The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam. 13 May 1968. Members of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), with the Battery's No. 6 gun, a 105mm M2A2 howitzer, on the morning after the first series of attacks on Fire Support Base (FSB) Coral by troops of the North Vietnamese Army's (NVA) 7th Division. This position was temporarily overrun by the NVA on the night of 12/13 May 1968 and the 105mm howitzer was seriously damaged by a satchel charge and was withdrawn for repair. The soldiers are, left to right: unknown; unknown; Gunnner (Gnr) J. E. Schwarze; Gnr Walker; Sergeant Max Franklin, commander of No. 6 gun; Lieutenant (Lt) Matt Cleland, commander of the Battery Section comprising No's. 4, 5 and 6 guns. All but Lt Cleland are members of the No. 6 gun crew. In the foreground, a bund or earthen rampart topped by sandbags protects the gun from enemy fire.
Part of the fuse from the satchel charge used to damage the 105 mm gun at Fire Support Base Coral. It is a broken tubular piece of bakelite about 145 mm long and 27 mm in diameter. Part of the fuse
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam. 13 May 1968. The gun crew of No. 6 gun, 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), with their 105mm M2A2 howitzer, o
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam, 13 May 1968. A member of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), standing on a patch of disturbed earth that mark
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam, c. June 1968. Gun position for the No. 6 gun of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), some three weeks after th
Fire Support Base Coral. A 105mm M2A2 howitzer, the number 6 gun of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, (RAA), on the morning after the first series of attacks on Fire
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam, 15 May 1968. Members of the No. 6 gun crew of 102 Field Battery, 12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (RAA), stand to at Fire Support Ba
Fire Support Base Coral, Bien Hoa Province, Vietnam, 13 May 1968. The dead bodies of several North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers lying on the ground in front of the gun position of No. 6 gun, 102 Fie