Now that COVID-19 is confining us to our homes, you may be finding that you’ve got time on your hands. One way of making good use of that time is to help make the Australia’s Vietnam War website the best it can be. Here’s some things you can do: Scan your old photographs and upload them to the website direct … Read More
Gallup Polls #3 – US attitudes to the Vietnam War
By Bob Hall Throughout the course of the Vietnam War, Gallup Polls were regularly conducted in the United States. Beginning in 1965 the polls asked a standard question: In view of the developments since we entered the fighting in Vietnam, do you think the US made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?[1] The graph below shows the polling … Read More
Gallup Polls #2 – Australian support for Vietnam deployment
By Bob Hall Following the Second World War, elements of the Australian Defence Forces were deployed on the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and on Confrontation. In the early 1960s, public attention was drawn to the possibility that Australian forces may again be deployed on combat operations, this time in Vietnam. The following … Read More
New articles posted
To mark National Serviceman’s Day (14 February), we’ve posted an article titled ‘Gallup Polls #1 – National Service’. The article graphs the level of public support for the National Service Scheme, according to Gallup Polls, between 1961 and 1972. It shows that support for the scheme never fell below 50%, but support for deployment of National Servicemen to a war … Read More
Gallup Polls #1 – National Service
By Bob Hall In May 1964 the Australian government introduced the National Service Scheme. Under the scheme, young men were selected by ballot for two years compulsory military service which could include service overseas in a war zone. National servicemen first deployed to Vietnam as part of the 1st Australian Task Force in May-June 1966. The 1RAR Battalion Group, which … Read More
The real story: First battle of Coral
By Ian F. Ahearn Background – Operation Toan Thang Operation Toan Thang (Complete Victory) was launched on 8 April 1968. It was a combined operation deploying 70,000 US, Vietnamese, Australian, New Zealand and Thai troops with the initial aim of destroying enemy forces in the III Corps area. Australian participation in the combined operation commenced on 21 April 1968 with the … Read More
Nui Le: The last battle, 21 Sep 1971
By Gary McKay In late September 1971 I was a 23 year-old rifle platoon commander in Delta Company of the 4th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment. We were on operations in the north of Phuoc Tuy Province searching for and hoping to destroy our enemy; the highly trained, strictly disciplined and deeply motivated soldiers from the North Vietnamese Army’s 33rd … Read More
Operation Tong: 7-8 June 1969
By Claude Ducker[1] The men of C Company 5 RAR may not have been aware of it at the time, but President Nixon was meeting with the South Vietnamese President Thieu on Midway Island on 7/8th June 1969. The main purpose of this meeting was to make the South Vietnamese take greater responsibility for the war; and Richard Nixon announced … Read More
Strategic context: The battle of Binh Ba
By Bob Hall What we call ‘the battle of Binh Ba’ was fought 50 years ago. Elements of 33 PAVN Regiment occupied the hamlet of Binh Ba on the night of 5/6 June 1969.[1] At 0810 hours on the morning of 6 June, two 1ATF armoured vehicles of 4 Troop, B Squadron, 1 Armoured Regiment – a Centurion tank and … Read More
May 1969: The switch to pacification
By Bob Hall In July 1968 the Psyops advisor in Phuoc Tuy Province, Major Desmal C. Smith Jr. was nearing the end of his tenure in the job. He was writing his end-of-tour report giving an overall assessment of progress and recommendations for change and improvement. He argued that the achievement of physical security was the key to improving pacification … Read More