Hoa Long minefield

At midnight under a half moon D Company led the battalion across the open paddy and through the bamboo to the perimeter fence of Phuoc Hoa Long.

Phouc Hoa Long, nestled under the southern perimeter of Nui Dat base was often infiltrated by Viet Cong guerrillas on re-supply and propaganda missions.
An extensive political and military communist intrastructure was also known to exist among the 5,100 villagers. 5 RAR's task was to cordon and search the northern hamlets of the village.
C and D Companies were to form the cordon while A and B Companies were to conduct the search. D Company was led along the dark corridor of trees and banana plantations by 10 Platoon.
At 0150 hours heavy firing shattered the stealth of the approach. 10 Platoon reported firing from the Regional Force post at the northern end of the town. At the same time 11 Platoon came under AK47 fire from their right flank. The American Liaison Officer succeeded in stopping the fire as soon as it was realised 10 Platoon elements had moved into their protective minefield.

The RAA Field Battery 105mm howitzers fired continuous illumination for four hours while Engineers and Infantrymen extracted the casualties from the densely planted minefield. The RAAF "Dustoff" helicopters provided exceptional assistance in evacuat-ing the casualties and assisting in their recovery from the actual minefield.
In one instance, the Iroquois hovered above the rescue party for forty minutes providing illumination with his landing lights. This was an extremely hazardous operation, as there was the chance of the downblast of the blades detonating more mines.

This close support from the RAAF was to become considered normal as the tour progressed. Those killed were 2nd Lieutenant B. Walker, Sergeant B. Smith and Corporal G. Gilbert, all of 10 Platoon. Whilst this extraction was being carried out the rest of the battalion closed the cordon. Infantryman editor, Ian Ward, was an Assault Pioneer and one of the rescue party . . .

"5RAR Pioneers arrived back in Nui Dat from Operation Quintus Thrust at 2pm on the eve of the cordon. We had to prepare our mine detection and other equipment to assist the Companies with the village search the next day.
"Five of us were woken at 2.15am and told to get down to our helo pad with just basic webbing, bayo- net, personal armament (I had to take my M60) and safety pins for mines. We had no idea of where we were going, but had heard that D Coy were in a mine-field, plus we had heard the detonations.

"The 'Dustoff' chopper lifted off into the night blackness at 2.30am, and with the aid of torches on the ground, were deposited inside a small defensive position next to D Company Headquarters group. "We were quickly briefed by D Coy, plus one of the 'Sappers' who had already been into the minefield and had confirmed the casualties. It then became our task to clear the remaining mines to allow safer access for the removal of the dead and injured.

"Mine detectors were useless as there was a lot of shrapnel on the ground, so probing for the M14 mines was done by bayonet. The M16 mines were easier to locate as they had three prongs extending above ground level, plus a trip-wire extending out several yards. When an M16 mine was located, it was made safe by the careful insertion of a safety pin through the fuse mechanism. Plastic tape followed us to show the cleared area.

"Progress was slow as the only illumination was flares being fired from Nui Dat. The 'Dustoff' crew observed our dilemma and became airborne to hover over the minefield and illuminuate the area. This took considerable flying skill, exposing the 'Dustoff' crew to potential VC fire and exploding mines. They hovered until their fuel was exhausted.

The irony of this brave effort, was the downwash of the helo rotors threatened to pull the trip wires from the mines, plus made the job of neutralising the mine more difficult -but at least you knew where they were!
"I was working with Neil 'Mad Dog' Tranter probing our way towards two men and was horrified when, reaching the bodies, I discovered one was Bernard Smith. A second party of Pioneers concentrated on the northern end of the minefield to recover the body of Lt Walker.

Our task was completed at first light, with the Companies moving warily past us to take up their final cordon position. They could see the M16 mines protruding from the ground as we sat in the minefield trying to piece together the nights events.
The two Engineer 'sappers', attached to Dcoy, were the key players in the rescue. Sadly, as we were exiting the minefield, one of the 'Sappers' stepped back to retrieve his weapon, and had his foot blown off by an M14 mine.

ian.ward@ruralpress.com