used under the designation B40, against armored vehicles, bunkers and buildings, alongside the later RPG-7 (B41).

Caliber
40 mm tube, 80 mm warhead
Range
effective about 100–150 m
Reload
single-shot, reusable tube
Photo: Phó Nháy · Public domain
82 mm mortar (M1937 / Type 53)

82 mm mortar (M1937 / Type 53)

Infantry mortar · 1937–present

At Long Tan: Mortars shelled Nui Dat on 17 August and supported the attack.

The Soviet 82-BM-37 and its Chinese copy, the Type 53, were standard battalion mortars of communist forces in Vietnam. An 82 mm tube could also fire captured US 81 mm rounds, though not the other way around.

Caliber
82 mm
Max range
about 3,000 m
Weight
about 56 kg in action
Photo: George Chernilevsky · CC BY-SA 4.0

Australian and New Zealand forces (1 ATF)

L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle

L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle

Battle rifle (7.62 mm) · 1959–1980s (Australian service)

At Long Tan: Standard rifle of D Company 6 RAR.

The standard rifle of Australian infantry in Vietnam, an Australian-built version of the FN FAL. Some section commanders carried the American M16 (the 'Armalite').

Caliber
7.62×51 mm NATO
Action
semi-automatic
Magazine
20 rounds
Photo: Peter Anthony Ward, AWM · CC0
M16 rifle (XM16E1 / M16A1)

M16 rifle (XM16E1 / M16A1)

Assault rifle · 1964–present

At Long Tan: Carried by some section commanders.

Developed from Eugene Stoner's AR-15, the lightweight M16 replaced the M14 in Vietnam. Early rifles gained a reputation for jamming, linked to ammunition changes, a lack of cleaning kits and training; the improved M16A1 followed in 1967.

Caliber
5.56×45mm
Rate of fire
about 700–950 rounds/min (automatic)
Magazine
20-round box (Vietnam era)
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · Public domain
M113 armored personnel carrier

M113 armored personnel carrier

Tracked APC · 1960–present

At Long Tan: 3 Troop's carriers brought A Company in at dusk.

At Long Tan the M113s of 3 Troop, 1st APC Squadron carried A Company across the flooded Suoi Da Bang and struck the attackers' flank at dusk, ending the battle.

Crew
2, plus up to 11 troops
Armament
.50 caliber M2 machine gun
Armor
aluminum, proof against small arms
Photo: Australian War Memorial · CC0
Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)

Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)

Utility helicopter · 1959–present

At Long Tan: RAAF Iroquois dropped ammunition through the storm.

The turbine-powered Huey became the symbol of the Vietnam War. It made "air mobility" practical, carrying troops into battle, bringing in supplies and evacuating wounded from landing zones that roads could not reach.

Crew
2–4
Capacity
roughly 10–12 equipped troops (UH-1D)
Armament
door-mounted machine guns (troop carriers)
Photo: U.S. Army · Public domain

Paintings and photographs

The Long Tan Cross
The Long Tan Cross The memorial cross in the rubber plantation, on the site of 11 Platoon's stand (the original is at the Australian War Memorial). Tacintop — public domain · source
On the battlefield, 19 August
On the battlefield, 19 August An Australian soldier in the rubber plantation the morning after the battle. Australian War Memorial — public domain · source
Captured weapons
Captured weapons Australian troops with weapons collected from the battlefield. Australian War Memorial — public domain · source
The site in 2005
The site in 2005 The rubber plantation at Long Tan in 2005. Tacintop — public domain · source
Plan of the battle
Plan of the battle A plan of D Company's fight and the relief. Anotherclown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: August 18.

Accuracy score: 58/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Battle of Long Tan, 18 August 1966. The map is anchored on the Long Tan Cross, which stands at the site of 11 Platoon's last stand (AWM, Wartime 55; AWM blog, 'With the heel of my boot I marked the site'), using the coordinate in the TracesOfWar listing, and on the Nui Dat base; D Company's positions, Nui Dat 2, the creek crossing and the night landing zone are placed by the distances and bearings in the histories, and Viet Cong positions show attack directions rather than exact locations. Key sources: Ian McNeill, To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950-1966 (Allen & Unwin with the Australian War Memorial, 1993), including Map 15.1; Australian War Memorial, Battle of Long Tan; DVA Anzac Portal, 'Battle of Long Tan 1966' and 'Nui Dat and Phuoc Tuy Province'; Royal Australian Air Force History, 'RAAF at Long Tan' and '18 Aug 1966'; Australian Army, The Cove, 'Australia's Battle of Long Tan'; New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 161 Battery at Long Tan; the D Company veterans' timeline and Key Facts pack (from the 6 RAR and 1 ATF logs, Harry Smith and Dave Sabben); Bob Grandin, The Battle of Long Tan: As Told by the Commanders (2004); Harry Smith, Long Tan: The Start of a Lifelong Battle (2015); Paul Ham, Vietnam: The Australian War (2007). Vietnamese side: Ernie Chamberlain, The Viet Cong D445 Battalion: Their Story (and the Battle of Long Tan) (2016, RAR Association) and his notes on the DVA account and casualty research. Vietnamese figures are attributed as such: the 275th Regiment's and D445's histories give 30-47 killed; Australian records give 245 bodies counted; Chamberlain estimates about 1,750 Viet Cong took part and about 210 were killed. Wikipedia's Long Tan articles were used for leads and a comparison coordinate only.

Where the positions come from

Further reading