Battle of Long Tan
The battle of Long Tan was a true example of a time when Australians triumphed over adversity. Australians involved had to fight a much larger Viet Cong force and against all odds, win the battle. The Australians triumphed over adversity because as well as fighting against the VC, they had to battle monsoonal weather conditions throughout the battle, and ammunition shortages. A convincing victory followed for the Australians, comprehensively defeating the larger Vietnamese forces, repelling them, badly mauled. Triumph over adversity is when someone is victorious over misfortune. The Australians certainly were victorious over their misfortune of running into a larger Viet Cong force.
The Battle of Long Tan, also known as ‘Operation Vendetta’ began on the 17th of August, after the mortaring of the Australian Task Force. On the 18th of August, the Australian D Company, of 6RAR, consisting of only 108 men, were patrolling in the Long Tan Plantation, when at 15:40, ran into six to eight enemy. The enemy were pursued, and then the situation deteriorates rapidly. The enemy ended up being both D445 Local Battalion and 275 Main Force Regiment, totalling around 2500. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Kiem, Commander of D445, said, “Because Royal Australian forces established their base in Nui Dat, in order to separate the VC from the people... They evacuated the people of two villages, Long Phuoc and Long Tan... it was decided at higher level that D445 had to be prepared for battle... we wanted Australians to leave Nui Dat so we could recover revolutionary villages...” (Kiem, 1988, in McNeil (1993) p.366) This meant that had D company not met the VC in the plantation, they would have gone to the Australian Task Force, which was poorly defended. The Australians triumphed over adversity was that they saved their base from attack and possible destruction.
Troops of D Company had a difficult thirty-six hours leading into the battle of Long Tan, adding...