The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Following a night attack by Viet Cong on a village near the Australian Task Force base in Vietnam troops of the fifth Battalion Royal Australian Regiment were sent to the area to question local inhabitants. At dawn Armoured personnel carriers of the Third Cavalry Regiment move into the fifith battalion lines to pick up the troops. Charlie Company soldiers pile into the vehicles and they move off on the 15 minute trip to the village of Binh Ba. The armoured personnel carriers avoid the main road and weave through rubber trees to come on the village by suprise. Minutes after their arrival a RAAF helicopter lands carrying interpreters. Before fanning out to question villagers, troops receive a briefing from company sergeant major Warrant Officer Norman Goldspink, of Perth. In Viet Nam, questioning of villagers who were recently dominated by the Viet Cong is an almost daily task for Australian soldiers. The people are beginning to trust the Australians, but its a long hard job to gain their confidence. In the previous night's attack the Viet Cong fired on local Government troops and moved into the village to spread propanganda among the troops. Manager of the French owned rubber plantation, M.Barbier, extends his hospitality and tells what he knows of the attack. Private Ron Simpson, of Melbourne, translates for Major Miller. Moving on to another village the questioning continues. Even this regional force soldier is questioned...he could be a VC in a captured uniform. Lance Corporal Bruce Scmidtchen, of Toowoomba, Queensland, who can speak Vietnamese, questions a rubber worker. And while the search for information goes on, other troops of the company make another type of search... for hidden Viet Cong. But the enemy has melted back into the jungle, and until they return home, these soldiers will continue the Australian fight against them.
Troops of the 5th Battalion RAR depart Baria aboard American Bell 'Iroquois' helicopters for an assault landing on a small island called Long Son off the coast of South Vietnam. The operation named '
Officers of the 5th Battalion RAR are briefed by their CO, Lieutenant Colonel J A Warr for an operation to cordon and search a village for suspect Viet Cong and their sympathisers. Troops disembark f
Difficulties in village cordon and search operations have been many and varied, but one of the greatest difficulties has been the problem of screening the inhabitants and effectively searching a villa
Early morning in Vietnam finds Australian soldiers ready for another day's work as infantrymen of the First Battalion The Royal Australian Regiment board carriers of the 1st Australian Armoured Person
Australian soldiers now on operations are using hunger as a potent weapon against the Viet Cong by seizing supplies of rice, fish oil and other food hidden in caches deep in the jungles of South Viet
Centurion tanks preceded soldiers of "D" Company, 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment as they took part in a cordon and search mission covering a number of small hamlets and villages in Phuoc
