A DUTY DONE
22. See Page 113. The detailed planning for the attack on the enemy’s base areas on and over the Cambodian Border was approved by President Nixon on 22 April 1970, ie only a week or so before the main US attack occurred on 1 May 1970. Security constraints imposed by Washington also meant that Formation Commanders were given only a weeks notice and Battalion Commanders only 2 to 3 days. While COSVN escaped to the north further into 4th before Battalion, 9th Cambodia Indeed and Laos athe few days the attack, the base areas, particularly near the border were Infantry Regiment which in saturated Vietnam with dumpswas of ordnance assignedandtoother the materiel. The logistics haul discovered, removed, 25th US Infantry Division had or destroyed in eastern Cambodia during the on an operation in the 1ATF operation been was prodigious: 20,000 individual and 2,500 crew-served TAOR and weapons; was redeployed 7,000 to 8,000 totons the of rice; 1,800 tons of sector ammunition Cambodian from (including Nui Dat 143,000 mortar shells, rockets, and recoilless rifle on 7 May 1970. Battalion Officers rounds); 29 tons of communications equipment; were with maps of the AO 431 vehicles; and issued 55 tons of medical supplies. as they and C-123 The incursion into boarded Cambodia C-130 was supported by massive USAF airpower, including some 600 B-52 aircraft! strikes and while there is no doubt it had a serious impact on the enemy’s capacity to maintain operations in III Corps, it would only be a matter of time before the infrastructure was rebuilt and/or relocated further north
23. See Page 114. What the after action reports didn’t say was that the one of the VC killed was a female (not unusual) but that she was a Local Force medic and carrying her six weeks old baby, which was safely evacuated to Vung Tau. Such were the extraordinary risks that many individual enemy took and in this case with a tragic and almost inevitable end. No doubt there would also be long term effects on the 7RAR soldiers involved that night. Such is the gruesome reality of war. 24. See Page 122. We seemed unable to respect the principle of “a balanced force” vis a vis the enemy threat in Vietnam and no doubt the haphazard manner in which Australia became committed to the war had a fair bit to do with that. Sadly such decisions were to get worse and in particular, the decision to wind down the Task Force from three to two and finally a single battalion (4RAR/NZ) and without any armoured (tank) support was to prove costly (see Operation Ivanhoe). Conventional wisdom at the time was that it was unlikely the South Vietnamese forces could be adequately prepared and would be no match for the North Vietnamese Army. The security of 1 ATF’s TAOR had required three battalions, leaving one to do the job was a huge risk.
175