Qualla: Battle of Gang Toi https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:36 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Gang Toi https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi Battle of Gang Toi: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit Center of Military History., Public domain. For forty-two years, Private Richard Parker and Private Peter Gillson lay in a shallow weapon pit on a jungle hilltop in Bien Hoa Province, buried by the Viet Cong soldiers who had killed them. Their comrades in A Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment never stopped wanting to go back. On 8 November 1965, in the Gang Toi Hills north of Saigon, Australia fought its first set-piece battle of the Vietnam War. It was fierce, costly, and ended with a withdrawal that left two men behind -- a fact that haunted the survivors for decades.

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: Center of Military History. | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Gang Toi: New Troops in an Old War https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit w:User:Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. By mid-1965, the situation in South Vietnam was deteriorating rapidly. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam had suffered successive defeats, Saigon itself was threatened, and General William Westmoreland was requesting ever more troops. Australia's initial commitment had been mode...

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: w:User:Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-new-troops-in-an-old-war.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Gang Toi: Into the Swamps of War Zone D https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit w:User:Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. Operation Hump -- named to mark the halfway point of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's tour -- launched on 5 November 1965. The plan was straightforward: insert 1 RAR south of the Dong Nai River and the American 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry to the northwest, then sweep through a susp...

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: w:User:Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-into-the-swamps-of-war-zone-d.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Gang Toi: Fifteen Metres from the Bunkers https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit w:User:Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the morning of 8 November, with the operation winding down and extraction planned for the following day, A Company under Major John Healy set out on a compass bearing across the Gang Toi plateau. A lone VC scout was spotted shadowing them and shot. The Australians uncovered a ...

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: w:User:Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-fifteen-metres-from-the-bunkers.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Gang Toi: The Weight of Withdrawal https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit w:User:Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. With two platoons pinned down and the remaining rifle companies kilometres away, Healy had no reinforcements to call upon. The artillery, positioned on the far side of the plateau, was firing blind -- Captain Bruce Murphy, a New Zealand forward observer, had to walk the rounds on...

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: w:User:Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-the-weight-of-withdrawal.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Gang Toi: Forty-Two Years to Come Home https://qualla.com/battle-of-gang-toi/ Photo credit w:User:Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Battle of Gang Toi cost A Company two missing and six wounded against at least six VC killed, one wounded, and five captured. The numbers were modest by Vietnam War standards, but the human weight was not. The men of 1 RAR carried the knowledge that they had left comrades beh...

Read more: Battle of Gang Toi on Qualla

Image: w:User:Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/n/battle-of-gang-toi-wp/w3un-battle-of-gang-toi-forty-two-years-to-come-home.mp3 0:06 6 full