OAKLEIGH TO THE END OF THE TOUR
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enemy from the village during and after Tet had caused damage by airstrikes and looting (by the ARVN) particularly in the southern part of the village. Since the Tet Offensive, there had been constant enemy harassment of the village with destruction of government installations, and almost nightly contact with Viet Cong groups of squad to platoon size near the Regional Force and Popular Force posts to the south of Route 23. There had been contact with groups of enemy in this area on the two mornings prior to the operation. As Viet Cong had been dressing in government uniforms, special care was taken to ensure that all South Vietnamese troops remained confined to their posts during the operation. The cordoning of the village was achieved by 2 RAR with A Company of 7 RAR under its command and was put in position on the afternoon of 20 February. Support Company and an engineer troop then began the construction of a screening centre outside the village. C and D Companies occupied blocking positions to the south–east of the village on 20 February. The screening centre was completed on the morning of 21 February. The search of the village was then undertaken by clearing the village of its inhabitants by moving them through the processing centre. A sweep through the village was then made by A, C and D Companies from south to north to ensure that it was unoccupied. All 7 RAR companies then took part in a methodical area by area search of the village. The screening centre processed about 5200 people. Despite intelligence indications prior to the operation, no contacts with the enemy occurred. Thirty–two suspects, 45 draft dodgers, six deserters, six South Vietnamese soldiers absent without leave, an illegal resident and 59 persons without identity cards were detained by government authorities. As was the practice on all cordon operations, as much opportunity as possible was taken to compensate for the inconvenience caused to the inhabitants by providing medical and other help during the screening. In this case, the battalion provided two medical officers to visit sick inhabitants and to provide ad hoc treatment. This cordon and search was a routine operation. Although the results appeared to be disappointing, the Viet Cong infrastructure in the village was probably weakened and the villagers' confidence in the authority of the government boosted. On 23 February, B Company took part in a company operation called MILDURA. It moved to the province capital, Baria, to relieve a company of 2 RAR which had been positioned there since the Viet Cong incursion into the town at Tet. The company was sited in a dug–in defensive position in the surrounding padi fields. On 28 February, 6 Platoon (commanded by Second Lieutenant Ian Cameron) was sent to the village of Long Dien in armoured personnel carriers together with an engineer tunnel searching team. They were acting on information from civilians that there were Viet Cong hiding in a small group of houses. Eight houses were cordoned. The search revealed one Viet Cong hiding in a haystack. A brick and concrete entrance to a bunker was found. Captain Geoff Boscoe, an officer from the Task Force Intelligence Unit,