COMMONWEALTH FORCES IN VIETNAM|BATTLE OF BINH BA
1818 http://www.britainatwar.comwww.britainatwar.comRIGHT
Australian
infantry and
Centurion tanks
in cooperation
during an earlier
1968 operation
30 miles south-
east of Saigon.
(TOPFOTO)RIGHT
Centurion crews
briefing at Vung
Tau shortly after
arriving in Vietnam.
From early 1968,
1 st Armoured
Regiment rotated
its squadrons until
late 1971. The
Centurion was a
robust tank, while
86% of the 58
tanks deployed
sustained damage
from mines and
RPGS, just six
were irreparable.
(US ARMY CENTER
OF MILITARY HISTORY)(NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) soldiers
on the move.
Then, on the evening of June 5,
1969, a combined communist force
of well-armed and resolute soldiers
occupied the village of Binh Ba.
“Whether the enemy were invited in
or they just came, we’ll never know
for sure,” Ekins said.
“It was an idyllic little place,
a beautifully set out village of
whitewashed houses with terracotta
roof tiles surrounded by a large
rubber plantation, but it had been
under communist control for most
of the three years that the task force
had been there. So it looked peaceful,
but in actual fact the local people
harboured sympathies with the
communist insurgents.
“The Australians had gone in there
on many occasions trying to bring aidand the troops had even played soccer
with the locals back in the early days,
but not anymore.”
At 8am on the morning of June 6,
1969 an Australian Centurion tank
and armoured recovery vehicle were
moving north past the village when
they were fired on; an RPG damaging
the tank and severely wounding at
least one of the crew.
“They fired upon the tank going
past just to bring it on, and they didn’t
flee like the enemy normally did,”
Ekins said. “They usually chose and
prepared their battlegrounds well, and
made sure they had the advantage.
Then when the fighting began, the
minute they lost that advantage, they
would withdraw as quickly as they
could. It was a case of ‘hit and run’,
basically, but that wasn’t what went
on at Binh Ba.”The district chief contacted his
superiors for assistance, and a small
South Vietnamese force was sent
in. When they were stopped by
heavy fire, they requested Australian
support.FIERCE FIREFIGHT
Two-and-a-half hours later, the
Australian task force launched
Operation Hammer, sending an
understrength infantry company
of 5th Battalion, Royal Australian
Regiment (5RAR) into the village,
backed by armoured vehicles and
artillery. “They waited a long time
while the district chief and others
tried to get all the civilians out,”
Ekins said.
“The villagers were ordered to leave
and hundreds came out, most of the
1,300 people who lived there, but weand the troops had even played soccer The district chief contacted hisAWM MARKS BINH BA
ANNIVERSARY
The Australian War Memorial (AWM)
marked the 50th anniversary of
the battle of Binh Ba on June 6,
with a special Last Post ceremony
that commemorated the service
of Private Wayne Teeling, the only
Australian who died in the battle.
The service was attended by
Private Teeling’s family, the former
commanding officer of 5RAR
Brigadier Colin Khan (Ret’d), APC
troop commander Captain Ray De
Vere and approximately 500 other
Vietnam veterans. The AWM also
marked the anniversary of Binh
Ba with a photographic exhibition,
located in the entry corridor of
the museum.know that there were still some left
from what happened later.
“The Australians then assaulted from
the east, westwards down through
these streets, with tanks and APCs, and
it became intense the minute they got
in there.
“They’re under very heavy fire and
during the course of that first assault, all
four tanks are hit. One of them is badly
disabled, and it’s abandoned basically,
and there’s much furious fighting.
“The Australians had no idea what
they were going into; they thought two
platoons of enemy had come into the
village, but they didn’t know then that
they were North Vietnamese Army
regulars and that it was the best part
of a battalion, and they were there for
a fight.16-22 AFEROCIOUSFIGHT BAW SEPT2019.indd 18 8/14/2019 5:08:28 PM