The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
In a simple hut in a rural village, a sapper from 3 Field Troop, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), wears a gas mask or respirator as he stands in the entrance to a Viet Cong tunnel with a canister of CS or tear gas that he is about to use to try to flush out enemy personnel. At right are blocks of charges that he will later use to blow up the tunnel which was discovered by members of A Company, 1RAR. The soldier is taking part in Operation Crimp, a joint Australian-US operation in Ho Bo Woods, a strongly defended Viet Cong sanctuary four kilometres west of the Iron Triangle. The tunnel forms part of an extensive network that connects with the Cu Chi tunnels to the south, the whole complex amounting to several hundred kilometres in length. This is the first time that Australian or American forces have tried to explore and destroy a complete tunnel complex systematically.
Smoke issues from a crater produced when sappers from 3 Field Troop, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), blew up part of a Viet Cong tunnel. It was discovered by members of A Company, 1RAR, during Opera
With a 7.62mm M60 General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) set up in front of them, two unidentified members of 2 Platoon, A Company, 1RAR, sit on a bare patch of ground on the edge of the jungle during Ope
The entrance to a tunnel in which about thirty Vietnamese women and children took refuge during Operation Crimp, a joint Australian-US operation in Ho Bo Woods, a strongly defended Viet Cong sanctuary
During Operation Crimp, members of 1RAR or 3 Field Troop, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), examine one of the entrances to an extensive tunnel complex that runs beneath Ho Bo Woods and all the way to
View from an airborne helicopter of a US Army Bell UH-1B Iroquois ('Huey') chopper which is transporting members of 1RAR from Bao Trai in Hau Nghia Province to Ho Bo Woods, a strongly defended Viet Co
Watched by a Vietnamese villager and his son, members of 2 Platoon, A Company, 1RAR, enjoy an impromptu game of cards on the ground during a break in an operation probably in Binh Duong Province. The