On August 18, 1966, 108 Australian soldiers of Delta Company faced a regimental-sized Viet Cong force-some 2,000 men-in a rubber plantation near Long Tan. Outnumbered nearly twenty to one, they held their ground through a torrential monsoon, artillery fire, and waves of close-quarter assaults until reinforcements arrived at dusk.
This edition sets itself apart with four original tactical diagrams and maps that walk through the battle phase by phase, showing how the Australians used terrain, fire coordination, and maneuver to survive. Order-of-battle tables clarify both sides' units and weapons, while every anecdote is sourced to named primary historians-from the official Australian war history to the VC battalion commander's own account.
For readers of narrative military history who want not just the story but the mechanics of how a desperate fight was won.
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