History of War – October 2019

D COMPANY’S SMALL ARSENAL

HARRY SMITH’S MEN WERE WELL EQUIPPED BUT THEIR WEAPONSPALEDWITHTHE

FORMIDABLE ARMOURY OF THEIR ENEMIES

At the Battle of Long Tan, the various elements of the Viet Cong forces hadvarietyof weaponsand

plentyof ammunitionat theirdisposal.ThisincludedAK-47andSKSassaultrifles,recoillessrifles,

RPG-2rocket-propelledgrenades,lightmachine-gunsandmortars.Bycontrast,D Companywere

lightl d ith t l h th t dl h l d i t th h t f b ttl

Companywereprimarilyarmedwiththissemiautomatic,magazinefedrifle.It wasthestandard

issuerifleof theAustralianArmybetween1960-92andis a Britishversionof theBelgianFNFAL.The

L1A1wasa reliableweaponin Vietnambecauseit couldbeusedsuccessfullyin allenvironmental

conditions. Each rifleman at LongTancarriedthree20-round magazines:onein theweaponitselfand

two more in their webbing. There wereanother 60 rounds in boxes withintheirpacksbuttheirsmall

supplyof ammunitionmeantthateveryshotcounted

M60 MACHINE-

ThisAmerican-designedweaponwas

machine-gunwitha sustainedfireof

rolealthoughit wasmostwidelyused

jungle.Thetwo-manmachine-guntea

hadthesamenumberin theirpacks.TherewerethreeM60sperplatoonwithonepersection.There

werealsothreein Smith’scompanyheadquarterssupportsection.

ARMALITERIFLE

D Companyhadapproximately 30 of theseAmericanassaultrifles,whichweremostlycarriedby

di ldi S ith ll th bl ithth A lit b ll t b

lightly armedwithpatrol weaponswhenthey were unexpectedlyhurledintotheheatofbattle.

DCompanywereprimarilyarmedwith thissemi-automatic magazine-fed rifle Itwasthestandard

ryshotcounted.

oneof theiconicweaponsof theVietnamWar.A belt-fed

100 rounds per minute, theM60wasusedin everyconceivable

dbyUSinfantrymen.It wasalsoheavyanddifficultto carryin the

amsin D Companycarriedsixbeltsof 1007.62roundsandalso

Th th M 60 lt ith ti Th

commandingsoldiers.SmithrecallstherewereproblemswiththeArmalitebulletcasesbecause

therewerenocleaningrodsto pushtheroundsout.

OWEN GUN

Known as the ‘OMC’ (OwenMachineCarbine),this

Australian submachine gunwasdesignedin 1939

and saw service in WWIIaswellasKoreaand

Vietnam. During the 1940sit wasnicknamedthe

‘Digger’s Darling’ for itsreliabilityandrumouredto

be highly thought of by Americantroops.However,

Smith recalls that, “TheOMCwasof littleuseover

longer distances in the rubberandscrub,andthe

9mm rounds would not penetrateenemywebbing.”

“THE L1A1 WAS A

RELIABLE WEAPON

INVIETNAM”

“THE OMC WAS OF

LITTLE USE OVER

LONGER DISTANCES”

Nui Dat
On 8 June 1966, D Company flew from
Brisbane to Sa
the French res
that the atmosphere was surprisingly tranquil,
“It was just like being on the Gold Coast in
peacetime. There was no war going on there
and we went in for supposed acclimatisation
training for two weeks.”
The atmosphere changed when the company
was deployed 50 kilometres north to the 1st
Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat in Phuoc
Tuy Province. They arrived a week ahead of
schedule, “There were rumours that the North
Vietnamese 275th Regiment was coming down
from the north and might take on the base.”
Located on a rubber plantation, the
base was new and the troops lived in basic
conditions, “We initially just had plain sleeping
bags but after a month we got standard
issue canvas tents that we formed into a
neat barracks area. All the tents were
sandbagged up to chest height and a lot of
work went into that. Fire trenches, command
posts etc were also constructed and as a
Vietnam base it was quite good.”

Chancing upon the enemy
In the early hours of 17 August 1966, Nui Dat
was unexpectedly attacked, “At about 2.30am
we got mortared and rocketed by the Viet Cong
and, as we later learned, some of the North
Vietnamese. My company area didn’t get hit
but 80-odd rounds fell and 40 people were
wounded, with one who later died.”

Lines of tents at Nui Dat. Smith recalls

that D Company only had sleeping

bags at the Task Force base

Smith (centre) pictured with other Australian

soldiers during the Malayan Emergency

ANZACS AT LONG TAN