The Battle Of Bhin Ba

Australia has a very rich history- a history which is full of successes and conquests which has now made our nation a strong and powerful nation with a very defining role in the world. It has fought many wars not only on its own ground but on the foreign territories also. Today I am going to recapture one of the richest chapters in the history of our country. I am going to talk about the Battle of Bhin Bha.

Bhin Bha, at the time of the battle, was a small town, some four miles away from the head quarters of the Australian Task force. The village was mostly occupied by farmers and rubber plantation workers. The Australian army stationed some of its troops, especially a rifle company with the name of 5 RAR as well as a mortar company, in order to provide deterrence against the Viet Cong tax collectors and the assassination squads which were taking control of the different villages of Vietnam bordering Australia.

It all happened in 1969 when the two enemy regiments entered the Phuoc Tuy Province in May 1969 in order to conduct some operation against the villages situated at the route 2 and Highway 15; both the routes are in the north of Nui Dat, when they faced the Australian troops situated on that route. In operation Hammer, when an Australian Tank and a recovery vehicle came under attack from the enemy. (bhinbha.org 2007). The 6 RAR faced the enemy in the village of Bhin Bha as it came under fire from the enemy hiding in the village of Bhin Bha. It is also critical to mention that the Australian Army has the definite intelligence reports suggesting that the two army platoons of enemy were hiding in the village.

This battle was fought by the Australian troops with the help of the helicopter gun ship and RAAF D Company which pounded the village and took early strategic advantage. It is also critical to mention that the Centurion Tanks of Australian Army also proved one of the most effective weapons for the Australian army because these tanks were accurate in close range fighting. (Wikipedia 2008). However, due to the concealed enemy, Australian army also faced some damage too as few of the tanks of Australian army were damaged too.

One of the most important elements of this battle is the fact that Australian army faced an enemy which was concealed and hidden into different buildings. As you might be aware of the fact that fighting against an enemy which is not visible to you may push you in a situation where you may go defensive however An Australian army fought bravely and faced an army which was fully equipped with all the modern arms and ammunition to fight at its full strength, and they did as history tells us that the battle ground was littered with the ammunition used by the enemy.

I would like to end my speech with the words that this war is an important milestone in the history of Australia as it fought its most famous battles of the Vietnam War. The skill level of our army was such that it faced a large army and only faced with one causality with 8 soldiers wounded suggesting that the Australian Army has the capability and strength to face any challenge and fight difficult enemies.

Bibliography

bhinbha.org. “The Battle of Binh Ba.” The Bhin Bha Memorial Gate Project. 2007. http://www.binhba.org/Battle.html (accessed August 18, 2008).

Wikipedia. “Battle of Binh Ba.” Wikipedia. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Binh_Ba (accessed August 18, 2008).