Vietnam Vanguard

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]



Jimmi posted a thread not long back about this book being released.  You can purchase a tree sourced version or download a PDF of it for free.

Here is a link to Jimmi's thread: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

5 RAR is one of my favourite Aussie battalions. Sorry OTB, not an ANZAC battalion.  5 RAR was one of the first two Australian Battalions to be part of the new 1ATF (1st Australian Task Force) when the Aussie involvement in Vietnam was raised from one battalion and accompanying assets as part of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade to 1ATF and the requirement to have its own TAOR of Phước Tuy Province.  1ATF eventually went to a 3 Battalion structure.

So 5 RAR and 6 RAR were the first two battalions of 1 ATF, 6 RAR of course is renowned for its action in the Battle of Lang Tan during this same tour.

The book is edited by two well respected authors both of whom were members of the battalion.  In particular Professor Robert O'Neil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_O%27Neill_(historian)).

Every chapter is written by a member of the battalion during the first tour in 1966-67 whether they be a company commander or a platoon commander or a section commander or a machine gunner.

At first some of the chapters seemed to be repetitive as they all mostly discuss the same operations, from pre-deployment activities in Australia to deployment to each and every operation the unit undertook during the tour.  However since the different chapters are written by members from different levels of the battalion they always end up with some difference and some gems of information that were not covered at the other levels.

Those chapters are interwoven with some other very interesting and little known interludes where members of the battalion were "on loan" to other activities mostly run by the US including working with some units run under Operation Phoenix run by the CIA.  One such activity saw an Air America plane deliver a substantial amount of cash to the Binh Ba rubber plantation manager which was then used to pay the plantations "VC Taxes" so the local VC would leave the village and planation and attached factory alone.  There is also chapters on working with RF/PF units as well.

The book/PDF is well written and edited and has some great maps albeit at a level most likely above the level of play a lot of you play at, Battalion plus level.

But in saying that there is good sources for nearly any type of engagement from battalion down to platoon and even section level engagements.

Interesting data on how the large scale Cold War based Anti-Tank platoon became a guerrilla war based recon platoon.

Some other interesting facts:

- 5 RAR and 6 RAR during the 66-67 tours were the first "mixed" battalions that comprised both regular soldiers and officers as well as "National Service" (Nasho's, conscripted soldiers) soldiers and officers.
- 5 RAR had the first death of a National Service soldier and the implications of that.
- There is an interesting chapter on why 1ATF got the Phước Tuy Province TAOR.
- Anecdotal evidence of why the Aussies were so successful in Vietnam since a lot of the senior soldiers, both officers and senior NCO's, had already fought a guerrilla war in Malaysia and Borneo.

If you have an interest in the Aussie involvement in Vietnam I can recommend this PDF as a good read.

"Those chapters are interwoven with some other very interesting and little known interludes where members of the battalion were "on loan" to other activities mostly run by the US including working with some units run under Operation Phoenix run by the CIA. One such activity saw an Air America plane deliver a substantial amount of cash to the Binh Ba rubber plantation manager which was then used to pay the plantations "VC Taxes" so the local VC would leave the village and planation and attached factory alone. "

That sounds like it has possibilities for a game scenario...

I'll have to read this.

I seem to remember a BN history/reminiscence called 'Tiger Battalion' which I read when living in London. So that would be pre-88, probably by at least five years. Also, a touch controversial, IIRC, the official history in vol.3, discusses the effectiveness of the Australian/ANZAC Brigade deployment. While tactically the infantry where a match for the VC/NVA ultimately they failed to dominate the battlefield and the were always 'safe havens' in province, which the NLF forces could return to. It made for sobering read, given the authors and the commissioner. I shall snaffel the PDF as, to return to our project, 5 RAR was the first Australian unit I painted up and I have a soft spot for them.

Hi John,

Yes there is definitely a battalion history called "Tiger Battalion".

I think the overall consensus following the ANZAC mission in Phouc Thy province was that they "controlled" the province but never dominated it, agreed. Both the Long Hail hills to the SE of Nui Dat and the Nui Thi Vai Hills to the SW of Nui Dat were mostly safe havens for the VC. 1ATF ventured into those havens several times cleansing parts of them as they went but as soon as the left the VC returned and rebuilt. Both areas cost a lot in KIA and WIA for 1ATF. To a lesser degree there were also safe havens around Xuyen Moc to the east of Nui Dat and also around Nui Le to the north but these were re-use areas rather than constant use havens as in the hills.