Battle of Long Tan

The battle of Long Tan occurs at a rubber plantation southeast of Saigon, near the Australian base at Nui Dat. 108 men of D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, encounter a reinforced Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regiment of over 1,500 men poised to attack Nui Dat. In monsoon conditions, with Australian and New Zealand artillery support, the company holds off the numerically superior enemy force for three hours. Reinforcements from A Company arrive in armored personnel carriers, followed by elements of B Company at dusk. Together they counter attack and drive off the attackers. Australian casualties are 18 killed and 21 wounded. This is the largest number of Australians killed in a single day during the Vietnam War.¹