The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. 18 February 1970. Private (Pte) Darrell Hook of Redcliffe, Qld, passes out a Mosin-Nagant Carbine rifle from enemy weapons cache in a cave in the Long Hai mountains during Operation Hammersley. Pte Hook, a member of C Company, 8th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (8RAR), spotted the cave and suspected cache site during a sweep of the mountains by the Australians. A few days before, the Company had clashed with an estimated company of hard-core Viet Cong. The Australians withdrew and called in air and artillery support. This was stepped up to a three day bombardment of the Long Hai mountains culminating in a raid by the giant B52 bomber aircraft. C Company supported by armour, then swept back through the mountains searching for caches uncovered by the bombing.
Climbing mountains in a flak jacket and helmet is hot work for Private John Sandry of Richmond, NSW. His unit, C Company of 8th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (8RAR), was sweeping through a
Sapper Colin Heley of Liverpool, NSW, an engineer from the 1st Field Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), holding a dagger and a flashlight, clambers out of a cave in the Long Hai mountains aft
Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam. c. 9 March 1970. Private (Pte) Crabb, Corporal Burton and Pte Onrust examine a captured 12 gauge shot gun while Pte Marrow looks on; Pte Gillis is bent over examinin
PHUOC TUY PROVINCE, SOUTH VIETNAM. C. 9 MARCH 1970. THE RESULT OF A SWEEP THROUGH THE RUGGED LONG HAI MOUNTAINS DURING OPERATION HAMERSLEY. THE ENEMY WEAPONS WERE FOUND BY 8TH BATTALION, THE ROYAL AUS
Flashlight in hand, Sapper (Spr) Trevor Hughes of Beenleigh, Qld, emerges from the gloom of a cave in the Long Hai mountains during Operation Hammersley. The cave held a cache of rocket propelled gren
Australian soldiers pause on a rock ledge during their sweep of a section of the Long Hai mountains to survey the ground below during Operation Hammersley. The area was the scene of a bitter battle be
