http://www.britainatwar.comwww.britainatwar.com^1919BATTLE OF BINH BA|COMMONWEALTH FORCES IN VIETNAM
LEFT
Australian infantry
endure the jungle
conditions.
(TOPFOTO)BELOW
Pte Bruce Larner
of 5RAR waves in
a US Army UH-1D
during Op Camden,
August 1969. The
clearance operation
also took place in
Phuoc Tuy Province.
(TOPFOTO)“The enemy they were facing had
evolved by now into a much more
complex force, a sophisticated enemy,
very well equipped with modern
weapons: AK-type assault rifles,
mortars, recoilless rifles and their most
powerful rocket-propelled grenades,
the RPG-7.”
What followed was two days of
fierce house-to-house fighting as the
Australians attempted to remove
the NVA and VC from the village, a
battle unlike any other experienced by
Australian troops in Vietnam. “By now
the Australians were aware they had
encountered a formidable enemy force
that was prepared to stand and fight,”
Ekins said.
“It was clearly much more than the
two platoons they thought were there;
this was several companies of a regular
main force regiment, and they were
hardened fighters.”THE AUSTRALIANS HAD GONE
IN THERE ON MANY OCCASIONS
TRYING TO BRING AID ANDTHE TROOPS HAD EVEN PLAYED
SOCCER WITH THE LOCALSBACK IN THE EARLY DAYS,
BUT NOT ANYMORE”16-22 AFEROCIOUSFIGHT BAW SEPT2019.indd 19 8/14/2019 5:08:55 PM