Long Tan Battle Sketches

Here are some sketches detailing the movements of Australian and enemy troops during the Battle of Long Tan. [Sources: Martin Walsh and To Long Tan, Ian McNeill, Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1993]

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3:10pm to 3.30pm, 18 August 1966. D Company, 6RAR formation:

3:10pm to 3:30pm, 18 August 1966. 11 Platoon, D Company, 6RAR formation:

3:15pm 18 August 1966. D Company, 6RAR enters the Long Tan rubber plantation:

3:55pm to 4:10pm, 18 August 1966. 11 Platoon, D Company, 6RAR formation:

4:20pm 18 August 1966. Enemy build up against 11 Platoon:

5:10pm 18 August 1966. 10 Platoon attempts to relieve 11 Platoon:

6:00pm 18 August 1966. After 10 Platoon fails to break through to 11 Platoon, they withdraw to D Coy’s main defensive position. 12 Platoon, minus one section, is then ordered to try and break through to 11 Platoon but is itself attacked from all sides and pinned down:

4.30pm through to 7:10pm 18 August 1966. This sketch shows the movements of A Company, 6RAR and 3 Troop, 1 APC Squadron relief forces, and the RAAF Iroquois Chopper ammunition resupply (Reproduced from To Long Tan, by Ian McNeill, Map 15.1 – cartographer Winifred Mumford):