Qualla: Battle of Long Tan https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan 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/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Long Tan https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan Battle of Long Tan: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Anotherclown, CC BY-SA 3.0. At 15:40 on 18 August 1966, D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment walked into a fight they were never supposed to have. One hundred and eight men, sent on a routine patrol to find mortar positions used in an overnight bombardment of the Australian base at Nui Dat, instead found themselves face to face with a force that outnumbered them roughly ten to one. What followed over the next four hours in a rubber plantation near the village of Long Tan, Phuoc Tuy Province, became the most celebrated engagement of Australia's Vietnam War -- a desperate stand in monsoon rain where artillery, ammunition drops, and sheer tenacity held the line against wave after wave of assault.

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Image: Anotherclown | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Long Tan: The Bombardment That Started It All https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Tacintop, Public domain. In the small hours of 17 August, over a hundred mortar rounds slammed into Nui Dat, the 1st Australian Task Force base in Phuoc Tuy Province. Vehicles burned. Tents shredded. Twenty-four men were wounded, one fatally. Counter-battery fire silenced the barrage after twenty-two min...

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Image: Tacintop | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-the-bombardment-that-started-it-all.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Long Tan: A Platoon Alone in the Trees https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Author not yet known, Public domain. D Company, under Major Harry Smith, took over the patrol on 18 August. By early afternoon they had pushed into the rubber plantation east of Nui Dat and begun making contact with small groups of VC. Then, at 15:40, 11 Platoon under Second Lieutenant Gordon Sharp walked into a wal...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-a-platoon-alone-in-the-trees.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Long Tan: Rain, Rounds, and Resupply https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Tacintop, Public domain. With his company now concentrated but critically low on ammunition, Smith organized a defensive perimeter in a shallow fold of ground on a reverse slope. The terrain, chosen by necessity rather than design, proved decisive -- the VC could not effectively use their heavy weapons a...

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Image: Tacintop | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-rain-rounds-and-resupply.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Long Tan: The Relief Column https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Tacintop, Public domain. As darkness fell, a relief force of M113 armoured personnel carriers carrying infantry from A Company, 6 RAR crashed through the plantation with headlights blazing and machine guns firing. The armoured vehicles scattered the remaining VC, who had been preparing yet another assaul...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-the-relief-column.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Long Tan: A Contested Legacy https://qualla.com/battle-of-long-tan/ Photo credit Tacintop, Public domain. Long Tan's significance has been debated for decades. The Australians initially treated it as a near-disaster -- a single under-strength company had been committed piecemeal against a force of regimental strength, and only artillery and extraordinary luck had prevented annihilati...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/u/k/battle-of-long-tan-wp/w3uk-battle-of-long-tan-a-contested-legacy.mp3 0:06 6 full