3 RAR action in Vietnam (DPR/TV/853 & 855)

AWM accession number: F04204

Australian troops inflicted heavy casualties on an estimated force of two North Vietnamese battalions in the final week of May 1968 when the enemy tried to overrun Australian Fire Support Base "Balmoral" in Bien Hoa Province, north of Saigon. This footage, shot after the, the second attack on "Balmoral" (27/28 May 1968), shows infantry of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment who also suffered heavy casualties. Evacuation helicopters were hovering over the battle scene soon after the action took place, and the wounded Australian troops, were flown out. The action began when a shower of rockets and mortar shells crashed into the wooded area. Although the Australians had little time to take cover, they suffered less casualties than they had on the previous attack, on 25/26 May. A large number of enemy weapons were captured in the engagement - many left behind as the North Vietnamese retreated shortly before dawn. Among the weapons were automatic rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, torpedoes and mortars. Seven enemy soldiers were captured after the battle. All had been wounded in the fighting, some of them seriously. They were given medical treatment. Then they, too were medically evacuated by air from the area.
We would be pleased to hear from anyone who can identify any soldiers appearing in this footage.

Details:
Cinematographer: Richard Crothers
Made at Fire Support Base Balmoral in Vietnam, 31 May 1968
6 min 15 secs, 16 mm, black and white, silent original film.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Australian
• War
• Memorial
• Vietnam
• RAR

[wattlebough]

I am curious to know what happened to the enemy POWs afterward. Were they kept in Australian hands or were they handed over to the South Vietnamese government. I wonder how they were treated by their captors once they were handed over. Perhaps we'll never know.

[AustWarMemorial]

Thanks for your question here is a response from Ashley Ekins as broken into parts:

Part1:

Australian forces handed over captured enemy prisoners to the South Vietnamese (Republic of Vietnam) authorities, normally after interrogation locally by Australian intelligence officers, who then sent them on to the Combined Military Intelligence Centre (CMIC) at Long Binh near Bien Hoa for further questioning and documentation (photos, fingerprints and details).

[AustWarMemorial]

Part 2:

Those classified as 'suspects' or 'detainees' were tried and either released or jailed; those classified as 'PWs' (prisoners of war) were sent to RVN prisoner compounds.

In the III Corps area (III Corps Tactical Zone, later Military Region 3) where the 1st Australian Task Force operated, prison camps included those at Bien Hoa and Long Son Island near Vung Tau.

[AustWarMemorial]

Part 3:

Under the terms of the Geneva Conventions Australia had a 'residual responsibility' for the POWs captured by Australian forces even though they were handed over to the South Vietnamese.

Australian officers and Red Cross officials regularly visited these compounds and reported on conditions. For example, see AWM photograph WAR/70/0358/VN showing a visit by Colonel John Whitelaw, Chief of Staff, HQ AFV, visiting the Bien Hoa III Corps POW 'cage' in June 1970.

[AustWarMemorial]

Part 4:

For further information on the Australian treatment of Viet Cong prisoners, see the article by Ashley Ekins, '"Not one scintilla of evidence"?: The media, the military and the Government in the Vietnam water torture case', Australian Journal of Politics & History, vol. 42, no. 3, 1996, pp. 345-64.

Ashley Ekins

Head, Military History Section

Australian War Memorial

[TheHarbinger82]

@wattlebough good question my group LRRP 82nd ABN Oscar Company, we turned them over to PIC Provience Interrogation Centers, these were closer to it than mentioned below. Trust me water boarding was the least of their worries, most didnt survive

[bobkats]

@heywoodjerbloume If 1NZSAS and our Chicken stranglers were there then it's a fair bet UK / Rhodesia and Fiji's SAS were there too. Mate thankyou for your Service if Australia needs Hero's and it does you bloke's are it.

Dave

[bobkats]

@euqsabtnatillim CIA etc maybe but Aussie RAR's and SAS I doubt it bloke, we are not that naive but to say we had anything to do with hanging blokes out of Iroquois???

[euqsabtnatillim]

Mate: HIT ME BUT DONT SHIT ME! You ever heard of the term huey chandelier? WTF do you think happened in long range operations when you 'snatched someone for intell?' What? escort him back to the rear esch? Dont clean the war up now that its over- we gave as good as we got. No one will ever know what our special forces got up to except them.As if all our special units out there including elements liasing with ASIO/CIA are telling the war memorial what they were up to and what did or didnt do.

[nair0bij0nes]

hard survival rates ?

[karlkarlkarl1234]

I'm surprised the survival rates for casualties was so hard with all the dirt and muck around the place which would've made infection rampant.

[karlkarlkarl1234]

Send the AustWarMemorial account a PM, they will likely appreciate this info.

[heywoodjerbloume]

I served with the NZSAS in the Nam and if I remember correctly there were some British SAS tearing around.However the Brits will deny this.All the Aussies and Yanks we met were first rate blokes who never let us down.Please dont disrespect those who fought over there or in Afghanistan today.

[dean11081988]

i had a uncle that served in vietnam with the australian forces i was just wondering if there were more of the british there and how meny please answere thank you

[MzKarinAnn]

My father, who was in 3 RAR has watched this youtube video and knows the man 13 seconds into the video Dave Butler (RP) corporal.