Download or read book The Battle of Long Tan written by Harry Smith and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-05 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, just five kilometres from the main Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, a group of Viet Cong soldiers walked into the right flank of Delta Company, 6 RAR. Under a blanket of mist and heavy monsoon rain, amid the mud and shattered rubber trees, a dispersed Company of 108 men held its ground with courage and grim determination against a three-sided attack from a force of 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops. When the battle subsided, 18 Australian soldiers lay dead and 24 had been wounded. Battlefield clearance revealed 245 enemy bodies with captured documents later confirming the count at over 500 enemy killed and 800 wounded. These men were led by a gruff and gusty perfectionist, Major Harry Smith. Now, some 53 years after the battle, Harry tells his story. The Battle of Long Tan is more than just an account of a historic battle. Harry Smith takes his readers on an extraordinary journey — one that ultimately reveals a remarkable cover-up at the highest military and political echelons. The Battle of Long Tan is also Harry’s life story and portrays his many personal battles, from failed marriages to commando-style killing; from a horrific parachute accident through to his modern-day struggles with bureaucracy for recognition for his soldiers. Harry’s battles are tempered by his love of sailing, where he has at last found some peace. The Battle of Long Tan portrays the wrenching, visceral experience of a man who has fought lifelong battles, in a story that he is only now able to tell. Harry can still hear the gunfire and smell the blood spilt at Long Tan. For him, the fight continues.
Download or read book Battle of Long Tan written by David W. Cameron and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2017-08-14 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, a rubber plantation in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, Australian troops fought one of their bloodiest, most significant battles of the Vietnam War. The Australians had arrived at Nui Dat four months earlier to open up the province. While out on patrol, Delta Company of 6RAR, originally numbering just 105 Australians and three New Zealanders, collided with Viet Cong forces numbering around 2500 troops, ahead of a planned Vietnamese ambush. Under heavy fire and short on ammunition, the Australians could only guess at the enemy's strength and number. Morning light revealed a shattered woodland, trees bleeding latex - and hundreds of dead enemy soldiers who had fallen in the numerous assaults against the small Anzac force. What was first thought by the Australians to be a significant defeat quickly turned out to be a major victory. Marking the battle's 50th anniversary, and drawing on unpublished first-hand accounts, David Cameron brings to life the events of this famous battle as it unfolded - minute by minute, hour by hour - and reveals the deeds of heroism and mateship now part of Australia's Vietnam War story. His compelling account commemorates the men who fought in the rubber plantation of Long Tan - and those who did not come home. Praise for David Cameron's The Battle for Lone Pine-
Download or read book The Battle of Long Tan written by Lex McAulay and published by Random House (UK). This book was released on 1986 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Long Tan written by Harry Smith and published by ReadHowYouWant. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, just five kilometres from the main Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat, a group of Viet Cong soldiers walked into the right flank of Delta Company, 6 RAR. Under a blanket of mist and heavy monsoon rain, amid the mud and shattered rubber trees, a dispersed Company of 108 men held its ground with courage and grim determination against a three - sided attack from a force of 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army troops. When the battle subsided, 18 Australian soldiers lay dead and 24 had been wounded. Battlefield clearance revealed 245 enemy bodies with captured documents later confirming the count at over 500 enemy killed and 800 wounded. These men were led by a gruff and gusty perfectionist, Major Harry Smith. Now, some 47 years after the battle, Harry tells his story for the first time. But Long Tan is more than just an account of a historic battle. Harry Smith takes his readers on an extraordinary journey - one that ultimately reveals a remarkable cover - up at the highest military and political echelons.Written in partnership with award - winning journalist Toni McRae, Long Tan is also Harry's life story and portrays his many personal battles, from failed marriages to commando - style killing; from a horrific parachute accident through to his modern - day struggles with bureaucracy for recognition for his soldiers. Harry's battles are tempered by his love of sailing, where he has at last found some peace. Long Tan portrays the wrenching, visceral experience of a man who has fought lifelong battles, in a story that he is only now able to tell. Harry can still hear the gunfire and smell the blood spilt at Long Tan. For him, the fight continues.
Download or read book All Guts and No Glory written by Bob Buick and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2000 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A career soldier in the Australian army, Bob Buick reveals in this volume why he joined up and describes his experiences, from training, through service in Vietnam, to homecoming and reflections on Australia's involvement in that war.
Download or read book Danger Close written by Robert Grandin and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2019-07-22 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now a major motion picture. This is the first time that those in direct command of Delta Company have shared their memories of the most significant battle fought by Australians in Vietnam, the Battle of Long Tan. They describe the experiences that brought them to Vietnam, and how Company commander Harry Smith drove Delta Company to become one of the most outstanding units in the Australian forces. Each platoon played a crucial role in Delta Company's survival. The artillery's commitment in providing an unbroken wall of metal through which the enemy had to advance is told from the perspectives of both the forward controller and the gun positions. We fly with the RAAF helicopter pilots whose ammunition resupply was the turning point of the battle, and experience the carnage of the battlefield through the eyes of those in the relieving APCs. The trauma of the battle did not end with the action, however, as politics began to play its part in the drama. The valour of those directly involved in the battle was never duly recognised. The ongoing efforts of the Long Tan commanders to right the many wrongs perpetrated in the wake of the battle, and their own journeys from the events of August 1966 draw the reader into a compelling dialogue on the aftermath of Vietnam. Previously published as The Battle of Long Tan: As told by the commanders
Download or read book Vietnam Vanguard written by Ron Boxall and published by ANU Press. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Vietnam War, and Australia’s part in it, was a major military event, calling for willingness to face death and destruction on the battlefield on the part of those sent there, especially the men of our infantry battalions who formed the spearhead of our forces in Vietnam. For many reasons, the Australian public know relatively little about what our Army did in Vietnam during the war, particularly during the years of our peak commitment, 1965–72. This book attempts to make the true nature of the war clearer to readers, emphasising how hard fought it was during major operations. Twenty-seven of the contributing authors of this book were involved in the 1966 deployment of the 1st Australian Task Force into Phuoc Tuy Province. This formation was the first Australian Army force larger than an infantry battalion group to be deployed into a major war since World War II. 5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR), was in the vanguard as the task force’s first element committed to operations to seize and occupy Nui Dat base and embark on establishing dominance over the enemy. The narratives presented in this book give rare insights into thoughts of the soldiers at the time and how they have come to view the Australian Government’s hurried expansion of its initial commitment to that war, the Army’s state of preparedness for that wider involvement, and how those in its forefront adapted to get the job done, both in and out of operations, despite numerous shortcomings in higher level planning. Both professional soldiers and conscripted national servicemen have contributed viewpoints to these pages.
Download or read book Through Enemy Eyes written by David Sabben and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2005-08-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quang felt a slight guilt at the ease with which he had finally made his destiny become a reality. The whole Australian base will be a ruin on the morning of the 15th. Allowing for some soldiers to not be in base and for others to survive the debacle, there will still be more than 1000 Australians killed, maybe 1500. Their country couldn't support such a loss - it would have to withdraw all its remaining troops. Probably the Australian government would fall. The American aggressors will be shown to be powerless to prevent the slaughter of its only independent ally. The puppet regime will see the weakness of the Americans and not trust them to protect their own forces. This will change the course of the whole war. An Australian military base is established around a hill in South Viet Nam. Two battalions strong. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army draw up a plan to eliminate the base and draw up eight battalions for the task ... But the plan was thwarted when the Vietnamese forces ran into an Australian company in the Long Tan rubber plantation. This is a fictionalised account of the events leading up to the battle of Long Tan based on detailed research by Dave Sabben, one of the Australian platoon commanders in the battle. 'A good read. Recommended.' - Gary McKay, Australia's most prolific author on the Viet Nam war
Download or read book The Battle of Long Tan written by Robert Grandin and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2004-08-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the most famous Australian battle of the Vietnam war by the six Australian commanders and one New Zealander commander of the units which made up the Australian fighting force.
Download or read book Vietnam ANZACs written by Kevin Lyles and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2004-05-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The part played by Australian and New Zealand troops in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) is sometimes overlooked; but it is generally accepted that the 'Diggers' and 'Kiwis' were among the most effective and professional troops involved. Drawing upon the ANZACs' long experience in the jungles of South East Asia, the men of the Task Force used their expertise in patrol tactics to great effect to frustrate Viet Cong operations. Meanwhile the ANZACs' small and isolated adviser teams spent ten years passing on their skills all over South Vietnam, and in the process four were awarded the supreme decoration for valour - the Victoria Cross. This book pays tribute to their military prowess, and describes and illustrates their uniforms and equipment in unprecedented detail.
Download or read book Ghost Platoon written by Frank Walker and published by Hachette Australia. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'thoroughly researched and compelling . . . a chilling account' - The Sun Herald An eye-opening account of Australian combat history, untold . . . until now. In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn't even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was only an acting corporal but he knew enough of war to keep these young diggers alive. When the platoon was involved in a high-risk ambush Riddle proved his leadership skills, bringing his men through unscathed and leaving the battlefield littered with enemy bodies. Despite their success, immediately afterwards the platoon was disbanded. According to the army they'd never existed ? theirs was a ghost platoon. Frank Walker details what happened at that ambush and why the army buried their existence, and the secrets that went with it. His findings are a shocking indictment of the long-term effects of war. The men of the platoon ? who'd fought so hard for their country ? had to fight again to reveal the truth. But the price they all paid was far too high. Ghost Platoon is a gripping story of the soldiers who should never be forgotten . . . or denied.
Download or read book A Soldier Returns written by Terry Burstall and published by University of Queensland Press(Australia). This book was released on 1990 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Stranger Country written by Monica Tan and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2019-03-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Will I ever really belong to this country? As a Chinese Australian? As a non-Indigenous Australian? . . . I was 32 years old and barely knew the country of my birth. It was time to change that.' What happens when a 32-year-old first-generation Australian woman decides to chuck in a dream job, pack a sleeping bag and tent, and hit the long, dusty road for six months? Thirty-thousand kilometres later, Monica Tan has the answer, and it completely surprises her. In mid-2016, Monica left Sydney, unsure of her place in Australia. As a Chinese Australian city slicker, she couldn't have felt more distant from powerful mythologies like the Digger, the Drover's Wife and Clancy of the Overflow. And more importantly, Monica wondered, how could she ever feel she truly belonged to a land that has been the spiritual domain of Indigenous Australians for over 60,000 years? Stranger Country is the riveting account of the six months Monica drove and camped her way through some of Australia's most beautiful and remote landscapes. She shared meals, beers and conversations with miners, greynomads, artists, farmers, community workers and small business owners from across the nation: some Aboriginal, some white, some Asian, and even a few who managed to be all three. The result is an enthralling and entertaining celebration of the spirit of adventure, a thoughtful quest for understanding and a unique portrait of Australia and all it means to those who live here.
Download or read book Tan to Tamarind written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar and published by Children's Book Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Poems in celebration of brown skin color.
Download or read book The Arrival written by Shaun Tan and published by Lothian Children's Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What drives so many to leave everything behind and journey alone to a mysterious country, a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown. This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to all those who have made the journey.
Download or read book Battle of Long Tan The written by David W. Cameron and published by Viking. This book was released on 2016-08-15 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, a rubber plantation in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, Australian troops fought one of their bloodiest, most significant battles of the Vietnam War. The Australians had arrived at Nui Dat four months earlier to open up the province. While out on patrol, Delta Company of 6RAR, originally numbering just 105 Australians and three New Zealanders, collided with Viet Cong forces numbering around 2500 troops, ahead of a planned Vietnamese ambush. Under heavy fire and short on ammunition, the Australians could only guess at the enemy's strength and number. Morning light revealed a shattered woodland, trees bleeding latex - and hundreds of dead enemy soldiers who had fallen in the numerous assaults against the small Anzac force. What was first thought by the Australians to be a significant defeat quickly turned out to be a major victory. Marking the battle's 50th anniversary, and drawing on unpublished first-hand accounts, David Cameron brings to life the events of this famous battle as it unfolded - minute by minute, hour by hour - and reveals the deeds of heroism and mateship now part of Australia's Vietnam War story. His compelling account commemorates the men who fought in the rubber plantation of Long Tan - and those who did not come home. Praise for David Cameron's The Battle for Lone Pine- 'A fine work of military and social history', Weekend Australian'A riveting read', Daily Telegraph"
Download or read book The Big Book of Australia s War Stories written by Jim Haynes and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique collection of poignant, horrific, sad and sometimes dryly humorous stories and tales about wartime experiences of Australian's on the front lines, in the air and on the sea. 'The bravest thing God ever made,' said a British officer of the insubordinate Aussies at Gallipoli. And before the Normandy invasion, Field Marshal Montgomery's chief of staff remarked, 'I only wish we had the Australian 9th Division with us this morning'. But there is more to the Australian experience of war than heroic endeavour and bravery. Jim Haynes has rediscovered stories that are as harrowing as they are uplifting, as strange as they are brutal and as heart-breaking as they are humorous. From Federation to the Vietnam War, from our first VC winner to our hundredth, this sweeping overview of Australia's military adventures both overseas and at home is a guide to understanding how this nation's role in the twentieth century's major conflicts unfolded as each war ebbed and flowed. These stories have formed Australia's collective memory of war. Some battles and campaigns are household names, although their historical significance may have been lost. Others are barely remembered now but are part of our history and deserve to be retold. These are the accounts, recollections and legends that explain Australia's wartime reputation. They demonstrate the extraordinary courage, resilience, stoic humour, personal heroism and sacrifice that created the mythology of the Aussie 'digger' - the soldiers, sailors, nurses and flyers who did things their own way and earned the undying respect of both their allies and their enemies.
