The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Australian troops this week used a special detector to find more than thirty Viet Cong tunnels and underground hides in an area about two miles south of their Task Force base at Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy Province. A vehicle equipped with a radar screen pulls the detector across the area being searched. The tunnels were found under long grass in a banana plantation and market garden on the site of an abandoned Vietnamese hamlet. Infantry soldiers kept watch on the area as a group of demolition experts from the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers, prepared to examine the finds. The engineers who specialise in this work are known as "tunnel rats". They have the dirty and dangerous task of crawling through the narrow, twisting tunnels which are built for the smaller framed Viet Cong. The tunnels, some 15 to 20 feet underground, twist and turn, and often lead to chambers stacked high with weapons, ammunition and supplies. Because of the narrow confines, the "tunnel rats" are equipped with only a pistol and torch. Although many of these tunnels showed signs of recent use, they were all empty. But in some hides, the Australians found large quantities of crockery and salt. As other troops located and marked new hides, the engineers followed, blowing up the larger tunnels with beehive charges or plastic explosive. Twenty-five of the tunnels were blown up during the day-long sweep of the area. (Also identified: Sapper Michael Buggemann of Adelaide, SA, 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers; Warrant Officer Barry Crisp of Townsville, Qld)
Australian soldiers on continuing Operation Pinnaroo have found a Viet Cong field hospital with large quantities of equipment and medical supplies, hidden in an extensive cave complex deep in the Long
Australian Army engineers moved into the first operation, Operation Enoggera, carried out by the Sixth Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, in the fourth wee
Troops of "C" Company, 4th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment - the ANZAC Battalion in Vietnam, this week found a Viet Cong base camp consisting of about 70 bunkers. The camp was capable of hold
Australian Army engineers serving in Vietnam this week took a close look at Communist Viet Cong weapons handed to them for disposal after they had been captured by troops of the 5th Battalion, Royal A
Troops of Charlie Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment completed this week what will probably be their last operation in Vietnam before returning home to Australia. The 6th Battalion hand
Split second timing is needed when troops go into action in Viet Nam, and many hours of planning and preparation often precede a battalion move. This scale model of a small village and its surrounding
